Seneca East Public Library Board of Trustees
August 16th, 2023
The August 16th, 2023 meeting of the Seneca East Board of Trustees was called to order by President Janet Ruffing at 7:27 P.M. Trustees in attendance were: Janet Ruffing, Kim Ohl, Tina Shook, Jeff Beaston and Michelle Zeiter. Library staff attending included Fiscal Officer Pamala Dunson and Library Director Shannon Featheringill.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the July 12th, 2023 meeting were reviewed and approved as amended with a motion by Kim Ohl, with a 2nd by Jeff Beaston, and approval of all remaining board members by voting “aye”.
Fiscal Officer’s Report: The board reviewed the July 2023 bills as well as reviewing and initialing the July 2023 Bank Reconciliation and Management Reports as presented by the Fiscal Officer.
Resolution #591- To supplement appropriations according to the directions of Director Shannon Featheringill for the unencumbered donations received from the period 7/9/23 –8/10/23. The total amount of donations to be appropriated is $460.98. Itemization is as follows: Publicity $25.00, Adult Books $50.00 and Supplies $385.98. A motion to approve Resolution #591 was made by Jeff Beaston, with a 2nd by Michelle Zeiter, and the motion passed with approval by all remaining board members voting “aye”.
2024 Tax Budget- We have documentation that supports the School Board approval. Still waiting on the Certificate of Estimated Revenue from the Seneca County Auditor’s Office. This will then provide our first look at the estimate of resources for 2024.
CHART OF ACCOUNT CHANGE UPDATES: Shannon and I are going to begin preliminary work tomorrow. I have put a call into Local Government Services to see if I could meet with someone before I begin setting these account numbers up to make sure I get off to a great start with them. Discuss the need for a safety deposit box. This has not been accessed by the Fiscal Officer in the entire 13 years that she has worked for the library. After discussion, It was decided to close the safety deposit box.
Discuss complications with Verizon to transfer a $120.30 credit balance to a different account.
Director’s Report: Director Featheringill reported a total Patron Count for July of 4404 with 25 days open.
Old Business: Summer Reading is finished. It went very well with lots of good feedback and numbers that increased a little over last year. We also participated in the Republic Street Fair and put up a booth at the Attica Fair and participated in their Kid’s Day. Fall program planning is complete.
New Business: Attica Community Events Committee will host Autumn Village Days on September 30. We will have a booth set up in front of the library with information and kids’ activities.
Legislative: August PLF distribution is $36,506,297 (5.67% below July and 1.76% below December estimate). The August distribution is the second of FY24. As a reminder, the PLF is now set in permanent law at 1.7% of the General Revenue Fund (GRF). GRF tax receipts for July came in about $13 million (0.6% above estimate).
Building: Still waiting on Jason Branham to seal the annex roof. I emailed him August 8th to get an update and he said he was finishing up a few projects and planned to get to us in the “next couple of weeks”. A signed color schedule for the Back Room Project was completed on July 24th for paint colors, flooring, and wall base trim. Director Featheringill and staff are still working on clearing out storage. Men’s room faucet still needs to be replaced.
Staff: Shannon will be attending the OLC Convention and Expo September 27th-29th, and, as a reminder, will be on vacation August 23rd-29th. Nathan Heabler was hired for the open Circulation Clerk position at $11.00 per hour on August 4th. Hannah’s last day was August 12th. She will stay on as a substitute clerk and still wants to work next summer. Cindy’s last day is August 30th. Kim Thompson informed me August 3rd she will need surgery at the end of August and will not be able to return to work until November but is unsure if she will be
returning at all. She confirmed, then, August 11th that her surgery is scheduled for August 28th and she, “will be off until further notice… maybe permanently”. Her last day will be August 17th.
Historical Society: There are no updates at this meeting.
Foundation News: Reverse Raffle is September 16th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church. Volunteers should be there by 4:30 PM to eat. Autumn Village Days will host a Book & Bread Sale. They gave us a check for $7655 that we requested to cover a few of our projects. The next Foundation meeting will be held October 16th at 7 PM.
Children’s Room Report:
Summer Reading Program: We wrapped up the summer reading program on July 29th with a magic show with Jeff Wawrzaszek. He was great and the event was well-attended. We could very confidently invite him back. Overall feedback from this year’s program was very good. Reading participation, program attendance and passive program participation were all good.
Programming: We are offering a Stay and Play session on Tuesday mornings through August, but are otherwise on a programming break until September. Fall sessions of Storytime and Music & Movement will begin the week of September 19th. Regular monthly programs (Brick Builders, Teen Board / Activities, Mini-Makers) will resume in September.
School Outreach: We have contacted teachers to remind them of the support services which we provide and have already gotten some requests to be put on the schedule for classroom visits or in the rotation for classroom collections. Bi-weekly visits for the 23-24 school year have been scheduled with In His Care. They have 24 students this year.
Events: We had a good time at the Attica Fair on August 12th. Our visit from the Pigeon was very popular! There are a number of upcoming events this fall. In September, we will set up a table in front of the library for Autumn Village Day.
Adult Services Report:
Past Events: On July 17th, Adult Services made woven bowls. We had 18 patrons in attendance. Hobbit Wreaths were made on August 7th with 18 patrons in attendance.
Current Events: Displays include one featuring Ohio authors and the other is an Oprah Book Club recommendation. The new batch of Norweld Large Prints have yet to arrive with no ETA given despite reaching out.
Upcoming Events: On August 28th, Adult Services will be making Macrame Rainbows. A Trivia Night will be held September 11th. Fall/Winter activities are planned out for the rest of the year.
Board Old Business: Diana Ruffing has accepted the board seat vacated by Ruth Pifher.
Board New Business: No new business items.
The next meeting of the Seneca East Library Board will be September 13th at 7:30 PM.
There being no further business to conduct, Tina Shook made a motion to adjourn at 8:03 PM.
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Janet Ruffing, President Tina Shook, Secretary