[0:08] I had more problems on the straightaways
trying to get to the corner after being
[0:12] in town.
[0:23] Back then, pretty sure I called
the trouble.
[0:30] Knock on the door and leave the money.
[0:33] 2:00 in the morning.
[0:58] » No, I just wanted to see who was here.
[1:37] » All right.
Ready?
[1:39] I'm being Santa Claus.
>> Time is now 12:27.
[1:42] » Open the city.
>> Open the city.
[1:43] » I will now bring the call to order and
roll call, please.
[1:45] » Elliot.
>> Here.
[1:47] » Acenas.
>> Here.
[1:48] » Karameter.
>> Here.
[1:49] » Raker.
>> Here.
[1:50] » Sellers.
>> Here.
[1:51] » Starkman Hood.
>> Here.
[1:53] » All right, stand for the Pledge of
Allegiance. Finished.
[1:59] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[2:03] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[2:09] justice for all.
[2:13] » Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda
as written?
[2:15] » Motion.
>> Second.
[2:17] » Motion was asked, second by Tim. May I
have all those in favor?
[2:19] » Aye.
>> Do I hear a motion to approve the
[2:22] consent agenda as written?
>> Motion.
[2:24] » Second.
>> Seconded by Tim, same way
[2:26] Andrew. Do we have any comments,
questions?
[2:41] » I asked my only question I had to
Melissa yet.
[2:45] But
uh code enforcement, those nuisance
[2:47] abatements or lawn mowing
[2:53] a reasonable
>> Yep.
[2:56] » Brian sends them a letter, they get 30
days to pay. If they don't, it's a
[3:00] special assessment.
>> Okay.
[3:04] » It's special fund.
[3:11] » Any other questions?
All right. All those in favor? Aye.
[3:16] All right. Time for citizen public
communication, business or
[3:18] announcements.
[3:25] All right. Moving on to committee
reports.
[3:31] » We just had a meeting
6:30 before the council. Public Works
[3:36] got together.
Southside of Quonset Bar to talk about
[3:40] civil improving water pressure and more
reliable water lines to some houses up
[3:45] in that
that area.
[3:47] Uh we'd like to meet with the homeowners
and discuss some ideas
[3:52] we have.
[3:56] » So, some direction in which you could
probably contact the homeowners and
[4:00] see when they're available to come down
at a work session, possibly meet with
[4:03] the city council, and then discuss
those.
[4:07] That would be appreciated.
[4:11] Any other committee reports?
None, I'm moving on. Now it's time for
[4:15] citizen input. Council won't take any
action on the comments at this meeting,
[4:18] but we might do so in the future. So,
please limit your presentation to 3
[4:21] minutes.
Anybody wish to speak?
[4:28] » I might take a little bit more than 3
minutes, but that is my constitutional
[4:32] right according to the third element of
the United States Constitution.
[4:38] » But, meeting, I get to dictate that. So,
you get 3 minutes.
[4:41] » supersede the United States
Constitution.
[4:43] In particular, myself and uh
has been have my rights violated by
[4:50] Officer Justin Kosho of the Vinton
Police Department in a drug act. I'm
[4:54] dealing with a known drug addict taking
illegal control of my property with the
[4:58] assistance of Austin Officer Justin
Kosho.
[5:02] The drug
addict's coming onto my property
[5:05] attempting to beat and kick my door in,
and Kosho.
[5:08] The drug addict continuously brings her
dogs into my backyard, never on a leash,
[5:13] the dogs defecate, and I have been
bitten twice. I picked a loose dog in my
[5:17] yard, the bite mark, the excrement, and
the drug addict's kick marks on my back
[5:21] door. According to Officer Kosho of the
Vinton Police Department, he says I have
[5:25] no right to tell the drug addict to
clean up her dog excrement and get off
[5:29] my property, or he will arrest me.
The drug addict was told by me to get
[5:34] her dog's excrement and get off my
property. The drug
[5:39] addict
again
[5:42] beat and tried to break down my back
door beating my property. She was
[5:45] screaming that she was going to beat my
ass and scream this is
[5:52] this is my
property.
[5:55] Since when? I don't know who gained and
I certainly haven't received the
[5:59] $500,000 for my property that I want.
