Board Minutes October 2025

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES of the CUYAHOGA FALLS LIBRARY and The William and Margaretta Taylor Memorial Association

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CUYAHOGA FALLS LIBRARY and

The William and Margaretta Taylor Memorial Association

REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 Sutliff Room
Call To Order

Nikki Cebula called the meeting to order at 6:04 pm.

Attendance

Nikki Cebula, Sean Blake, Robin Worthington, Michael Bowman, Rick Rubin, Karen Schofield, Mike Dunton, Sandy Zirke, Cheryl Bruce, Bryan Van Sweringen, Director Andrew Harant, Assistant Director Jennifer Reynard, Fiscal Officer Kevin Gemmell

Excused: Bradley LeBoeuf

Adoption of Agenda:

Sean Blake moved to adopt the agenda. 2nd by Robin Worthington. Motion passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:

Bryan Van Sweringen moved to approve the Regular Board Meeting of September 16, 2025, as amended. 2nd Sean Blake. Motion passed unanimously.

Board Education:

  • Director Andrew Harant sang “Books” by Jesse

  • Assistant Director Jennifer Reynard and Circulation Coordinator Cynthia Spesert spoke about SearchOhio/OhioLINK. They advised the new catalog will feature both SearchOhio & OhioLINK. They also spoke about all the new features and how to navigate the new

Public Participation:

  • No Participation

Treasurer's Report:

RESOLUTION 2025-22: Move that the Board approve the payment of bills for September 2025 in the amount of $254,447.89. Sandy Zirke. 2nd by Bryan Van Sweringen. Motion passed unanimously.

RESOLUTION 2025-23: Move that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees move $2,500 from Adult Non-Fiction (101.1.54101) to Adult Fiction (101.1.54150). Sandy Zirke. 2nd by Mike Dunton. Motion passed unanimously.

RESOLUTION 2025-24: Move that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees move $200 from Office Supplies (101.0.52100) to Postage (101.0.53240). Sandy Zirke. 2nd by Mike Dunton

MOTION: Move that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees accept the Marilyn Sue Sahli Trust Donation of $5,000 and move it to the Hospital/Workmens Comp (101.0.51700) line. Sandy Zirke. 2nd by Mike Dunton. Motion passed unanimously.

RESOLUTION 2025-25: Move that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees approve the Library’s portion of Summit County’s 2026 Public Library Fund allocation of 7.27505%. Sandy Zirke. 2nd by Mike Dunton. Motion passed unanimously.

RESOLUTION 2025-27: BE IT RESOLVED by the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees:

WHEREAS, the Cuyahoga Falls Library is eligible to request an advance of tax monies from the Summit County Fiscal Office pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code, Section 321.34; and

WHEREAS, that the Summit County Fiscal Officer is hereby requested to issue an order to the Treasurer of Summit County to pay the Treasurer of this Library funds as may be available for distribution by said County Treasurer from tax year 2025, payable in 2026;

THAT the Fiscal Officer of the Library is hereby authorized and directed to certify and send a copy of this resolution to the County Fiscal Officer as may be necessary to make this resolution effective. Sandy Zirke. 2nd by Mike Dunton. Motion passed unanimously.

It was reported that the library received $134,933.92 in PLF revenue.

Sandy Zirke moved to accept the September Financial Report subject to audit. 2nd by Mike Dunton. Motion passed unanimously.

Board President Report:

  • First and foremost, I would like to thank the CF Library for hosting a wonderful staff development day. Of course, I was only able to make it for the first half, but I would guess it was the best first half. The energy in the room was awesome, and listening to the excited chatter of our awesome staff was great. Of course, when it starts out with Andy and a song, there is literally no other outcome! Seriously, though, the improv was great, and I have already put some of it to use though, that my favorite part may have been the Insta Reels and Tik Toks over lunch! I have to say The planning committee (Jen, Mandy, Danielle, and Elizabeth) did an outstanding job. The only real question I have is: how will you duplicate this next year!!!!!!

