Earlville Library District Board Meeting Minutes
6:00 PM Tuesday, November 18, 2025
On November 18, 2025, the meeting of the Earlville Library District Board was called to order by President Ann Hecathorn at 6:00 p.m. at the library.
Present for the meeting were board members: Ann Hecathorn, Mary Bender, Stephanie Eller, Ben Hoffman, Skip Nanzer, and Janice Wolff. Also present was Director Paige Frechmann.
Review of agenda: The elevator phone discussion was moved from the director’s report to new business. Janice Wolff made the motion, which was seconded by Ann Hecathorn, and the motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.
Public participation: No public participation occurred.
Review of minutes from previous meeting: Three items were corrected on the October meeting minutes. Janice Wolff motioned to accept the minutes, Ben Hoffman seconded the motion, and the motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.
Financial report: Ann Hecathorn motioned to accept the financial report; Mary Bender seconded the motion. The motion passed with a unanimous roll-call vote.
Library director’s report: Paige explained that eBook stats are not going to be accurate or updated from the time that the Boundless app ceased functioning until the library system has a working replacement, which should only be a few weeks. Kid craft activities are going well. The Dungeons and Dragons campaign group ended, and according to their exit surveys, Paige received positive feedback with regards to charging a fee for future groups. The Lego wall has declined in popularity lately, and Paige is hopeful that interest will pick up in the new year when Lego club starts back up again. RAILS has been moving electronic materials to a new platform (Palace Project) to replace Boundless, and is working to add additional new materials in anticipation of the release of the new platform, which will happen hopefully December 2nd. A student from Waubonsee expressed interest in taking some of the library’s free materials and passing them on to other organizations, and Paige was able to give him items that had been on the free shelves for an extended amount of time. The library’s Sierra system was down for a day on November 3rd, but was back up and functioning again the following day.
New business: Kathy Eager submitted her resignation to the board, and the board has 90 days to appoint a new member to her position. The board and Paige will work to compile a list of individuals who may be interested in the position to present for board consideration at the next meeting. The board discussed giving a Christmas bonus to library staff in an amount equal to last year’s bonus – Mary Bender motioned to accept this amount, Janice Wolff seconded the motion, and the motion passed with a unanimous roll-call vote. Ann Hecathorn motioned to cancel the December 2025 board meeting, Ben Hoffman seconded the motion, and the motion passed with a unanimous voice vote. The documents provided by TK regarding the elevator phone were discussed, regarding whether the library would make a one-time payment for the new elevator phone or whether it would be a reoccurring charge to maintain a working phone. Ben mentioned that he could look at the elevator phone line first before proceeding with the cost proposed by TK, and the board agreed that this would be the best to try that first.
Unfinished business: Because the proposed window replacement is over the $25,000 threshold, the library would need to go through a bidding process for the replacement windows. The board discussed the merits of replacing the windows versus considering whether the draft might be mitigated through the installation of new sealant. Ben is going to test the sealant idea with one of the library’s windows first to see if that might diagnose the problem before committing to a full replacement project. Carpet cleaning quotes will be on the agenda for our next meeting. Paige received 3 quotes for addressing the basement water issue; some quotes suggested replacing the sump pump while others did not recommend that action. Paige will reach back out to the companies to renegotiate the scope of the work to try to get comparable quotes for the same pieces of work being done before the board takes action on accepting a proposal. The library had 22 kids participate in the Halloween costume contest this year, and next year will consider creating separate age groups for judging. Paige is waiting to hear back regarding the elevator inspection, and she has no new news regarding the elevator sump pump alarm. The board and Paige finished discussion on the final items for the Per Capita Grant. Because new ILA standards are forthcoming, moving forward there may no longer be a required checklist for the standards.
Items for the next agenda:
- Further window/sealant discussion
- Updates on carpet cleaning quotes
- Updates on basement water mitigation quotes
- Updates on elevator inspection
- Appointing a new board member
- Updates regarding elevator phone and line
The motion to adjourn was made by Ann Hecathorn, and Janice Wolff seconded the motion. The motion was passed with a unanimous voice vote and the meeting was adjourned at 7:27 p.m.
Next meeting date: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. at the Earlville Library District.