The board of trustees of the Bluffton Public Library, 145 S. Main St., will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28. Below are the minutes from the May board meeting, to be sumbitted for approval tonight.

These minutes give a sampling of the duties of the board and the workings of the library. These public meetings are held on the second floor in the library board room and are open to the public, as are these minutes.

Board Minutes for May 24, 2022 

Members Present: Robert Beer, Amy Mikesell, Carrie Phillips, Rob Scott, Chanda Smith, Nancy Yeager 

Absent: Emily VonStein 

Staff Present: Jessica Hermiller, Jim Weaver 

Robert Beer called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. 

NY/AM moved to approve the minutes of the April 26, 2022, board meeting. By voice vote, the motion was carried. 

RS/NY moved to accept the April 2022 ending financial report. 

Roll: RB: yes; AM: yes; CP: yes; RS: yes; CS: yes; EV: absent; NY: yes. Motion carried. 

AM/CP moved to appropriate an additional $100.00 to Account # 1000-210-339, Other Property Maintenance & Security Services to provide additional funds for alarm monitoring. Roll: RB: yes; AM: yes; CP: yes; RS: yes; CS: yes; EV: absent; NY: yes. Motion carried. 

RS/AM moved to approve the 2023 Budget Request in the amount of $514,430.00 from the General Fund and $20,000.00 from the Capital Projects Fund for a combined total of $534,430.00 for submission to the Board of Education of the Bluffton Exempted Village School District, as taxing authority, for public hearing in June before transmitting it to the Allen County Budget Commissions. 

Roll: RB: yes; AM: yes; CP: yes; RS: yes; CS: yes; EV: absent; NY: yes. Motion carried. 

During the Director’s Report, JH noted the following: 

● The June 2022 events calendar and information about the summer reading program were distributed. 

● The library continues to receive summer reading program donations. ● The light fixtures over the library’s computer area will likely need replacement in the near future. JH is investigating solutions. Replacement is made more difficult because the fixtures hang so far down from the tall ceiling in that space. 

● JH is seeking quotes for lawn care services. Our current lawn care provider is short staffed and can only keep up with mowing. Weeding and other landscape maintenance is necessary. NY suggested a volunteer weeding day; some volunteer work has already occurred. 

● The Friends group will meet Thursday 5/16 to complete planning for the used book sale (June 2-4) and continue work on their tea fundraiser in the fall.

● JH reported on meeting attendance and staff projects. Staff has been visiting and receiving visits from Bluffton schools students and teachers for summer reading program presentations. 

● In technology updates, JH reported that a recent maintenance update for Symphony Workflows was successful, a part is on order to repair the public printer, and the library is updating to Google Workspace from a free enterprise version used by non-profits which Google is phasing out. 

The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Carrie Phillips, Secretary