  • Our Collection development team definitely needs a shout out. They have done an amazing job, especially considering our vendor closed and they had to take all the books out of back and pre order, and switch over to a new vendor, and re-order! Nobody likes busy work, which I can only imagine is what this felt like, but this was critical work to be done. Thank you to that team for keeping us afloat with the best new materials

  • Thank you to the Library and to Mike, Michael, Robin, and Karen for all the support and help for trick or treating, it was a great

  • I’d also like to really thank Danielle. She needs a shout out- after getting Taylor on the ground and moving, T-shirts ready for sale, and really branding our adorable little river otter, she also did something really big! She organized a statewide “What's in your library” which focused on the Library of Things. The Insta reel video is super cute. Each library held up their card and showcased some really cool items in their library of things and lets patrons know that they can borrow from any library! Check it out!

  • I would like to highlight ‘Falls Instagram page. It is a really fun page and you can tell the staff has fun creating fun videos. I even learned some things- like there is a Falls Library for TEACHERS event. Love this! I wish I could go…. Sigh!

  • All of this good stuff, and our library makes time to give back… EVEN MORE! Please consider donating to the library’s coat and hat drive (new, please) for Good neighbors, Falls Family Resource Center, or Stow Monroe falls LGBTQ Crew.

  • Just once again, Thank you, thank you, thank you for another month full of tons of things I didn’t mention and total awesomeness! Thank you for being THE PLACE

Committee Reports:

  1. Building: Director:
    • Andrew Harant advised the new door counters have been installed, and we will possibly be getting new self-checkouts.

  2. Policies/Bylaws Review:
    • Reviewed the Unattended Children & Vulnerable Adults Policy

  3. Finance/Audit Committee: No Report

  4. Graefe Memorial:
    • The Fall flowers were put out

  5. Personnel Committee:
    • The minutes for the last meeting were provided. The committee has finished the review of the Library Director Evaluation

  6. Affleck Scholarship Committee: No Report

  7. Strategic Planning Committee: No Report

  8. Art Committee (Ad Hoc): No Report

Director's Report:

  • Director Harant provided an update on the recent theft of the digital media computer from the MakerSpace, including approval of the insurance claim and update on the investigation from Cuyahoga Falls
  • Director Harant explained the recent necessary switch from Baker & Taylor to Ingram as CFL’s main book vendor in light of Baker & Taylor’s announcement that they are going out of business, including how we anticipated this coming, how we quickly acted in response, the impacts this has had on having materials available for patrons, and our communications about this to the public. Kudos to our Collection Development Team for their efforts on

  • Assistant Director Reynard provided an overview of the recent Staff Development

  • Director Harant will be on vacation 11/4-11/11.

Personnel Report:

Karen Schofield moved that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees approve the September 2025 Personnel Report. 2nd by Sean Blake, Motion passed unanimously.

Unfinished Business:

  • Property Tax levy was discussed, and the board agreed to a 1.9 mill renewal with a 1.0 mill
  • Theresa Karm billing and payments have begun

New Business:

  • Institution Notice for Liquor Permit. The board chose to take no action against it.

Executive Session:

Karen Schofield moved that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees enter executive session to review negotiations and bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. 2nd by Rick Rubin and roll call vote was called

  • Mike Dunton – yes                             
  • Bryan Van Sweringen – yes
  • Sean Blake – yes                                 
  • Karen Schofield – yes    
  • Nikki Cebula – yes                              
  • Cheryl Bruce - yes
  • Robin Worthington – yes                     
  • Sandy Zirke - yes Michael Bowman - yes                                     
  • Rick Rubin –yes

The Board entered executive session at 8:04 pm.

The Board re-entered public Session at 8:25 pm.

Resolution 25-28: Move that the Cuyahoga Falls Library Board of Trustees approve the Tentative Agreement. Nikki Cebula. 2nd by Mike Dunton. Motion passed unanimously.

Adjournment:

Bryan Van Sweringen moved to adjourn the meeting. 2nd by Sean Blake. The meeting adjourned at 8:27 pm.

Approved By Nikki Cebula, Board President

Respectfully Submitted By Bryan Van Sweringen, Secretary/KG