Public Library Board April 15
Director Herman provided an update on the Chapin Memorial Library (CML) issue in Petersburg. The second community meeting, scheduled to be held on April 4, was cancelled due to an outbreak of COVID in the Petersburg community. To avoid any further delay, Director Herman went ahead and has scheduled the CML to be open to the public Mondays through Thursdays from 11am to 7pm, Fridays from 10am to 6pm, and on Saturdays from 10am to 5pm. The CML will be staffed Tuesday through Thursday. The staff will be there from 2pm to7pm on 2 of those days and 1pm to 7pm on the remaining day. It was determined that family style programming no longer meets the criteria for library bus visits but once staffed, Director Herman indicated that the Hebron branch staff will likely oversee programming for CML. Additionally, the restrooms will be open only while the library is staffed because the restrooms are maintained by the local volunteer fire department members. Director Herman indicated her intent to post for the CML staff on April 16.
The Walton construction project is proceeding. There will be another scheduled site walk on May 9. There may be a delay, however, due to some fiber color panels for the outside of the library which were due by the end of April and are now being pushed back to early to late May. However, the Walton branch will close May 31 as scheduled to re-open in September.
The Drees land use proposal for the library was further discussed by the Board. Director Herman indicated she’s received interest from multiple entities, including a church, a school, warehouses and the water tank that the County wants to put on part of the property. However, from a previous survey taken in 2011, it appears the community would like more green space. The Board shelved further discussion on this topic to the May meeting although the Board feels they should defer any decision until they obtain input from the community itself.
Current library assets are $19,600,000 with year-to-date revenues of $9.7 million and year-to-date expenses of $11,290,000 (most of which is attributable to the Walton construction). It was mentioned that once the Walton project is completed and some time has elapsed to see how things are going, the Florence branch is next on the list to be looked at.
The Foundation received $11,000 earmarked for early childhood projects. $5,500 was raised for Archive & History projects.
There were only a few attendees from the public. One couple was there regarding the CML and indicated concerns about backup staff if the CML part-time staff goes on vacation or is out for any appreciable amount of time. Director Herman indicated that the CML staff will be required to provide advance notice so that staff from one of the other branches can fill in during that timeframe.
Public comment was also made by a resident of Hebron requesting more diversity with regard to periodicals furnished by the library. She suggested the Epoch Times and indicated that most of the periodicals are represented by USA Today, the Louisville Courier Journal, etc. and all appear to be very one-sided. She would even be willing to pay for a subscription for the Epoch Times to be included with these periodicals to present an alternate viewpoint. Director Herman provided her card so she can have further one-on-one discussion with this individual.
This committee member also made a brief comment regarding the Hebron land use proposal, re-affirming that the community should be consulted as in the over ten years since the survey was taken, Drees has put in another whole community which includes multi-family dwellings. Additionally, there have been a slew of apartments constructed by Thornwilde, and Rivers Pointe in a continually growing subdivision which includes a mixture of single and multi-family dwellings. Definitely more green space is needed.