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Faulkner County Library Board Minutes
Faulkner County Library Board Minutes - 2025
Minutes for January 27, 2025
Jeff Whittingham called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on January 27, 2025, at 5:35 PM. Present were board members Kellie Carden, John Gray, Cindy Stage, and Jeff Whittingham; as well as Director John McGraw.
Minutes of the December 16th meeting were reviewed. Kellie moved to approve the minutes. Cindy seconded the motion, which passed.
John recommended selection of a board chair for 2025. Jeff volunteered to continue. There being no other candidates, the chairmanship was renewed by acclamation.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. John noted that 2024 Revenue ended at 117% of projections. January collections are already double the average for January collections. The projection for 2025 is 23% over the 2024 projection, 5.25% above the 2024 final number. The Quorum Court approved moving funds the 3000s into the 2000s section to close out the 2024 budget year.
Bookkeeper’s Report were reviewed. Interlibrary Loan was discussed.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. 2024 saw growth in overall attendance, as well as attendance in Conway, Greenbrier, Mayflower, and Vilonia specifically. Circulation grew on both the physical collection and the downloadable collection, with Libby adding 40,000 alone. Programming saw gains in both children’s programming and adult programming, though eclipse glasses provided a boost that will be hard to make up for in 2025.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the purchase orders. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Kellie moved to approve the expenditures. Cindy seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed.
Old Business
The storage building for Greenbrier is due to be installed January 29.
New Business
Fire alarms: In December the board tabled discussion of fire alarm inspections. Since then John has learned that inspections are provided free in 2025 by the vendor selected to replace the existing system.
John outlined the bidding for custodial contracts. Razorclean’s bid is the lowest, and one meeting in the interim had suggested that they were capable of handling the job. Cindy moved to approve the Razorclean bid for service in 2025. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Cindy moved to adjourn at 6:03PM. Kellie seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for February 17, 2025
Jeff Whittingham called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on February 17, 2025, at 5:37 PM.- Present were board members Kellie Carden, John Gray, Cindy Stage, Stephanie Vanderslice and Jeff Whittingham; as well as Director John McGraw and Todd Carden.
Minutes of the January 27th meeting were reviewed. Kellie moved to approve the minutes. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. January 2024 was an outlier that brought in more than double the average revenue for January. January 2025 was higher than January 2024 and may be a new normal for January collection.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. Attendance finally fell to what passes for normal levels. Nevertheless, circulation increased over the previous January, entirely on the strength of physical collections.
Bookkeeper’s Reports were reviewed.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Stephanie moved to approve the purchase orders. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Stephanie moved to approve the expenditures. Cindy seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed.
Old Business
Revised plans for Mount Vernon were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the plans and move forward. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
New Business
The board took up a proposal to replace two LAN Switches. This should increase speed for staff and patrons and provide some redundancy recently lacking. Cindy moved to approve the proposal. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Kellie moved to adjourn at 6:12PM. Cindy seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for March 17, 2025
The March Board Meeting did not occur, as a full quorum was unable to be in attendance.
Minutes for April 21, 2025
Jeff Whittingham called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on April 21, 2025, at 5:32 PM.- Present were board members Kellie Carden, John Gray, Cindy Stage, Stephanie Vanderslice and Jeff Whittingham; as well as Director John McGraw, Assistant Director DeAnna Dillon, Network Administrator Christoper Bowen and JP Joyia Yorgey.
Minutes of the February 17th meeting were reviewed. Stephanie moved to approve the minutes. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. Millage revenue has slowed over March and April, but all expenditure line items are in line with where they should be at this point in the year.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. Circulation increased over the last month and attendance stay the same
Bookkeeper’s Reports were reviewed.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Stephanie moved to approve the purchase orders. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the expenditures. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed.
Old Business
HQ Fence: The Director stated that the fence on the west side of the building has been replaced after falling in the storms in March. John Gray moved to approve the invoice from Bill’s Fence for $2,763.00. Cindy seconded the motion, which passed.
HQ Restrooms: The Director presented one quote to redo the bathrooms at HQ. He stated he would like to do a test run with the company that is chosen starting with the staff restrooms. With summer in a few months, we need to have all bathrooms fully functional so the public restrooms will need to wait until after summer.
Mt. Vernon: Septic tank permits raised questions about capacity during peak months.
Personnel: The Director requested to go to the Quorum Court to increase Part-Time salaries by $20,000 for summer temps, turning the Guy Branch Manager into a Full-Time position and adding a Marketing position. Stephanie moved to approve the request. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
New Business
The board took up a proposal to replace 12 iMac for the HQ Staff. The computer that staff are currently using will replace the oldest patron use computers. Cindy questioned if this would be enough for all the staff. Cindy made a motion to approve 16 new iMac. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
John stated that the legislative audit was back, and he would be compiling his report on their findings.
The May meeting will be May 12th.
Cindy moved to adjourn at 6:31PM. Stephanie seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for May 12, 2025
Jeff Whittingham called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on May 12, 2025, at 5:33 PM.- Present were board members John Gray, Cindy Stage, and Jeff Whittingham; as well as Director John McGraw, Network Administrator Christoper Bowen and Circulation Manager Jessica Rutherford.
Minutes of the April 21st meeting were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the minutes. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. Millage revenue recovered from a couple slow months to have the second-strongest April ever. After barely a week of May—one of the strongest months for collection—we are about $10,000 short of the strongest May ever. Expenditures are where they should be at this point in the year, with the exception of Other Professional Services.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. Attendance was down over last April, in part due to the eclipse last April. Circulation remained the same over last April. Programming and computer use were up. Conway’s programming for kids plus teens has had over 2,000 attendees every month this year so far.
Bookkeeper’s Reports were reviewed. Advance spending for summer has put some budget lines ahead for the year.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the purchase orders. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the expenditures. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed.
Old Business
HQ Fence: The board expressed concern that the vendor is not honoring their 2018 work with the same warranty offered for their 2025 work. The Director will get more quotes.
HQ HVAC: The Director presented a quote to replace the heat pump housing. Cindy moved to approve the expenditures. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Personnel: The Director presented a job description and pay scale for the Marketing position approved last month. The Personnel Committee will hear the April requests at their May 13th meeting.
New Business
The Director presented a letter to Legislative Audit responding to three supplemental findings of the 2024 year.
1. The Greenbrier staff have been reminded to write receipts for all transactions. Previous findings of this sort were directed to the now-closed Comiconway account.
2. The long-dormant Comiconway account was not reconciled monthly to account for interest payments. The account has been closed and monthly reconciliations are happening with every other account.
3. Duplicate deposits in Quicken could not be found but may have been identified during annual removals of never-cashed checks (recommended by a prior supplemental finding). Monthly reconciliations will now include a check for duplicate deposits.
The June meeting will be June 9th, due to scheduling conflicts with the 16th.
Cindy moved to adjourn at 6:12PM. Cindy moved to adjourn. John seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for June 9, 2025
Jeff Whittingham called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on June 9, 2025, at 5:31 PM.- Present were board members John Gray, Cindy Stage, and Jeff Whittingham; as well as Director John McGraw and Assistant Director DeAnna Dillon.
Minutes of the May 12, 2025 meeting were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the minutes. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. The Director notes that May, one of the two months in which the majority of revenue is collected, was within 1% of being the strongest May on record. There are some concerns on the spending side, primarily the two Service budget lines, due to HVAC and fence issues.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. The Summer Kick-off/30th Birthday celebration had a door count of over 2100.
Bookkeeper’s Reports were reviewed. The director noted that several of the grants that the Garden had received are showing in the report, and that it may be helpful to amend budget lines to reflect unanticipated grant funds.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. The Conway library caught a termite swarm just as it began swarming and addressed it aggressively. Cindy moved to approve the purchase orders. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the expenditures. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed. Next meeting is July 23, 2025
Old Business
HQ Fence: A new part of the fence has fallen. The director presented 4 quotes. The board asked to have Golden Home Solutions and J&S both quote the same scope of work. Cindy made a motion for the director to accept the lowest of those two bids once received. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Personnel: The director informed the board that the Quorum Court approved adding additional funds to the Part-Time Salary lines and adding a Marketing position and Full-Time staff at the Guy Branch.
New Business
HQ HVAC: The director presented a quote for Valve & Actuator Replacements for $10,411. Cindy made a motion to approve. John seconded the motion, which passed
The next meeting will be July 21st.
Cindy moved to adjourn at 6:05PM. John seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for August 18, 2025
Jeff Whittingham called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on August 18, 2025, at 5:45 PM.- Present were board members John Gray, Kellie Cardin, Stephanie Vanderslice. Cindy Stage and Jeff Whittingham; as well as Director John McGraw, Garden Programmer Shawn Standley, Circulation Manager Jessica Rutherford and Peggy Arrigo from League of Woman Voters.
Minutes of the July 21, 2025 meeting were reviewed. Kellie moved to approve the minutes. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. The Director noted that July millage collection was above average, and August collections are already above average.
Bookkeeper’s Reports were reviewed. Amendments made in July to Garden Programming budgets are reflected. There is still no news of a new state library board. The last meeting of the board made a “gentle recommendation” that to fund newly-qualifying library systems, the current award be cut by 10%. That presumes every library previously ineligible seeks and qualifies for state aid, so the actual decrease may be lower. The October Regional board meeting will approve a budget for 2026, and the softest targets would be Regional Reimbursements or Hoopla.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. Numbers were down from 2024, but 2024 numbers were not sustainable. Children’s programming numbers were on par with 2024, and there was more participation in reading challenges even though the number of registrations declined. Greenbrier had incredible numbers given the size of the building. Some Greenbrier patrons have begun voicing desires for an expansion, which the library millage cannot cover.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the purchase orders. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Stephanie moved to approve the expenditures. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed. Next meeting is Oct 22, 2025. The large Overdrive payment was for the entire slate of magazines for another year. Faulkner County is now one of the heaviest readers of magazines in the statewide consortium.
Old Business
HQ Staff Lighting: Kordsmeier quote was presented to convert staff lighting to LED. The board asked for a quote for the entire building. Cindy made a motion to approve the Kordsmeier quote for 8,651.06. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
HQ HVAC repairs: John presented a quote from Harrison to replace AHU-8 and AHU- 13 controllers in Conway for $8,928.00. Stephanie made a motion to approve Harrison’s quote. Cindy seconded the motion, which passed.
Personnel: Kayla Brinley has been hired as PT to work at our Guy location and is doing a great job helping Tish with programs.
Legislative Audit: John reported that there is no public document yet but there were no findings of fact in last year's audit.
New Business
Carpet Cleaning: John presented a quote from Precision Carpet cleaning to steam clean the children’s room, cloth chairs and stage area now that Summer Reading has ended for the year. Cindy made a motion to approve the service. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
Garden Fencing: Shawn presented 2 proposals to add fencing to the garden area between the shed and chiller encloser to allow more space for storage of garden tools that will be used by the UFP and Master Gardeners. Stephanie made a motion to approve Bradford fencing quote option 1 for $4057.00. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Garden electricity: Shawn presented a quote to have electrical run out to the garden area to provide a base layout for infrastructure for future projects planned for the area. Kellie made a motion to approve the remaining balance up to 6,500 after UFP and Garden grants payment of $3000. Stephanie seconded the motion, which passed.
The next meeting will be on Sept 15th.
Kellie moved to adjourn at 6:12PM. John seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for September 15, 2025
Stephanie Vanderslice called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on September 15, 2025, at 5:30 PM.- Present were board members Kellie Cardin, John Gray, Cindy Stage, and Stephanie Vanderslice. Also attending were Director John McGraw, Youth Services Manager Mary Spears Polk, and Peggy Arrigo from the League of Woman Voters.
Minutes of the August 18, 2025 meeting were reviewed. John Gray noted that the August minutes need to be amended to determine which board member gave the second for the motion to approve the proposal to run electricity to the garden. Cindy Stage made a motion to accept the August minutes with that correction taken care of before the next meeting. John Gray seconded.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed. The Director noted that August millage collection was above average, and September collections are already above average.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. The Director noted that attendance slowed down in August along with the planned slowdown of August programming. Circulation is down about 3,000. Cindy Stage asked if programmers have the needed funds to finish out 2025. Mary Spears Polk responded yes
Bookkeeper’s Reports were reviewed. The Director noted that another grant had been awarded for Garden Programming, and asked that the board amend again that budget line. John moved to increase the 2025 Garden Programming budget to $13,600 to reflect the second grant. Kellie Cardin seconded. Motion passed.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the purchase orders. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the expenditures. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed. Next meeting is Oct 22, 2025. The Director promised a draft Regional Budget for 2026 at the next county board meeting.
Old Business
Buildings The Director presented a bill from Garrett Plumbing to replace a failed hot water heater at the Conway Library. Stephanie noted that the Garrett invoice was too light to be read electronically.