Now as the drug addict was screaming
[6:04] about beating my ass, she admittedly
came back up my stairs with clenched
[6:08] fist. I quickly flipped an extinguished
cigarette butt to distract her so I
[6:11] could get back inside my house. Officer
Kosho arrested me for this. It's a
[6:16] direct violation of Iowa Code 704.4
reasonable force to stop or prevent
[6:21] criminal interference with
property owner's property rights. Now
[6:25] remember the drug addict admits to
accosting me on my property.
[6:29] Also direct violation of Iowa Code
704.13 use of force is justified if you
[6:34] and you are immune from any criminal
prosecution.
[6:37] It is clearly admittedly the drug addict
was the aggressor. Officer Justin Kosho
[6:42] was a conspirator and knew that he was
violating my rights. Officer Kosho did
[6:46] not charge the drug addict for violation
of Iowa Code 708.7
[6:50] threatening to inflict bodily injury or
with intent to intimidate, annoy, or
[6:57] alarm.
Justin Kosho and the drug addict violate
[7:02] charged with Iowa Code 720.6 abuse of
process and malicious prosecution.
[7:07] Officer Justin Kosho says I have no
rights on my property. The drug addict
[7:11] has all the legal right to do what she
wants on my property and if I say
[7:15] anything he will be back to arrest me
again. More conspiring to violate my
[7:20] rights. This is a direct violation of my
civil rights, my legal rights under both
[7:23] the United States Constitution and the
Iowa Constitution. How many elderly in
[7:28] the state in this city are now at risk?
If the city of Vinton chooses to follow
[7:32] through with these violations of my
rights, I will be forced to sue the city
[7:36] of Vinton. You've now been given legal
notice.
[7:41] » Thank you.
Is there anybody else who has any input?
[7:50] » There's nobody else on Zoom
as time has expired.
[7:54] » Okay.
All right.
[7:57] Moving on to old business. I need motion
approval of third consideration and
[8:01] adoption of ordinance 1118 in order to
amending provisions pertaining to
[8:04] special speed zones.
>> Motion.
[8:07] » Second.
[8:10] » The motion by Gola I second that. I
second that motion.
[8:14] » Do you have any questions on that?
[8:18] No? Roll call, please.
>> Elwick?
[8:20] » Yes.
>> Piccininni?
[8:21] » Yep.
>> Starkweather?
[8:23] » Yes.
>> Sellers?
[8:24] » Yes.
>> Riker?
[8:25] » Yes.
>> Perimeter?
[8:26] » Yes.
>> All right. Moving on to B. I need motion
[8:29] approval of X-Mark mower
Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. Back up.
[8:33] Sorry.
>> I I I move to adopt.
[8:35] » Thank you.
I got a motion from Andrew seconded by
[8:39] Zach
>> Stop.
[8:41] » I'm gosh about to do a roll
>> Go.
[8:44] » Do we have any questions?
No? Roll call, please.
[8:47] » Sellers?
>> Yes.
[8:48] » Riker?
>> Yes.
[8:50] » Perimeter?
>> Yes.
[8:51] » Piccininni?
>> Yes.
[8:52] » Elwick?
>> Yes.
[8:53] » Starkweather?
>> Yes.
[8:54] » All right. Now I'll move on to item B. I
need a motion for approval of the X-Mark
[8:58] mower quote from Koop Sales and Service.
>> Motion.
[9:02] » Second.
>> There's my motion seconded by Andrew. We
[9:04] asked Scott to go out and get some
better quotes and looks like that one
[9:08] pans out when you get the trade-in.
>> Yep.
[9:12] Yep. So the Gravely just did a base
model is what the 10 is. The
[9:16] X-Mark has the no flat front tires.
Um
[9:22] upgraded pumps for the hydrostat. And
>> Transmission.
[9:26] » And the float uh
table.
[9:33] So there's a little more options on
that, but
[9:36] he threw the $10,000 one in just to show
a
[9:39] more than commercial is actually
upgraded. So, the next one up is the one
[9:43] that's
more commercial, the 13
[9:47] whatever it is. So.
>> Any questions for Scott on that?
[9:53] If not, roll call, please.
>> Perimeter.
[9:56] » Yes.
>> Sellers.
[9:58] » Yes.
>> Stark Mahood.
[9:59] » Yes.
>> Acenius.
[10:00] » Yes.
>> Elwick.
[10:02] » Yes.
>> Raker.
