Board of Trustees

The Upper Sandusky Community Library Board of Trustees holds its regular meetings on the second Thursday of every month at 12:00 p.m. in the library's board meeting room in the basement. The meetings are open to the public.

Read the 2024 annual report. 

The approved minutes for the most recent Board of Trustees meeting is available below. 

Upper Sandusky Community Library Board of Trustees: Sept. 11, 2025

The Upper Sandusky Community Library Board of Trustees convened on Thursday, September 11, at 12:45 p.m. in the Library Board Room with the following members present: Ms. Jenny Romich, Ms. Amy Aldridge-Ritchey, Ms. Dianne Grafmiller, Mr. Ben Buckland, Mr. Todd Leightey, and Ms. Ann Kemerley. Mr. Brian Kimmel was absent. Director Kathleen Whitt was also present.

President Jenny Romich asked for public comments. Hearing none, Ms. Romich asked if there were corrections or additions to the distributed minutes of the August meeting. Hearing none, Ms. Romich declared that the minutes stand as distributed.

Next on the agenda was a motion to ratify the payment of the bills. Ms. Romich asked if there were any questions about the bills. Hearing none, the motion was made and seconded to ratify the payment of bills; in a roll call vote, all present approved the bills.

Under old business, the Board considered replacement of the digital microfilm scanner. The library has received a $2,000 grant from the Wyandot County Community Foundation to help pay for this, as well as a $5,000 unrestricted grant from the Columbus Foundation. Ms. Whitt suggested the purchase of a ScanPro 2500 with Advantage Membership, with a view to the possibility of doing in-house digitization of the library’s microfilm holdings. The motion was made and seconded to purchase the ScanPro 2500 from World Micrographics, with a 4-year Advantage membership. In a roll call vote, all present approved the motion. The Board also suggested Ms. Whitt seek additional funding to help pay for the Advantage membership.

Under new business, Ms. Whitt said a staff member had requested the Board consider reimbursing them for medical expenses connected with a work-related injury, in lieu of Worker’s Compensation.

It was then moved and seconded that the Board move to executive session in order to discuss staff member compensation. In a roll call vote, all present approved the motion. The Board entered executive session at 12:55.

At 1:06, the regular session was resumed.

The motion was made and seconded to recommend the staff member submit a claim for Worker’s Compensation. All present approved the motion.

The next item on the agenda was discussion of library trustee terms and the library’s bylaws. In the August Director’s Report, Ms. Whitt noted that one of the items included in HB96 (the Ohio State budget for FY2026-2027) was a provision reducing terms for school district library trustees from seven to four years. This provision is effective as of September 30, 2025. Current terms will not be curtailed, but new and renewed terms will be for four years. As the bylaws adopted in 2016 specify that trustee terms are for seven years, this must be updated. After reviewing the text of the bylaws, the motion was made and seconded to state “Effective September 30, 2025, each library trustee is appointed to a four-year term. Trustees appointed prior to September 30, 2025, will serve the entire term to which they were appointed.” All present approved the motion.

Next on the agenda was discussion of the Hoopla service, which provides library users with access to e-books, downloadable audiobooks, movies, and music. This service provides supplemental access to that provided through the Ohio Digital Library (Libby). While it is very popular with our patrons, it is more expensive than Libby. Unlike Libby, where the library “buys” specific titles for a collection shared with libraries throughout Ohio, with Hoopla, the library pays for each time a patron borrows an item, but there is never a waiting list. For this reason, we have had to cap the number of borrows a patron can have each month, as well as limiting the amount of money available to borrowers to spend each month – right now the budget cap is $600/month. It was noted that certain services and materials offered by the library are more expensive than others; as this is a service highly valued by our patrons, it is worthwhile continuing at this point.

The last item on the agenda was consideration of holding the November meeting in a virtual context via Zoom, as the library board room will be unavailable due to construction. Ms. Whitt will bring the virtual meetings policy to the October meeting for review.

