New this month!
In addition to audio recordings, library staff will be posting updates that summarize each Board meeting. In brief, these summaries will cover the topics discussed and resolutions reached, and will include timestamps so you can easily find and listen to those segments of the meeting in detail.
As we begin this new process, our goal is to upload the audio recording and the meeting summary no later than 1 week after the Board meeting. Meetings are held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, so the 4th Wednesday will be the upload day. In January we will also be including a full text transcript, for accessibility and textual record-keeping.
If you’d like to stay updated on the Board meetings but cannot attend them in person, you can check here for updates.
Have suggestions or feedback? Let us know by emailing communications@hctpl.info.
[00:00:00] 2027 budget adoption
Before the regular board meeting, a brief budget adoption meeting was held. Board members discussed two proposed amounts for the property tax levy: $2.3 million or $2.25 million. Last week we received our final tax cap estimates and at estimated amounts, a budget of $2.3 million would give us roughly an extra $34,000, whereas the $2.25 million would have us spending $670 out of our operating savings. Library director Beka Lemons had predicted estimates slightly higher at 72%, and at her estimate—at a budget of $2.3 million—we would add $102,000 to our operating balance, which is higher than the board was comfortable with.
After group discussion, the board adopted a property tax levy of $2.25 million to keep revenue as close to zero over operating budget plans as possible. Between donations and other funding sources, the board does not expect to take any money from savings to cover the predicted $670 shortage. The board approved the proposal and signed the document to be sent to the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF). We expect to hear that our budget has been accepted sometime in late December or early January.
[00:17:11] Regular board meeting
Minutes from the August meeting were approved with some minor amendments to add specific details.
[00:22:30] Financial Reports & Bills
Board member Dawn asked for clarification on Rural Fees, and Beka explained that these are from those who live outside our service area buying a library card with us.
Small corrections were added to receipts documents, with these corrected documents presented to the board for review.
The reading of the Financial Reports & Bills was approved.
[00:24:38] Report of the librarian
Beka shared an update that recent staff retirements, position changes, and new hires have all completed and settled down, but that we are currently hiring for a 20 hour/week circulation clerk position as a staff member has put in their resignation and will be leaving at the end of the month.
Library staff are actively working on programming for a year-long 2027 theme, titled Find Yourself at Your Library. The goal for this theme is to help patrons find happiness and fulfillment as well as facilitate community engagement, among other ideas.
The library’s Major Projects committee has decided on the projects the library will start in the last quarter of 2026, those being patron/community surveys (including at Markle) as well as a proposal for reconfiguring some of the library’s restrooms.
[00:27:04] Committee reports
There were none presented.
[00:27:13] Communications
Beka received a communication from Huntington county for another TIF proposal for the Indian Ridge housing allocation area, and shared that the meeting to discuss that was set for September 18. The communication clarifies that there is no estimated tax rate change for the proposal.
[00:27:48] Public input
There was no public input.
[00:27:55] Unfinished business
The new parking and purchasing policies were added to the board member’s packets in their final forms.
[00:28:17] New business
Adjustments were made to the Rainy Day fund and LIRF (Library Improvement and Renovation Fund) for this year so that DLGF knows we are funded for next year. Resolutions were proposed to reduce this year’s Rainy Day expenditure by $474,696 and LIRF by $88,137. Doing this carries these funds over to next year. The two resolutions were approved.
[00:32:15] Policies
Book-A-Librarian Service
A new policy for the Book-A-Librarian policy was proposed. The board discussed when this service applies compared to everyday customer service. Beka clarified this as times when dedicated one-on-one time to help with needs that take longer than five or ten minutes at the desk are necessary, such as assistance with setting up an email for the first time or help drafting a resume. This is a service we have offered already for years, but have decided a policy would help keep the service consistent for both the library and the patron. This policy was approved.
Fix to all-day staff training closure date
An adjustment was made to the library’s Hours and Holidays policy to correct the wrong date listed for the library’s all day in-service that requires the library to be closed. The date was adjusted from November 13 to November 12, 2026.
2027-2031 Strategic Plan
Beka led the board through the current working document for the library’s upcoming Strategic Plan update. Much of it remains unchanged from the previous document, but a few changes were made, namely adding Relevance under the library’s Values.
Changes were made to Focus Areas. Community Engagement was added, which discusses both providing services and collections relevant to our community, as well as soliciting feedback regularly. A discussion was had about how collection development has changed in the advent of social media and viral trends. Increasing volunteer opportunities, improving relationships with community organizations, large-scale community events, and sharing our story were also all briefly discussed.
Meaningful and Intentional Services was added, and a discussion was had about re-centering on the role of a library and not taking on every community gap as the library isn’t always the best organization to fill it. The role of library-provided technology related to children and teens, focusing on providing literacy support, supporting community organizations versus duplicating their efforts, the role of libraries providing social services and/or maker spaces, were all discussed.
Improving ease of use was also mentioned, and discussion mostly centered around making the library itself easy to use, including the library’s physical space as well as online. Placing holds and using library apps were topics of conversation.
Improving the team mindset for library staff was discussed as well, focused on making sure staff are more educated on what other departments of the library do and provide.
Making the library a place of learning and growth is a new section, with age-relevant breakdowns for how this will be focused and implemented. When senior services were brought up, discussion was had about homebound service, both in how the library used to offer it and what it might look like going forward.
A question was asked about libraries being a “popular reading” library but also promoting learning and growth and how balance is struck. Beka discussed that it largely comes down to community demand and patron requests; the library is a popular reading library but relies heavily on patron requests to know whether or not what’s trending globally is important locally.
The Goals section was discussed last and briefly covered, which contained specific tasks related to accomplishing some of the topics in the Focus Areas above. Beka also mentioned that 2028 is the library’s 125th year and special events and activities will be planned to celebrate as the date approaches.
Also mentioned was the renewal date for our Integrated Library System (ILS) software, which is in 2029. We are looking at options from renewing to switching to Evergreen, the state shared system, as it is significantly cheaper than what we pay annually. We are watching some of the larger libraries switching to Evergreen in the coming months to see the impacts it has on their collection and whether it would be viable for us as well, as the cost savings would be significant.
The Strategic Plan will be finalized at the next board meeting.
The meeting was adjourned.
The Board of Trustees will next meet at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the Huntington main library.