Seneca East Public Library Board of Trustees
January 10th, 2024
The January 10th, 2024 Organizational Meeting of the Seneca East Board of Trustees was called to order by President Janet Ruffing at 7:32PM. Trustees in attendance were Janet Ruffing, Tina Shook, Jeff Beaston, Vicki Eckenrod and Michelle Zeiter. Library staff in attendance included Fiscal Officer Pamala Dunson and Director Shannon Featheringill.
New Officers for the Year 2024 were designated as follows:
President: Vicki Eckenrod nominated Janet Ruffing to serve as President of the Board for 2024. Jeff Beaston seconded the nomination. With no other nominations presented, Vicki Eckenrod voted to close nominations and to elect Janet Ruffing as President, Jeff Beaston seconded the motion and it passed with all members voting “aye”.
Vice-President: Vicki Eckenrod nominated Jeff Beaston to serve as the Vice-President of the Board for 2024. Janet Ruffing seconded the nomination. With no other nominations presented, Vicki Eckenrod voted to close nominations and to elect Jeff Beaston as Vice-President, Janet Ruffing seconded the motion and it passed with all members voting “aye”.
Secretary: Vicki Eckenrod nominated Tina Shook to serve as the Secretary of the Board for 2024. Janet Ruffing seconded the nomination. With no other nominations presented, Vicki Eckenrod voted to close nominations and to elect Tina Shook as Secretary, Janet Ruffing seconded the motion and it passed with all members voting “aye”.
Meeting Times: Times for the monthly meetings were discussed and the general consensus was to keep the meetings the same as the current date and time which is the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:30PM.
Mileage Reimbursement Rate: A motion to set the reimbursement rate at $0.60 was made by Jeff Beaston and a 2nd by Michelle Zeiter and approved by all remaining board members voting “aye”.
Library Closed Dates for 2024: A schedule of Seneca East Public LIbrary holidays was presented by Director Featheringill. The schedule lists 13 Full Days and 1 early closing at 5 PM. A motion to approve the schedule was made by Michelle Zeiter, a 2nd by Jeff Beaston and the motion passed with all members voting “aye”.
Committee Assignments for 2024:
Audit: Tina Shook, Michelle Zeiter
Budget/Appropriations: Michelle Zeiter, Vicki Eckenrod
Policy Review: Jeff Beaston, Tina Shook
Record Retention: Full board
President Janet Ruffing will serve on all committees.
A motion to keep the current record retention policy in place was made by Tina Shook, a 2nd by Vicki Eckenrod and approval of all remaining members by voting “aye”.
A motion to approve a $10,000 to $50,000 Surety Bond for the Fiscal Officer was made by Jeff Beaston, a 2nd by Michelle Zeiter and approval of all remaining members voting “aye”.
The petty cash fund of $40 and the change fund of $35 were set and remain unchanged. A motion to keep petty cash fund and change fund set and unchanged was made by Vicki Eckenrod, a 2nd by Jeff Beaston and the motion passed with all members voting “aye”.
A motion to adjourn the organizational meeting at 7:50 PM was made by Tina Shook, a 2nd by Michelle Zeiter and approval of all remaining members by voting “aye”.
At the conclusion of the organizational meeting, the Regular Monthly Meeting of the Seneca East Library Board of Trustees was called to order at 7:50 PM.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the December 2023 meeting were reviewed and approved with a motion by Vicki Eckenrod, a 2nd by Jeff Beaston, and approval of all remaining board members by voting “aye”.
Fiscal Officer’s Report: The board reviewed the December 2023 bills as well as reviewing and initialing the December 2023 Bank Reconciliation and Management Reports as presented by the Fiscal Officer. Employee Rate Change Sheets have been signed according to the Board approval made in December. Copies have been given to the Secretary for the Official Records, the Director and the Fiscal Officer.
The 2023 books have been closed out, taxes paid, W-2’s distributed, the Certificate of Estimated Resources has been filed with the Auditor and have received the Official Amended Certificate from the County Auditor. The Revenue posted to the UAN System, reconciles with the Amended Certificate.
The Annual Financial Statements are completed and sent to the State (along with the Hinkle Notes) & legal notice for the HUB has been sent for publication this week or next. The Legal Notice has been posted on the Library’s Website and Facebook as well. A copy of the Annual Financial Statement is at the library for review upon request.
Discuss Permanent Appropriation Draft Sheet for 2024:
- Year 2023 Reflects what was actually spent, rather than budgeted in order to give a better picture for 2024.
- Carryover balance this year is $224,019.74
- $100,000 is in process to transfer to Capital Improvement Fund from Hollinger Estate money.
- There is an increase of $42,216.16 in carryover from 2022 when you take off the $100,000 Hollinger money that was in process to be transferred to Capital Improvements Fund. (2022 was $181,803.58)
- The Budget Appropriation meeting is to be held February 14th, 2024 at 6:30 PM.
CHART OF ACCOUNT UPDATES – After working out some bugs prior to switch over, the year 2024 is up and running using the new accounting system. There still could be, however, some appropriation budgeting issue throughout the year. This is why Fiscal Officer Dunson had asked for authority to supplement accounts when needed, and to report them at the next meeting.
