Published using Google Docs
Trustee Meeting Minutes January 2025
Updated automatically every 5 minutes

Chouteau County Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

January, January 15, 2025 at 12:00 pm

Fort Benton

  1. Call to order: Nona Danreuther calls the meeting to order at 12:09 p.m.

  1. Members present:
  1. Nona Danreuther - Chair, Jessalyn Ritland - Vice-chair, Nancy Grossman, Kim Hibl (via Zoom), Janet Worrall, Emily Wicks - Director
  2. Guests present:
  1. Russ Panting, Bill Wood, Sissy Felton, Ani Gonzales, George Popescu, Cara Orban - MSL consultant, Wendy Kamm, Janet Jordan
  1. Guests present on Zoom:
  1. nick, bsblc, Sami Jo - Geraldine Branch Library, Maren Engen, Bethany Monroe-DeBorde
  1. Changes or additions to the agenda
  1. Janet Worrall would like to add a discussion for a consensus for minutes and budget.

  1. Minutes: Consider approval of the October, November, and December 2024  meeting minutes.
  1. Worrall moves to accept the minutes as presented for the October, November, and December 2024 minutes. Nancy Grossman seconds. Motion carries

  1. Budget: Consider accepting monthly financial reports for October, November, and December 2024.
  1. Grossman moves to accept the October, November, and December 2024 financial reports as presented. Jessalyn Ritland seconds. Motion carries

  1. Branch Reports:
  1. Big Sandy - Darlene Cline reports
  1. November - Themes: Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Lung Cancer Awareness, Di-Know-Vember - quotes of interesting facts. Weeding as the project.
  2. December - Ugly Christmas Sweaters. Christmas stroll was a great success. Thank you for letting us be open. Reorganized the shelves as the project.
  1. Fort Benton - Emily Wicks reports
  1. October - Themes: Halloween, fall, spooky, explorers, Hispanic Heritage Month, wolves, bats, ghosts, witches, mummies, zombies, Elections. Projects included: outreach with the Fort Benton Elementary 5th and 6th grade classes, hosted the Pathfinder meeting, a presentation in collaboration with the local quilt guild for the story quilt, Books ‘n’ Treats.
  2. November - Themes: Native American Heritage Month, Veterans, baking & cooking, Know-vember, Dino-vember, Thanksgiving, hope, foxes, owls, adoption. Projects included: Wicks finished the Public Library Survey, building walk through with Ritland, Danreuther, and Rich Jespersen.
  3. December - Themes: Christmas and other winter holidays, Pearl Harbor, Japanese internment, Best of 2024, winter, dance. Projects included: Chouteau County Christmas Make ‘n’ Take and book sale.
  1. Geraldine - Samantha Summer reports
  1. October - Themes: Fall, Halloween, new books. Projects included: All of the shelving that was purchased for the shed is set up and everything is organized in the backroom and the shed. The Geraldine Review newspapers are back in Geraldine.
  2. November - Themes: Election, voting, Native American Heritage Month, Thanksgiving. Projects include: Community Christmas card exchange with Geraldine, New Zealand, and Geraldine, Alabama. 232 Christmas cards were made at the library and sent to New Zealand.
  3. December - Themes: Christmas, winter, snow. Projects included: The Democracy Project.
  1. Highwood - Emily Wicks reports
  1. October - Wicks presented a copy of the letter from the Highwood School Board that terminated that school/community co-op contract.
  2. Circulation statistics listed in the monthly report are books that are checked out of the Highwood School library.

  1. Director Report:
  1. Emily Wicks, Director
  1. The boiler was installed at the Fort Benton Library on January 2nd, 2025. There is a huge difference that can be felt already.
  2. Lippard-Clawiter awards were announced. The Foundation had requested $11,000 and was awarded $5,000. The bookbinder was ordered for approximately $1,864.93. This leaves a balance of roughly $3,000, which is insufficient for shelving or purifiers.
  3. The Foundation received a grant from Humanities Montana for $2,000 to host Hasan Davis. A living history presenter based in New York will be in Fort Benton on February 10th at 5:30 p.m. to present his program at River and Plains.
  4. Other events include: April - a month-long quilt display with heirloom quilts and an open house during National Library Week.
  5. Received bids from Tom Heydon for flooring for the McLeish Room. The Foundation will meet on January 29th at the Fort Benton Library at noon. The capital improvement plan will be discussed at that meeting.

  1. Announcements/Dates to remember:
  1. January 20th, 2025 - All branches of the CCL system closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  2. February 10th, 2025 - Hasan Davis; York: Explorer on the Lewis and Clark expedition. 5:30 p.m. at the Ag Museum
  3. February 24th, 2025 - All branches of the CCL system closed in observance of Presidents’ Day

  1. Unfinished Business:
  1. Policy review:
  1. 2025 Trustee Meeting Calendar
  1. Danreuther would like to see additional meetings at the Big Sandy and Geraldine libraries.
  2. Ritland moves to approve the calendar with changes as noted, Worrall seconds. Motion carries
  1. Mission Statement
  1. Worrall moves to send the mission statement to the policy committee. Grossman seconds. Motion carries
  1. Hotspot Agreement - First reading Contact the library for a copy of the current policy or find it on the website.
  1. Closure of the Big Sandy Library for carpet installation
  1. Worrall moves to close the Big Sandy Library January 16-29, 2025  for carpet renovations. Ritland seconds Motion carries
  2. Shine Electric will fix an outlet that has been damaged.
  1. Consensus Agenda
  1. Minutes and financial reports are approved without an official vote or public comment.

  1. New Business:
  1. Annual evaluation for the Director. Danreuther requests a self-evaluation from the Director submitted to the board by February 12th. Evaluation sheets were provided by county attorney Steve Gannon to Danreuther to distribute to the rest of the board.

  1. Public comment: Items not on the agenda but under the jurisdiction of the board.
  1. Ani Gonzales speaking on behalf of the GFWC. See recording for comments.
  2. Sissy Felton, DES - requesting a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the library as an emergency location. See recording for comments.

  1. Next Meeting:
  1. February 26th, 2025 at noon - Fort Benton, Montana
  2. Meeting adjourned at 1:23 p.m.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Emily Wicks, Director