Lawton Memorial Library Board Meeting

                 Regular Board Meeting           Tuesday, February 3, 2026

                                                                                               

*5:00 p.m. Chair Barbara Melvin called the meeting to order at the Lawton Memorial Library, 118 N. Bird Street. Roll call. All Board members were present: Melvin, Gail Muller, Donna Niles, Gwendolyn Hatfield, Carol Persons (via phone), Georgia Everson, and Kimberly Walker. Also present was Librarian Lisa Ahler.      

       

*Verification of posting at the Bank, Post Office, and Village Office on February 2, 2026, was given.  

    

*Niles moved, Hatfield seconded to approve November 18, 2025, meeting minutes, with a correction to the closed dates for Holidays in 2026, from November 26th to the 27th for Thanksgiving. (Carried).

     

*Friends Update: Joan Peterson was unable to attend, so Gwen reported on a meeting the Friends just held. They agreed to give $200 to the Vernon County Reads author, up to $400 to Dana for her library schooling, and $2,400 for children’s books for Lisa to use at her discretion. In the future, they may help with weeding books. Lisa mentioned a $1,000 donation coming from Susan Reed and Peter Schmidt, for adult books.     

 

*Financial report: Reviewed the report from 1/1/2025 thru 12/31/2025. The year end operating balance is $6,475.32, of which $3,108.62 is donations to carry forward. This leaves a positive $3,366.70 left in the budget. Lisa shared last fall, she ordered books to be used from the 2025 budget. With Baker & Taylor going out of business, a new company she is now using did not fulfill the order until January, which totaled $900+. She inquired if this could be taken from the 2025 budget. Walker said she could book these back to 2025 when paying the bill. The board agreed to do this. The remaining budget of $2,400 or so will be put in the library savings. The regular savings account has $5,083.18, plus the 3 CDs of $10,489.56, $13,012.95, and $27,114.49. CD# 2 is up for renewal on February 5th. With interest, the amount will be $10,834.59. The current bank CD special is 9 months at 3.95%. Muller moved, Hatfield seconded to approve the financial report, CD renewal, and putting the remaining budget amount in the library savings. (Carried).  

 

*Director/Statistical Report:  

**Collected $112 for the Food Pantry.

**Dana finished school on December 12th and they’ve been busy relabeling shelves.         

**The Vernon County Reads author is Susan Apps Bodily. The program date is August 13th.

**Tomah is all on board and De Soto and Fountain City will be joining our ILS as well.

**The Annual report filing opened last week and is due February 20th.

**Looking at the future, Lisa said her laptop will need replaced, as she is having some problems. Her desktop will also need replaced, but she believes it will make it through this year. No problems yet, but old.   

**Programming: “Tots, Titles, & Tunes” new format is going well. Take & Make Bags are still doing great. Page Turners new format is starting this Wednesday. Cookin’ the Books had a great crowd of 9. Sip & Chat also has a good crowd. Lego Club creations are on display. Winter Reading Bingo is underway until the end of February. And Stuart Stotts talk had 16 in attendance.   

**Lisa passed out the statistical report for November and December, showing circulation numbers, Patrons in the library, Groups/Program numbers, and revenue received.        

    

*Business:

**Public Comments: Gwen mentioned needing new mulch outside when Springtime comes. Discussed using chips from the chipping of brush in town or buying them. They decided to leave this up to the Friends group and Lisa. Possibly get Jan Gremban, Georgia, and Lisa to discuss the landscaping needs.

**Lisa said she is excited to have her daughter, Sam, speak in August, on Ecology and Restoration.      

   

*The next meeting was scheduled for March 24, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.    

                    

*Hatfield moved, Muller seconded to adjourn. (Carried). Adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

 

                                                             ___________________________________

                                                                        Kimberly Walker, Village Clerk/Treasurer