April 2025 Minutes
Switzerland County Public Library
Board Meeting Minutes
April 8th, 2025
The regular monthly meeting of the Switzerland County Public Library Board of Trustees was held Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 at 3:30 pm in the meeting room of the library. Attending were Mary Jane Rogers, Diane Sigmon, Michelle Hicks, Norman Miller, Don Tolliver, Sharon Deck, Heather Peelman, and Emily Fox. Not attending was Diana Barry.
Rogers made a motion to approve the minutes of the previous board meeting, seconded by Deck and passed unanimously. Reports of library activity and technology activity were shared. Most statistics remained steady. Library programming will slow down in the months of April and May while staff prepare for summer reading. Fox will be attending two outreach programs in May to sign patrons up for library cards. The library is trying a new pre-registration system for summer reading in order to gauge interest compared to how many patrons pick up reading logs. Collecting e-mail addresses will also allow SCPL to easily contact active patrons with strategic plan surveys this summer.
Bills and claims were presented. Tolliver made a motion to approve the claims, seconded by Hicks and passed unanimously.
Time for Public Comments
None.
Old Business
Fox and Adult Services Coordinator Samantha Minch painted the meeting room in late March. Fox is still receiving quotes for flooring and has reached out to local contractors, but none have responded. With so much local flooding, the contractors will likely be even busier in the coming months. Fox will get a quote from a bigger chain store like Lowes or Home Depot, but stated that a local contractor would have been preferable.
New Business
The Capital Asset Policy was reviewed. No changes were made.
The Small Purchase Policy was reviewed. Fox suggested to change the purchasing threshold from $2500 to $4000 to keep up with rising costs. This would also allow her to make a decision on flooring without consulting the board, allowing it to be completed quickly. Tolliver motioned to accept the change, Sigmon seconded and it passed unanimously.
Fox stated that janitor Natalie Peters gave her resignation on March 17th and her last day is today. Fox has advertised in the Madison Courier per board policy, but since the policy states it will be advertised three times and the Courier runs twice per week and only does weekly ads, Fox asked if she should advertise one more week or if two postings would be sufficient. Consensus was that one week is enough for now and if needed, the ad can run again at a later time. Social media is the most prevalent way to reach potential employees. In the meantime, library clerk Becky Burchfield’s personal cleaning person, Heather Cooper, will be filling in through the end of April in a contracted capacity for $25 per hour.
Fox gave updates on legislation at the federal and local level that would impact libraries. The defunding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services would impact Evergreen Indiana, Indiana Digital Library/Libby, INSPIRE, and the transit service all Indiana libraries use. ILF has released a statement and urged library supporters to contact their federal representatives. At the state level, property tax legislation is still being finalized, but could have a negative impact in 2026 and beyond. ILF has not issued a call to action yet, but may soon.
Miller and Tolliver were approached by local artist Billie Pierce about potentially displaying some of her works at the library. She has worked with the YMCA and auctions off her paintings to donate to nonprofits and other good causes. Fox said that the library would be interested and that if she is contacted, they could work something out. Hicks said it would be nice to display in the meeting room.
The library will be closed on Friday, April 18th for Good Friday.
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m.
Minutes recorded by Emily Fox.