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.

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

Upper Sandusky Community Library Board of Trustees: March 12, 2026

The Upper Sandusky Community Library Board of Trustees convened on Thursday, March 12, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. in the Library Board Room with the following members present: Mr. Todd Leightey, Ms. Amy Aldridge-Ritchey, Mr. Ben Buckland, Ms. Dianne Grafmiller, Ms. Ann Kemerley, and Ms. Jenny Romich. Mr. Brian Kimmel was absent. Director Kathleen Whitt was also present. 

President Todd Leightey asked for public comments. Hearing none, Mr. Leightey asked if there were corrections or additions to the distributed minutes of the January meeting. Hearing none, Mr. Leightey declared that the minutes stand as distributed. 

Next on the agenda was a motion to ratify the payment of the bills. Mr. Leightey asked if there were any questions about the bills. There was a question about the number of purchases made through Amazon in recent months. Ms. Whitt said that since the library’s book distributor, Baker and Taylor, went out of business last year, we have been buying our books from Amazon. We have recently contracted with a new book distributor, Ingram, from which we should be making most book purchases going forward. Hearing no further questions, 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, Ms. Whitt said that the plan to use T-Mobile for our telephone service provider turned out to be unsatisfactory. They were not willing to give us a fixed-price contract or meet First Communications’ setup fee, as the board had requested at the January meeting. Under these conditions, Ms. Whitt recommended that we accept the contract with First Communications. The motion was made and seconded to accept the contract for telephone service through First Communications. In a roll call vote, all present approved the motion. 

The next item on the agenda was reconsideration of the June 2025 quote from CSI Construction Services to remodel the downstairs meeting room kitchenette. We have received a $10,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which will cover a substantial portion of this cost, as well as past bequests intended for building improvements. We will require an updated quote, and the board also had a number of questions about what exactly is covered in the quote, and what might be additional costs involved (for example, appliances to be installed). Ms. Whitt will reach out to Bryan Frey of CSI for this information. 

Under new business, Ms. Whitt said that a couple of staff members have suffered injuries over the last few months, and it had been suggested that we adopt a policy requiring staff to go to the emergency room or urgent care if they suffer a potentially serious injury. The Board suggested Ms. Whitt check with other libraries whether they have such a policy, and also look into the matter with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and Ohio Plan, our liability insurance provider. 

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

1. The Ohio Library Council has announced its annual Spring Trustee Programs. The Northwest Ohio Trustee Dinner will be held on Thursday, April 16, from 6-8 p.m. in Bowling Green. Trustees should let me know if you are interested in attending – I will be happy to go with you. 
2. At about 5:30 on March 3, we received a phone call with a threat to shoot a library staff member. The police were called, and they came and checked the premises and talked with the staff on duty. I had left for the day, but Lisa called me and told me what had happened. In consideration of the safety of staff members and library visitors, I told them to evacuate and close the library for the night. The next day we spoke to the chief of police, who followed up by calling the number from which the call originated. He determined that it was a disconnected number, so the caller was concealing their identity. He said it was most likely that it was just a spoof call, but protective measures are always in order. We checked that our silent alarm is still working, and decided to close at 5:00 again that day. We returned to normal hours on Thursday, March 5. There have been no further incidents. 
3. Long time library assistant Cheryl Lyon will retire at the end of March. She will have completed 32 years of service to the library. Cheryl handles most of the work involved in sending books and other materials to other SEO libraries. She also assists the cataloging department with processing newspapers, movies, and large print books. Most of these duties will be assumed by Kathy Bardon, who has been a back-up for Cheryl, and also assists in the cataloging department. We will hold an open house to honor Cheryl on the morning of Friday, March 27. 
4. We have placed a help wanted ad in the Daily Chief-Union, which will run through this week. I am beginning to contact applicants for interviews and hope to have a new as-needed circulation assistant in place within a couple of weeks. 
5. I am also planning to increase Taryn Korody’s hours from 20 to 30 per week. It seems more effective to give an experienced and engaged employee additional hours than to bring on a new trainee. 
6. Smith-Boughan’s project manager for our air conditioning redesign project has arranged for Trane to come start up the chiller on Monday, March 23, so we should be all set for the warmer weather this spring and summer. 
7. Last year our long-time book vendor, Baker and Taylor, went out of business. For several months we have been ordering books from Amazon, which was fairly cost-effective, but not ideal in terms of tracking orders and invoices. We have now set up an account with Ingram, a large book vendor which is used by many libraries, including others in our county. We receive a substantial discount (about 42%) on most books, and free shipping, as well as the ability to have standing orders on our most popular authors and series. I hope that this will turn out to be a happy solution to our book acquisition efforts. 
8. The Monday Middle School Story Time kids have expressed an interest in drawing, so Miss Lisa is switching up this weekly after-school hour. The Middle School Book Club will finish Click’d by Tamara Ireland Stone and move on to Alone by Megan Freeman. They were not able to meet the last two months due to school closings. 
9. Our downtown story walk this month features Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems, while readers at Stepping Stones Park will enjoy Jonny Lambert’s Home Is Where The Heart Is. 
10. Patti and Tony Davidson’s Taste of the States on March 16, will feature Chocolate Gravy with Biscuits and Possum Pie from Arkansas. CraftParty attendees will make a painted vase on the12th. Cheryl’s final Lunch Bunch on March 23 will feature “green foods”; Patti Davidson will take over Lunch Bunch next month, though we hope Cheryl will continue to participate as a library visitor! 
11. The adult programming team will offer “Six Weeks of Spring” – a series of weekly Thursday evening programs oriented around the season we have all been looking forward to. The first program will be “Spring Mocktails” on March 19, followed by “Succulents 101,” “Beginner’s Plant Propagation,” “Painting Spring,” “Birds in Your Backyard,” and ending with our annual Spring Plant Swap the week of April 20. 
12. Common Readers are discussing The Lincoln Moon by Michael Price Nelson this month. The Inglorious Bookworms are reading Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, as they explore the fantasy genre. 
13. The Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) posted the March 2026 Public Library Fund (PLF) distribution of $40,419,668 – which is $393,641 (or +0.98%) above ODT’s original estimate that was issued in July 2025 and ODT’s updated estimate issued in December 2025 that went unchanged. January’s distribution was $39,186,904 (2.10% below ODT’s original estimate); February’s distribution was $40,419,668 (0.98% above ODT’s original estimate). 
14. Memorial/Honor/Donations: 
    1. In memory of: Dallas Barth
       1. Donor(s): Rita & Larry Bennett 
    2. In memory of: Dorothy Cheney 
       1. Sheila & Eugene Roszman; Kathy Clippinger; Joanne Gilmore; Betty Rhoden & family 
    3. In memory of: Loren Dillon 
       1. Ron & Elizabeth Ayotte; Grace Deitemyer 
    4. In memory of: Jon Zimmerman 
       1. Joanne Gilmore; Bringman-Clark Funeral Home; Marcia Geary; Lynn Gottfried; Volunteers of the USFD 

Under Items Not on the Agenda, Ms. Whitt submitted a quote from NLS Professional Grounds for a spring cleanup of the library grounds for $1,675. NLS did this work last year, their cost being considerably less than the quotes received from other contractors. The work was completed satisfactorily and in good time. It was moved and seconded to approve the quote; in a roll call vote all present approved the motion. 

Mr. Leightey asked whether there were any additional items for discussion. Hearing none, the motion was made and seconded to adjourn; the meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m.

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