[10:03] » Yes.
>> All right.
[10:05] » Perfect.
>> Thanks, Scott.
[10:06] » Thanks, Scott.
>> Good work, Scott.
[10:08] » All right.
Moving on to new business. I need a
[10:10] motion to approve a resolution
authorizing the signing of the checks
[10:13] and submission of ACH files to Cedar
Valley Bank and Trust.
[10:17] » I'll motion.
>> Second.
[10:19] » Motion by Tammy, second by Acenius. Any
questions on this?
[10:23] » I assume this is mainly just adding
Andy?
[10:26] » Yes.
Taking Tammy off and adding Andy.
[10:29] » I'll make a motion.
>> Oh, the other Tammy.
[10:32] » The other Tammy. Respectfully, Tammy.
[10:37] » Roll call, please.
>> Elwick.
[10:39] » Yes.
>> Sellers.
[10:40] » Yes.
>> Acenius.
[10:41] » Yes.
>> Perimeter.
[10:42] » Yes.
>> Raker.
[10:43] » Yes.
>> Stark Mahood.
[10:44] » Yes.
>> All right. Item B, I need a motion to
[10:47] approve pay application number two for
the Aulds Creek replacement project
[10:50] written airport.
>> Motion.
[10:53] » Second.
>> Motion by West, second by Dakota. Any
[10:56] questions on that?
[11:00] All right, roll call, please.
>> Stark Mahood.
[11:02] » Yes.
>> Raker.
[11:03] » Yes.
>> Acenius.
[11:04] » Yes.
>> Sellers.
[11:06] » Yes.
>> Perimeter.
[11:07] » Yes.
>> Elwick.
[11:08] » Yes.
>> All right.
[11:10] Item C, I need a motion to approve the
repair of the blower at the waste water
[11:13] treatment plant from Morse Equipment.
>> Motion.
[11:17] » Second.
>> Motion by Anders, second by Acenius.
[11:22] Are you hauling it there? You hauled it
there already?
[11:24] » It's already there.
>> Yep.
[11:26] » Is it repaired?
>> Nope.
[11:28] I got to call them tomorrow if you
approve it.
[11:31] » Got you.
>> R P $1,500 and go get it.
[11:39] » Any other questions?
>> We did budget it in, so.
[11:42] » Yeah.
[11:46] » Welcome.
>> Is there any yes?
[11:48] » Yep.
>> Breaker?
[11:49] » Yes.
>> Sellers?
[11:50] » Yes.
>> Stark weather?
[11:52] Alwick?
>> Yes.
[11:53] » Carpenter?
>> Yes.
[11:55] » All righty, item D, I need motion to
approve and engage bond counsel to amend
[11:59] the existing urban renewal plan.
[12:02] » Motion.
>> Motion by Terry, second by Andrew.
[12:07] » Chris, cliff notes.
>> Yes, this is what was what I discussed
[12:11] on the council about
about an idea to move forward with uh
[12:17] with doing the main street project for
Big Man Unlimited and also because the
[12:23] down payment assistance program is
actually running ahead of schedule, we
[12:26] need to have a place for them building
in the old plans.
[12:29] So, after discussing this with bond
counsel, this was an acceptable use of
[12:33] those funds and this is what's before
you. But in order to do that, I feel
[12:38] we staff is going to need permission
from the council to go ahead and move
[12:42] forward with this.
[12:46] » Questions?
>> When we do this, do we have to identify
[12:49] all potential uses of
[12:55] » Not at all.
Um nice.
[12:58] Those potential uses. Specify, you can
make it as
[13:01] specific specific as you wish to make it
as specified as you wish or you can make
[13:05] it more of a broad term, but it has to
be generally for either
[13:10] in the TIF district or or have to be a
community wide benefit, one of the two.
[13:19] So, is there any particular other
projects you wish to add on?
[13:24] » No, I just want to know like if we
updated it we
[13:27] choose to do something else in the
future, we have to update it again.
[13:30] » Um
>> Just select that project.
[13:32] » Technically, yes, you would have to. But
But with the mission now before the law
[13:38] changes by January 1, hopefully we'll be
able to get it broad enough that we can
[13:43] do other things with it, including the
urban renewal, also some
[13:48] some urban revitalization, which would
actually be
[13:52] the
mitigation of mitigation of let's say
[13:56] like
like the old um
[13:59] the school building and those type of
things. We can also put those type of
[14:03] things
in the urban renewal plan.
