Lawton Memorial Library Board Meeting

                 Regular Board Meeting          Tuesday, July 25, 2023

                                                                                                 

*5:15 p.m. Chair Barbara Melvin called the meeting to order at the Lawton Memorial Library. Roll call was taken with all board members present: Melvin, Carol Persons, Gail Muller, Donna Niles, Georgia Everson, Gwendolyn Hatfield, and Kimberly Walker. Also present was Librarian Lisa Ahler.     

        

*Verification of posting at the Bank, Post Office, and Village Office on July 20, 2023, was given.         

   

*Hatfield moved, Niles seconded to approve the May 23, 2023 minutes as written. (Carried).   

    

*Financial report: Reviewed the report from 1/1/2023 through 7/20/2023. The balance is $46,734.19. Of this amount $3,525.23 is donations to use, leaving an operating budget of $43,208.96. The regular savings account has $21,024.46, CD#1 has $30,682.408, and CD#2 has $4,033.05. Muller moved, Everson seconded to approve the financial report. (Carried).

 

*Statistical Report: Lisa reviewed the stats for the circulation count, community room use, and the various groups. Also looked at the revenue taken in from fines, copies, fax, and miscellaneous.     

       

*Friends Update: Carol reported the Music in the Park this year has taken in less money, but the 4th of July took in more. The float for the 4th of July parade turned out cute for 100 years celebrating the library.   

    

*Directors Report:       

**Greg Lawton has taken the job of cleaning person. It’s going well.     

**WRLS is still in negotiations with the new Integrated Library System. Go live is set for September 2024.  

**John Armbruster was a hit with 52 attending. Had problems with the projector, as it didn’t work properly. This will need to be looked at before doing future programs.  

**The ALA conference in Chicago in June was great that Lisa attended. She talked to the CoLibri-book cover people, which led to a free rebuilt machine to replace the one we have that doesn’t work. Also, talked to the “Book Page” people and received 2 free months of their publication. It has book reviews of upcoming releases. We will try it here to see how it goes.

**Summer Reading started slow but has picked up. Same with the Craft and Snack Day.   

**Walked in the 4th of July parade with the Friends group. Had 250 bags made up but could’ve had 800.

**Organic Valley invited us to their OV family picnic, so Carol and Becky are attending. They will be bringing a collection of books and Lisa made up a brochure with library info to pass out.

**Vernon County Reads is August 24th in Coon Valley. Jeff Nania is the author.

**The library is a pickup location for the “Stuff the Bus” program in Vernon County.     

 

*Business:    

**100-year celebration: The library started in 1923, so this is the 100th year. Discussed having something to celebrate this. Ideas tossed out included an open house, refreshments, a presentation by a local historian, speakers to include the library president and village president, bookmark contest, golden tickets in books, one month have every 100th patron get something, and a contest to list and put all the past librarians in order. The board will ask the Friends of the Library if they’d work together with us on organizing something for October. Set a special meeting for August 15th, at 5 p.m., for a joint meeting with them.    

  

**Police inquiry about additional cameras overlooking Bean Park: Police Chief Steve Palmer asked for authorization to put their own cameras up on the building and the DVR unit in a room. There’s no expense to us, just the set-up use. Persons moved, Niles seconded to allow him to proceed with this. (Carried). 

  

**Library Sign update: Barb talked with Aaron Nemec on the “Lawton Memorial Library” sign out front for possible samples but hasn’t received anything yet. The sign back is rotten and the front needs work.

 

 

The board discussed different ideas on how to change it. Mike Fowell’s school class also does signs, so will check with him on ideas and what they do. Add this to the special meeting on August 15th.      

 

**Possible new hot water heater: Carol and Donna checked with 3 businesses on prices for a new 6-gallon heater. Linds in Cashton was $269, plus labor, 608 Plumbing wouldn’t give a price, needed to look at it first, and the same with Strang. The La Farge Hardware store is in the $300 range. Prices were also obtained for an on-demand heater, but they are expensive and require soft water. We don’t have the room for a water softener without losing a bunch of shelving area. The current one we have was monitored and showed it was using a lot of electricity. After discussion, decided to ask Public Works Manager Wayne Haugrud to check it over for us first. We will add this to the special meeting on August 15th for further discussion.         

 

*Public comments: None.                 

       

*The next regular meeting was scheduled for October 16, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. (Budget time).  

                 

*Niles moved, Muller seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 6:29 p.m.

 

                                                                         __________________________________

Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer