Library Board Meeting — Minutes

NEILLSVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES Neillsville Public Library 409 Hewett Street Neillsville, WI 54456 TUESDAY, July 14, 2026 9:00 a.m. Call to Order at 9:00 am by Graeme Williams Roll Call Present: Graeme Williams, Cory Peterson, Peggy Buchda, Mary Sladich, Maggie Gelhaus, Bill Neville. Absent – Debbie Perkl. Also, present Janay Ziebell and Kathy Wegner. Minutes of May, 2026 Motion to file Neville, 2nd Peterson. All aye. Librarians' reports: 145 participants in the Summer Reading Program; Story Hour attendance high. OLD BUSINESS Discussion/Action for approving of recommendation to hire Molly D. in the Substitute Librarian position, pending background check. Motion to approve Buchda, 2nd Peterson. All aye. NEW BUSINESS Welcome to Deb Perkl as a member at large replacing Logan Grap. Many thanks to Logan for his dedicated time. Discussion/Action on election of officers and set committees President Williams 1st Buchda, 2nd Neville. Motion to close nomination Sladich, 2nd Buchda. All aye. Vice President Neville 1st Williams, 2nd Buchda. Motion to close nominations 1st Buchda, 2nd Gelhaus. All aye. Secretary Gelhaus 1st Buchda, 2nd Williams. Motion to close nominations Sladich, 2nd Buchda. All aye. Motion Committee assignments to stay as written with Perkl replacing Grap by Buchda, 2nd Neville. All aye. BILLS AND VOUCHERS motion to file Neville, 2nd Sladich. All aye. BALANCES AND ACCOUNTS LIBRARY UPCOMING EVENTS: Summer programs a juggler, Winged Wonders, and a CraftDay. NEXT LIBRARY BOARD MEETING September 15, 2026 at 9:00 am COMMUNICATIONS none ADJOURNMENT Motion by Neville, 2nd by Buchda. All aye. Director’s Report March 2026 Upcoming programming: We received the Check for the $10,000 Carnegie gift/award we are receiving. Westwood Kitchens has begun the building of the new hold shelf cabinets and counter. I hope to have them installed in April. I also have a few people on a planning committee for the Heritage Days weekend celebration! We will have “library tours” during the Heritage Days festival weekend. With the tours We will have a 30th Birthday party for our building addition with Birthday cake and refreshments as well as give away of 100 canvas tote library bags and other memorabilia as well. This is a good way to let the community help celebrate and be informed of how we spent the money! Also, I want to have a birthday cake kit drive that community members can donate and help assemble the kits and then donated to the food pantry! (see example) February: Puzzle competition: Our puzzle competition was a great success again and we had about 20 people in participation! I think I will do this again in the fall. Twice a year seems to be the consensus as to how often to do the puzzle race/competition! Snowless Snowman contest again with Winter Carnival—we had 6 entries and about 50 voters! Bunny Dux won by vote again with her disco ball snowless snowman! March: Poetry & Short Story Contest-ongoing throughout this month. Submit poetry or short story to the front desk or by emailing Director@neillsville.lib.wi.us Epoxy coaster making workshop—March 19th will be the epoxy coaster making workshop with a $6 suggested donation. Only 10 people can be accommodated by the workshop expert, Cara Hart! Sign up at the front counter. April: Poetry Night will be April 22nd—once again, we hope to have open mic time again for the winners of the poetry and short story contest! I already have two second grade classes that have submitted their entries. Author Visit—I have scheduled Sue Berg, Author of the Driftless Series (setting in the Lacrosse Driftless region area) for May 13th! Children’s Librarian Report March 2026 Story hours continue to have a good group of children, usually about twelve. The ages vary from 2 to 6 years old. It is always interesting to see how many we have. The main thing they enjoy is being able to make something to take home. It is nice to have parents, grandparents, and care givers to help them with the various craft projects. We post what story hour is going to be about and what book we will read and what craft we will make on Facebook. I have been looking for new books for the summer reading program. I am working on ideas for decorating the library. The performers are in place. We have two performers with animals, Zoozort and birds. I have various craft projects. Looking forward to our summer reading. Kathy Wegner Children’s Librarian