Compliance Items Pending:
- 1099’s and 1096 to be completed
- School, Ohio & Local Tax Reconciliations pending
- Social Security Annual Reporting
- The Bureau of Workers’ Comp True-up Payroll Report.
- The 2020 300AP Form required by Workers Comp. and then to be posted in the employee’s work area.
- The 2023 Public Employers Annual Information Report.
- Non-Contributing List of Independent Contractors to be completed on OPERS website. January 31st is the deadline.
- Monthly UAN Back-up has been completed and stored in the library's vault.
Director’s Report: Director Featheringill reported a total Patron Count for December of 2617 with 25 days open.
Old Business:
- Eclipse: Director Featheringill is waiting on a response from Seneca County EMA and has not heard if Seneca East schools will be closing for the day. We are still working on a plan for the distribution of the 100 pairs of ordered eclipse glasses.
New Business:
- 2024 Holiday Closings are attached and were approved during the organizational meeting.
- 2024 Custodian and Snow Shoveling contracts have been signed. Brandon Darling has not been in to sign his yet for Plowing, but the contract is ready, and he should be in soon. There were no changes from last year. Nancy Clark is contracted as our custodian for $900 per month. Richie Aukland shovels the walks for $14.00 minimum and $14 per hour after that. Brandon Darling plows for $65 and removes snow for $115 per hour.
- Winter programming is scheduled through March. The flyer is attached.
Legislative:
- January PLF distribution is $35,451,717 (11.19% below July 2023 & 0.02% below December 2023 estimates).
- The OBM reports December receipts came in $263.7 million (11.5%) below estimates. OBM claims the state budget for FY24 is still on solid footing. OBM Director Kim Murnieks issued the following statement: “Monthly revenues were negatively impacted by large income tax refunds paid to filers who requested extensions for the 2022 tax year. This historic level of December refunds was driven by shifts in payment strategies for pass-through entities who elected to take advantage of tax law changes for federal tax purposes. Even so, when tax receipts, investment income, and other non-federal income to the General Revenue Fund are combined, fiscal year-to date revenues are on track. While it is unlikely that income tax refunds of this magnitude will recur in future Decembers, this shift will be taken into consideration as we forecast future income tax estimates by month.”
- Homestead Exemption Expansion: No updates on Ohio House Bill 187
Building Update:
- Roof: A reminder email to Jason Branham was sent awaiting a quote.
- Back Room Project: J&F began applying the epoxy floor Monday, January 8th and Jeff Beamer gave me an estimated completion date of January 19th.
- Lobby Heater: A quote on a replacement has not been received, but it is running fine since Herbert’s quick fix.
- Building Next Door: There is no word on the ordinances asked for from the Village Council.
Staff:
- Staff were all very appreciative of this year’s raises and wanted to thank you.
- PLA: Chris, Ariel, and I are planning on attending PLA in April. Director Featheringill is working on making sure the library is staffed before registration. To receive the early bird discount registration needs completed by this Friday.
- Kelly Lamoreaux is in Florida now until April 1.
Historical Society:
- No new business
Foundation Business:
- The SEPL Foundation held their organizational meeting Monday, January 8th. They set their meeting dates for the year and the date for the Reverse Raffle, pending availability of the Our Lady of Hope meeting hall, for September 21st.
- They welcomed new member Monica Hay, for a three-year term replacing Nicole Schiefer. They elected the same slate of officers as follows: President – Ariel Fry, Vice President – Evelyn Phillips, Secretary – Becky Allgyre, and Treasurer – Steve Albright.
- Treasurer Steve reported total money of $68,594.80. The foundation opted to invest $3000.00 and to donate $8000.00 to the library. They would like to earmark $2000.00 for children’s programming and $2000.00 for adult programming. The remaining $4000.00 may be allocated as the library director sees fit. They requested a periodic report of how their donation is being spent.
- The next foundation meeting is Monday, April 15th, 2024.
Children’s Room Report:
Programming:
- Winter storytime started back Jan 9th.
- For the winter session, we will be offering Stay and Play on Friday mornings. The first session will be Jan. 12th.
- December’s Brick Builders session had 8 in attendance.
- For January’s Mini Makers session we made snow slime. There were 11 in attendance.
- We have a “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” scavenger hunt/craft set up in the children’s room for the month of January. Passive programming participation was good for 2023 with 534 in house participants. We also passed out 738 take and make kits.
- Chris will be attending a Camp-in-a-Box Programming workshop at Norweld on January 25th and the
Summer Reading Program workshop at the State Library on February 2nd.
Adult Services Report:
Past Events:
- On December 14th, the Book Club met with 9 in attendance
- Adult services hosted craft nights on December 11th and 18th with 15 and 12 in attendance respectively.
Current Events:
- There are 2 displays up this month.
- Spring activities are being planned.
Upcoming Events:
- The Book Club will discuss The Twelve Tribes of Hattie on January 11th.
- On January 22nd, Self Portraits craft will be held.
- Line Dancing Mamas will be here on January 29th.
Board Old Business:
- There are still two vacancies on the board.
Board New Business:
- Request a quote for Phase 2 renovations from J&F Construction.
The next meeting of the Seneca East Library Board will be February 14th, 2023 at 7:30 PM.
There being no further business to conduct, Tina Shook made a motion to adjourn at 9:09 PM.
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Janet Ruffing, President Tina Shook, Secretary