[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.

City Council Meeting 08-27-26

Transcript