[14:06] » So, I like that about the water park and
the development.
[14:09] » We can do that as well.
[14:14] But in order to do that, you'd need to
get bond counsel.
[14:20] » Anything else?
[14:23] Brooke home.
>> Carpenter.
[14:26] » Yes.
>> Starkey Hood.
[14:28] » Yes.
>> Raker.
[14:29] » Yes.
>> Sellers.
[14:30] » Yes.
>> Elwick.
[14:31] » Yes.
>> Fecenius.
[14:32] » Yes.
>> Well, now for the fourth time, Kelly,
[14:35] you want to wait? You go last, I'll get
through everybody, so we can end the
[14:39] night with you.
>> Sounds great.
[14:41] » All right, Chris, you're up.
>> Great.
[14:44] Well, thank you.
Mayor and Council, PDC will be attending
[14:49] the next meeting to talk about health
insurance.
[14:52] Um there
[14:56] is but we requested here.
And also there's a request for work
[15:00] session on the next meeting on on the
13th Street Bridge. Fairground would
[15:06] like to go through a page-by-page
journal with Council over the plans for
[15:11] I know Kelly, you've already been
through that.
[15:15] But they would like to do that at the
next meeting
[15:18] if possible.
Um
[15:21] Also, um
with the upcoming 13th Street Bridge,
[15:25] 4th Street project, uh, fire department
pumper truck, and also street department
[15:32] equipment, I contacted our bond
financial advisor, Tiana Puol, about
[15:38] doing a GO bond for these items. For
and she did state, yes, she we can do
[15:44] that. And she would like to be if we
would like to close before the end of
[15:48] the year on the bond, she would like us
to take action at the latest at our
[15:53] September 24th council meeting.
[15:57] » Have all the burgers and numbers
together now?
[15:59] » Yes, I already I already have a I have a
rough estimate of numbers for her
[16:03] already. It comes out to be about 4.6
million.
[16:07] But our actual what we actually have
available for bonding is actually
[16:13] after our stuff after what's already out
there and we have an available 19.8
[16:18] million.
18 million.
[16:23] » We should be able to
[16:26] I don't know if I
want to talk to Chris, do you think?
[16:29] » Yes.
>> At that meeting?
[16:31] Maybe the one before.
>> Um, possibly, you want to but I can I
[16:33] can ask her. I can do that.
And what
[16:36] finally, um,
um, two things, um,
[16:40] reason this is important before the end
of the year because of projects going
[16:43] on, uh, Tiana is going to be joining,
uh, a company called Columbia Capital.
[16:49] She is
being vice president of this company,
[16:53] but she has guaranteed that she will
still handle all of our stuff and nobody
[16:56] else will handle our items for us.
And, um, I will be out uh, at second
[17:04] meeting of September at the Iowa League
of Cities. I have some CEU that I have
[17:08] to
have to continue on to keep my, um,
[17:12] credential.
And that's it for me.
[17:16] » Any questions for Chris?
>> I would add Chris came in did the Quota
[17:20] program as my guest on Tuesday and he
did outstanding job. Fielded questions
[17:26] as I knew he would and he had a really
nice PowerPoint presentation.
[17:30] It's very good.
They always like it when he comes.
[17:35] » Yeah.
Thank you.
[17:38] I'm good, Chuck.
>> Um nothing too major new. I just got to
[17:44] plug in the light. Got a few more
properties.
[17:47] I did today. And then got a few more
properties with the board.
[17:51] Worked out on themselves and still work
in progress.
[17:55] Um
I think maybe three of the new houses
[17:59] are pretty close to being finished.
And
[18:03] but
I haven't heard anything new from Josh
[18:07] on the railroad, but I'll touch base
with him.
[18:09] I've seen a couple trucks in town. I
don't know exactly what they were doing
[18:13] or if they were looking for
things or if they're making repairs or
[18:16] what. I didn't know.
Yeah, so it's about time.
[18:21] » Well, thanks for reaching out to them.
>> Yeah.
[18:23] » It was getting pretty sloppy.
>> Yeah, so.
[18:27] » Anything else?
[18:30] Craig?
>> Uh I was trying to finish up the punch
[18:33] list at the sewer plant, so I need to
get that all wrapped up and
[18:38] » before you do the walk-through.
>> What's that?
[18:40] » Before you do the walk-through.
>> Right, yeah. Yeah, still pointing out
[18:44] the things they need fixed and
they're slowly getting them, so
[18:49] started robbing sewers
yesterday, I believe, a little bit, so
[18:53] it'll be
hopefully getting half the town done
[18:56] this year.
Changing water meters
[19:02] locating everything we
normally do, I guess.
[19:05] » Yeah, I know all that.
[19:09] Emily's out on surgery, but when she
gets back,
[19:13] we need an update of what we're seeing.
We don't know exactly what's left out
[19:16] there.
>> There isn't
[19:18] » I get There is always tweaking and
stuff, but
[19:21] » What's happening?
>> I know there's always tweaking of the
[19:23] controls. That's That's just expected. I
just want to make sure that they're
[19:26] actively doing it and not just
[19:30] Cuz right now it's still under their
warranty.
[19:33] » Right. Yeah, they Yeah, they was up
yesterday, I think.
[19:42] It's a little bit worse.
Sean
[19:45] got a good business.
[19:49] » We'll have a punchlist key girl.
All right.
[19:54] » It was about the best year to have a lot
of rain cuz we've got a lot of problems
[19:59] with the weather, so we couldn't have
asked for
[20:01] » Good.
[20:04] And remember, still under warranty after
we finally do it for 10 years, so
[20:11] Anything else?
All righty.
[20:15] Is there anything else that you got?
>> Go to business. Okay, questions. If you
[20:19] got questions,
take seats.
[20:22] » I know.
>> Sorry.
[20:26] Andy Griffith.
>> I know, I'm missing it.
[20:31] » Um
Boom Fest is coming up. That is 2 days
[20:36] and day after tomorrow.
So, we have 98 vendors that'll be
[20:41] filling Court Street.
FYI, we are going past B Avenue, but
[20:45] just barely past B Avenue. So, we will
not be going down to Hinkle's service
[20:51] station.
Make sure everybody knows that, so that
[20:54] no one is
um
[20:57] worried about that. Um and then from
there, we're just going right into
[21:02] Binkley Fest after that. Cuz that'll be
in October 10th.
[21:08] What I got and there are no fireworks
with Boom Town, Boom Fest.
[21:13] Throwing that out there. People think
that there is.
[21:19] » Any questions for the table?
[21:22] All right, Melissa.
>> Uh my carpet's in, it looks beautiful.
[21:28] Um yes, please do.
Um
[21:31] I'm just been busy getting Andy settled
in her new role and she's doing
[21:36] wonderfully.
So,
[21:39] look forward to having her on.
[21:42] » Okay.
Perfect.
[21:44] Um
So, I was going back and looking at some
[21:47] emails the other day after
Dara came in and talked about her
[21:51] secretary
and I think the last email I found about
[21:55] that ordinance or the ordinance was back
in June
[21:57] and I think that it just kind of died.
I'd like to get that picked back up and
[22:01] get whatever we need to do to get it
resolved and get it worked out. and get
[22:05] something in there
finalized on all that.
[22:09] I know about that.
Yeah, I know he's actually asked some
[22:12] questions, I had comments, and I think
Dakota had comments and then I was
[22:16] looking for the next email and there was
nothing. So,
[22:19] I'd like to pick that back up and get
that resolved here before the end of the
[22:22] year.
So,
[22:25] and then possibly that's going to
happen.
[22:31] It's a whole ordinance for everybody.
The whole meeting I had with Kelly about
[22:34] what our meetings are going to be
located and everything else. So,
[22:39] But, I'd like to get that picked back
up.
[22:42] Um
[22:44] That was actually the only thing in
comment I had.
[22:49] Other than that,
Kelly,
[22:52] come on
up.
[22:53] » All right.
Um Andy or I
[22:56] » Thank you for waiting.
>> Huh?
[22:57] » Thank you for waiting.
>> Oh, yeah.
[22:59] Thanks for having me. Um I'm here to
give the library's annual report for
[23:03] fiscal year 26. This is a requirement in
the
[23:08] city code and one I'm happy to give.
Actually, like it's a great time to both
[23:15] tell you what's going on and then also
field any questions that you guys have
[23:18] about the library.
>> Let's get you all set up here.
[23:22] » Thanks.
>> There's a cheat sheet.
[23:26] I'll give you
Okay.
[23:28] » Yeah, a couple years ago I just started
doing it as a one-pager so that we can
[23:31] hand it out to our patrons as well. That
our library is for
[23:35] everybody in our community and beyond
and so that's just a quick one way of
[23:39] saying
[23:46] join us tonight.
[23:53] So, our mission at the library is to
provide a welcoming environment to grow
[23:57] and strengthen connections for everyone
in our community.
[24:01] We're dedicated to exceptional customer
service and engaging our community.
[24:05] We enrich lives through access to
resources, programs, and collections
[24:10] that encourage lifelong learning and the
love of reading. So, everything that we
[24:14] do and all the way that we spend our
funds um, comes through this mission
[24:18] statement.
[24:22] We're in a strategic planning cycle that
ranges from 2024 to 2028 and the board
[24:27] and I identified the following four
priority service areas at the library.
[24:32] Circulation and patron engagement,
community outreach, facilities and
[24:36] collections, and staff and volunteers.
So, that's kind of how I've summarized
[24:42] the report.
[24:45] Circulation and patron engagement refers
to the checking out of our books, our
[24:49] materials, um, the programs we provide,
and the way
[24:54] we engage with our community.
So, here this picture shows one of our
[24:57] young readers
who's already read 200 books.
[25:05] In fiscal year 26, we circulated 35,946
of our physical
[25:11] materials. That's our books, magazines,
DVDs.
[25:15] Uh we also circulated over 11,000 of our
digital materials. That's our ebooks and
[25:20] our audiobooks and our movies on our
apps.
[25:24] We take a look at patron report class,
which is how we catalog our patron
[25:29] accounts. Um residents of the city of
Benton account for 62% of our physical
[25:36] circulation.
Residents of rural Benton County are a
[25:40] third of our circulation.
And then open access is residents of
[25:44] cities outside of Benton or counties
outside of Benton County. And that
[25:49] accounts for 8% of our circulation.
[25:56] We add books to our collection every
year. Um this past fiscal year, we added
[26:00] over 2,000 physical books.
Uh 47,000 physical books circulated.
[26:06] We collected $150 in fines. Um we had
over 450,000 in expenses.
[26:15] 75,000 of that came from private
donations and grants.
[26:21] And when you add up the value of every
physical book that was circulated this
[26:26] last year, that results in a savings of
almost 600,000 of a community benefit.
[26:31] So, when you compare what we spend with
the value in our physical circulation
[26:36] alone, it's pretty amazing.
Digital circulations and then the value
[26:40] of all of our free programming and
resources just lets that number go up
[26:44] from there.
[26:49] We like to look at our numbers in a
context of patterns over years. Um they
[26:54] can ebb and flow with time, but this
graph shows our total circulation over
[26:59] the last five fiscal years.
Um the yellow bar at the beginning of
[27:04] each year shows the number of physical
books checked out.
[27:07] The second bar shows the number of
physical books renewed.
[27:11] The next
bars are Hoopla and Bridges, which are
[27:15] our two ebook and audiobook platforms.
And then that fifth bar in each year is
[27:21] the addition of all of those together,
so our total circulation. And that's
[27:24] what we report to the State Library of
Iowa among other numbers.
[27:28] And as you can see, we've just seen
phenomenal growth over the last five
[27:32] years in
um that circulation.
[27:40] This slide is just a collection of all
the different ways that we engage with
[27:43] our community, so I titled it patron
engagement. We offer programs for birth
[27:48] through adulthood. Um this last year we
offered almost 700 library programs, and
[27:53] we had almost 6,000 people attend those
programs. And yes, we count attendance
[27:58] at every program because those are
numbers we report to the state.
[28:02] We were open over 2,400 hours, and we
averaged just under 100 people at our
[28:07] library every day.
[28:13] Community outreach is another one of our
service areas, and that's when we take
[28:16] our library services and events outside
of the four
[28:20] walls of our library. Um this past year
we did our first uh Vinton's Big Read
[28:26] that had us doing art events, nature
events, library tours, astronomy events.
[28:32] Um we always take children's programming
out into the community by visiting the
[28:36] farmers markets and uh parks and the
pool.
[28:42] We held 138 offsite programs, and almost
2,500 people attended those offsite
[28:48] programs.
We also opened over 250 new library
[28:51] cards. And I like to include that in
outreach because when we're at the
[28:55] community, we feel like that's one of
the ways that we're getting people aware
[28:59] of what we are, what we do, and
encouraging them to open a library card.
[29:08] Facilities and collections.
Uh we made a lot of improvements to our
[29:13] um grounds. We added a children's sound
ground sound garden.
[29:17] Um we got funding to grow our Wonderbook
and dyslexia-friendly collection of
[29:22] children's books. Wonderbooks have an
audio feature, so you press play, um it
[29:28] reads the book aloud to the child while
they read along.
[29:31] We also added additional shelving thanks
to a generous donation.
[29:36] Um we enhanced privacy at our computer
stations with new study carrels, and we
[29:39] added new window treatments.
[29:45] Our physical collection has over 25,000
physical materials. We have 24/7 Wi-Fi,
[29:51] community meeting space. We offer
scanning,
[29:55] faxing, and copying that's used every
day by our community.
[30:00] Public computers, we offer exam
proctoring and notary services by
[30:04] appointment.
[30:08] Four of our staff members are endorsed
through the State Library of Iowa, and
[30:11] we consistently get exceptional customer
service and patron satisfaction ratings.
[30:19] And we give an annual survey out to our
community, and I just added a uh small
[30:24] number of the feedback that we got. I
share this with our staff as well and
[30:28] and board.
Our patrons say, "Amazing. The number of
[30:32] activities is so appreciated.
I'm so grateful for the library. Every
[30:36] event I've attended has added joy to my
life.
[30:39] We love bringing our son. You guys are
always doing amazing things. I'm
[30:44] impressed with the services. I come from
a bigger town and I value our local
[30:48] library.
I feel that all the events you do is
[30:51] positive outreach for the community and
it's all been informative and very
[30:54] interesting.
[31:00] So, what's next? Um we're very close to
kicking off our new Riverside Storywalk,
[31:05] which is an exciting partnership with
the Parks Department and Benton Limited.
[31:09] Um so, very excited about that.
Benton's Big Read kicks off in September
[31:15] with the theme of America 250. So, we'll
have a whole new title and programming
[31:19] surrounding elements of that title.
We have professional exterior tuck
[31:23] pointing and acid wash coming to improve
the exterior um thanks to our budget
[31:28] this year. We're doing some landscaping
improvements. And then it's our year to
[31:33] um
to go through the re-accreditation cycle
[31:36] through the State Library of Iowa.
[31:41] So, thank you. Um Whitney Bowens is here
with me
[31:45] from our Board of Directors. Our board
thanks you. I thank our board. Um just
[31:49] very pleased to be able to provide this
report to you and answer any questions
[31:53] that you have for me.
>> So, really the
[31:57] circulation of what is June, you said,
was the highest it's been in 5 years.
[32:01] » Yes. We circulated more books, physical
books, that month than any month in the
[32:06] five in the past 5 years.
>> That's insane.
[32:09] » Yeah. And when you see
the youngest readers with their huge
[32:13] stack, you see older readers with a
couple of bags to last them the week. Um
[32:18] it's
it's been well received.
[32:22] » you and the board. Definitely turned
that place around, for sure.
[32:25] » Thank you.
>> Anybody got questions for Kelly?
[32:29] » Nope. Thank you.
>> Yes, thank you. Appreciate it.
[32:31] » Thank you guys very much.
>> Thanks, Kelly.
[32:33] » All right. Good and welfare.
Go visit the library. Great things are
[32:38] happening.
>> We're there.
[32:42] » Said Food Fest is this weekend?
>> Yes.
[32:45] » School's up, right?
>> Yes, please watch out for the kids.
[32:50] » Had a ribbon cutting for the Art Guild
today.
[32:54] » Yes.
>> This afternoon.
[32:56] Had a hopples old
for your office.
[32:59] » Mhm.
>> Very nice. Very well attended.
[33:03] » Yeah.
[33:06] » Anything else?
[33:10] If not, I'll take a motion for
adjournment.
[33:12] » Motion.
>> Motion by West.
[33:14] » Second.
>> Second.
[33:16] » Seconded by Zack. All those in favor?
>> Aye.
[33:20] » All right, adjourned.