In the Director’s Report, Ms. Whitt reported that:

1. We have been awarded a $2,000 grant from the Wyandot County Community Foundation for the replacement of the digital microfilm scanner. The awards ceremony will be on Tuesday, October 14, at 4:00 p.m. I can bring one guest with me.
2. In addition, we have received a grant in the amount of $8,972.70 from the Columbus Foundation’s David H. and Mary Lois Stansbery Endowment Fund, for media and programming to promote the study of science, history and philosophy.
3. We have also received a $5,000 grant from the Columbus Foundation’s Kate and Bill Aubry Fund. This grant is unrestricted.
4. School is back in session, and so are story times for little ones at the library, as well as weekly after-school programming. We have Middle School Story Time on Mondays, featuring readers’ theater, puppet plays, and similar activities. We also offer a Wednesday Hangout for 6^th-12^th graders, where kids can just chat with their friends and play games; and That Thursday Thing, with crafts, games, and snacks for all school-aged children. We have a monthly Middle School Book Club the last Monday of each month: September’s book is El Deafo by Cece Bell.
5. CraftParty is still on break this month. The Common Readers will discuss The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd in September, and the Inglorious Bookworms are reading Alex Grecian’s Red Rabbit). The Lunch Bunch theme this month is “a recipe from a famous chef.”
6. Other adult programming this month includes the interactive “Mystery at Toadworts,” Patti and Tony Davidson’s “Taste of the Decades: 1960’s,” and our semiannual plant swap.
7. Last week, we had a walk-through with Smith-Boughan’s project manager for the upcoming air conditioning system upgrade. The new chiller is scheduled to be shipped soon, and they are planning to start work inside the building on November 3. They will probably start preparing the grounds (removing bushes and extending the pad) in October. We are planning for the project to last through the end of the year, although it could be completed before then. This will affect availability of the Board Room, since they need to go through the ceiling to access ducts. We also need to use the Heritage Room to relocate the cataloger’s office for the entire duration of the project. While the Heritage Room will not be accessible to the public, library staff will be able to retrieve materials for patrons to use in the library.
8. The Wyandot County Budget Commission has set the following distributions of 2026 Public Library Funds:
   1. Dorcas Carey Public Library: 36.00% ($325,750.68)
   2. Forest-Jackson Public Library: 6.61% ($59,811.44)
   3. Mohawk Community Library: 21.39% ($193,550.20)
   4. Upper Sandusky Community Library: 36.00% ($325,750.68)

The amount estimated for the Upper Sandusky Community Library is $6,620.04, or 2%, below that estimated for 2025. The figures are based on the State distribution estimate of $904,863.00 for Wyandot County. The distribution percentages are the same as in recent years. The Budget Commission encourages “all library boards to engage in conversation to develop a mutually acceptable formula for future distributions of Public Library Funds.” They also suggested the library boards consider accepting a set distribution percentage to remain in place for 3-5 years.

9. The Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) recently posted the September 2025 Public Library Fund (PLF) distribution of $40,419,668 – which is $6.8 million or -14.47% below ODT’s original estimate that was issued in July 2024; and $5.3 million or -11.67% below ODT’s updated estimate issued in December 2024. The PLF Calendar Year (CY) 2025 year-to-date total is $373,449,379. Although the PLF is now a line-item appropriation, the monthly distributions to the county level will slightly change each month.
10. Memorial/Honor/Donations:
    1. In memory of: Emma "Becky" Carpenter
       1. Donors: Van & Vicki Orians, Terry Hartle, Dixie Cameron, Jennifer Romich, Lois Lucas, Amy Orians Miner
    2. In Memory of: Donna Crawford
       1. Bob & Sue Bender
    3. In Memory of: Becky Winters
       1. June Demler & Steve Shumaker

There were no Items Not on the Agenda.

Ms. Romich asked whether there were any additional items for discussion. Hearing none, the motion was made and seconded to adjourn; the meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.

If you would like to view older Board of Trustees minutes, please email uscl@seolibraries.org.