The Director read the invoice aloud. Kellie made a motion to pay the Garrett bill. Cindy seconded. Motion passed.
The Director presented an estimate from Collier Roofing to address multiple leaks in the Conway library. The work involved repairing a damaged shingle and cleaning out the gutters. Collier Roofing also submitted a roof maintenance proposal for the Conway library. John asked about installing gutter guards. The Director promised to investigate gutter guard installation. Cindy made a motion to pay the Collier Roofing repair bill and to investigate gutter guard installation. Kellie seconded. Motion passed.
New Business
The Director presented a millage budget for 2026, explaining that few budget lines need to modified from 2025. Data on full-time salaries has not been obtained to make any recommendations there, but $50,000 is added to the part-time salary line to bring those salaries up to where full-time salaries are presently. General Supplies is increased as prices have gone up for everything. Equipment budgets are increased slightly to replace some older computers at branches. Travel and lodging budgets increase over 2025 to allow staff to travel to the Public Library Association conference, held every other year. John asked about COLA salary increases for staff. The Director explained that the Quorum Court handles COLA increases separately during their budget committee meetings, usually held annually in November. The library has the funds available to support a COLA increase. John made a motion to recommend to the Quorum Court that library staff receive COLA raises for 2026. Cindy seconded. Motion passed. C. Stage made a motion to approve and send the presented 2026 Budget proposal to the Quorum Court with the COLA recommendation. K. Cardin seconded. Motion passed.
The Building Improvements and Construction budget lines budget from carry-over. Minus those lines, the goal is a budget that spends less than millage revenue collected. The construction budget is constrained by law to be matching funds to other discretionary funds, in this case 90% of the Fines and Donations carry-over. This should suffice to pay for Mount Vernon if spread over two budget years.
Cindy made a motion to approve and send the presented 2026 Budget proposal to the Quorum Court with the COLA recommendation. Kellie seconded. Motion passed.
The Director and Mary presented a new job description for a full-time Youth Services Administrative Assistant, explaining that Ashley Clingan started out as a part-time summer temporary employee in 2024, but her assistance has been so valuable that she was kept on part-time year-round. Mary Spears Polk distributed supplemental materials (2025 Summer Programming Report and Youth Services Literacy & Food Programs) to help illustrate the type of
work and the need for the full-time position. The position’s salary would also be brought up to the same level as full-time circulation positions. Cindy made a motion to include this full-time position in the 2026 Budget proposal. John seconded. Motion passed.
The next meeting will be on October 13th.
John moved to adjourn at 6:07PM. Kellie seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.
Minutes for October 13, 2025
Stephanie called the monthly meeting of the Faulkner County Library board to order on October 13, 2025, at 5:38 PM.- Present were board members John Gray, Kellie Cardin, Stephanie Vanderslice and Cindy Stage; as well as Director John McGraw, Assistant Director DeAnna Dillon.
Minutes of the September 15, 2025, meeting were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the minutes. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Summary Statements of Operations were reviewed.
Statistical Report and Programming were reviewed. The Director noted that circulation and program numbers were up for the month.
Purchase Orders were reviewed. Cindy moved to approve the purchase orders. Kellie seconded the motion, which passed.
Fines and Donations spending was reviewed. Kellie moved to approve the expenditure. John seconded the motion, which passed.
Regional transactions were reviewed. Next meeting is Oct 22, 2025.
Old Business
Building: John reported that the Carpet Cleaning in Conway, Staff LED Lighting and the electricity has been run to the Garden area.
Personnel: The new Youth Services position goes to the Quorum Court on October 14,2025 to request adding to the 2026 budget. John also stated that Mary Spears and Ollie Carter will be receiving awards at the ArLA conference for their work over the last year.
New Business
Mount Vernon Library Bids: The Director stated that the bids were more than double the budgeted amount. John made a motion to not accept the bids and look at other options. Cindy seconded the motion, which passed.
2026 Regional Budget: The director presented the regional budget that would be discussed at the next meeting on October 22nd. To address the reduction in state aid, the Regional reimbursement budget line will be zeroed out.
Stephanie Vanderslice term will be up on December 31, 2025. The director stated that the application for the board position will be posted on the county website in the next few days,
The director stated that the community fridge will be picked up in the next few days and replaced by a fridge that the library has purchased to still provide the needed service to the community.
The next meeting will be on November 17.
Kellie moved to adjourn at 6:25PM. Cindy seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned.