News / Articles

Geauga County Public Library

LWV Geauga Observer Corps

Governor DeWine's Proposed Budget for Next Year Would Increase Library Funding If
Approved by June

Geauga County Public Library (GCPL) - January 2025

Reviewer Note: See Below for the February 2025 report

Meeting: The GCPL Board met for its Organizational meeting and Regular Board meeting on Tuesday, January 21st at 4:00 pm at the GCPL Administration Building. This meeting was in-person with a virtual option. To access the virtual option see information here. The meeting was not recorded. Minutes of this meeting will be posted on the GCPL website / GCPL Board after they are approved at the January 21, 2025 meeting.

Public Comment: Permitted and included in the regular order of business per GCPL bylaws. Further clarified in Policy 215 - Public Participation at Board Meetings.

Observer’s Note: This was the annual Organization meeting. The GCPL Board rotates the officers every year. Everyone knows the rotation and the meeting goes smoothly. The board secretary changes each year but the GCPL Assistant Director remains the recording secretary.

Board Attendance: President Paul A. Newman, Vice President Karen Delano, Board Secretary Kristen Brinkman and Board Trustees Joshua Hutchinson, Crist Miller, Kate Pitrone and Jake Yanchar.

Staff Attendance:

Kris Carroll - Director
Katy Farrell (Assistant Director) - Recording Secretary
Lisa Havlin - Fiscal Officer
Nicole Burnside - Human Resources
Keven Barton - Thompson Branch Manager
Deborah Schrock - Development Coordinator
Erika Noark - Geauga West Branch Manager
Denise Javins - Marketing Manager
Rachael Hartman - Middlefield Branch Manager
Mike Pope - IT Manager
John Johnson - Facilities Manager
Dawn Malasca - Deputy Fiscal Officer
Nicole Nystrom - Administration Assistant
Judy Lasco - Chardon Branch Manager
Danielle Hollar - Bainbridge Branch Manager
Marlene Pelyhes - Tech Services Manager
Jonathan Kopp - Marketing Assistant

Public: This Observer attended in person.

President Newman called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm and roll call was taken.

Minutes: Minutes of the December 2024 Board Meeting were approved without discussion. Board minutes are available online. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to access minutes. The minutes are posted as soon as they are approved at the following month’s Board meeting.

Agenda: The agenda presented in the Board packet was approved with no additions or subtractions.

Election of Officers: Josh Hutchinson made a motion, seconded by Kate Pitrone, to approve the 2025 slate of officers as recommended by the Executive Committee. The motion passed.

2025 GCPL Officers: President Karen Delano, Vice President Kristen Brickman, Secretary Cris Miller.

Oath of office of Board Officers: Notary Deborah Schrock conducted the swearing in of the board officers. Karen Delano then began duties as President and conducted the remainder of the Organizational and Regular GCPL Board Meeting.

Appointment of Fiscal Officers and Bond:

Motion made and passed to appoint [retain] Lisa Havlin as Fiscal Officer at the salary and employment package specified in memorandum and bond set at $40,000. The Board then approved the appointment of Dawn Malaska as Deputy Fiscal Officer with bond set at $10,000. Notary Deborah Schrock conducted the swearing in of the Fiscal Officer and Deputy Fiscal Officer.

Appointment of Director:

Motion made and passed to approve the appointment of Kris Carroll as Library Director at the salary and employment package specified in memorandum.

The Board then approved the 2025 Bylaws, Organizational Charts, and Personnel Policies. The Board discussed the need to update the committee responsibilities on the committee member list presented in the Board packet. Updates will be approved at the February meeting.

Fiscal Officer’s Report - Ms Havlin

The report was approved without discussion and the Board approved banking changes to remove Paul Newman and add Karen Delano as authorized signers on the library’s banking and investment accounts. The Board also approved the appointment of Kate Pitrone as the 2025 Compliance Officer.

In the Regular Board meeting, the following was covered:

Ms. Farrell reported on a America 250-Ohio grant for the United States Semiquincentennial that made possible the purchase of a kiosk and the development of an interactive presentation that will visit each of the library branches in 2025. The 40- minute presentation, “Voices of Geauga”, is available on the library's website.
The 2025 Memorandum of Understanding with NEO-RLS (Northeast Ohio Regional Library System) was approved. No changes from 2024.
Update to Operating Policy 925-Youth Safety. After discussion about the need to limit information shared with adults asking about children in the library, the age of unaccompanied minors, and the procedure for unattended minors at closing, the updates were approved.

Year-end 2024 Statistics:

513,626 patrons served at the branches

38,398 computer and 162,101 wi-fi uses

2,856 programs presented for 66,697 patrons

148,920 reference interactions

Total circulation of 2,775,008 items

The meeting adjourned at 4:36 pm.

Geauga County Public Library Meeting - February 2025

Meeting: The GCPL Board met for its Regular Board meeting on Tuesday, February 18th at 4:00 pm at the Middlefield Branch.

Board Attendance: President Karen Delano, Vice President Kristen Brinkman, Board Secretary Crist Miller and Board Trustees Joshua Hutchinson and Kate Pitrone.

Staff Attendance:

Kris Carroll - Director
Katy Farrell (Assistant Director) - Recording Secretary
Lisa Havlin - Fiscal Officer
Nicole Burnside - Human Resources
Deborah Schrock - Development Coordinator
Erika Noark - Geauga West Branch Manager
Denise Javins - Marketing Manager
Rachael Hartman - Middlefield Branch Manager
Mike Pope - IT Manager
John Johnson - Facilities Manager
Dawn Malasca - Deputy Fiscal Officer
Nicole Nystrom - Administration Assistant
Judy Lasco - Chardon Branch Manager
Danielle Hollar - Bainbridge Branch Manager
Marlene Pelyhes - Tech Services Manager

Public: This Observer attended in person.

Correspondence:
Thank you notes from Ida’s Pantry, from Geauga County Jobs and Family Services for Sponsor a Family Program and from a donor whose mother is in the Books by Mail program.

Directors Report’s Report - Ms Carroll

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Office of Budget Management Director Kim Murnieks introduced the state’s 2026-2027 executive budget. The proposal demonstrates a commitment to Ohio’s public libraries by increasing the Public Library Fund (PLF) share of the General Revenue Fund from 1.7% to 1.75% in FY 2026 and FY 2027. This is the first step in the budget process, and many revisions are expected before the final budget is approved in June.
Ms Carroll invited the Geauga State Representatives to visit the library and view the Voices of Geauga County kiosk. While specific dates have not yet been scheduled, two representatives had their staff follow up, leading to productive discussions on the value of GCPL to the community.
GCPL staff are collaborating with Cleveland Public Library to introduce a Spanish-language collection at the Geauga West Branch.
Lauren Smyth, the new Digitization Specialist, is coordinating the deployment of the new Digital Legacy Labs at every Geauga Library branch and, with the assistance of Technology Trainer Mary Crotty, is scheduling staff training sessions.
GCPL collaborated with the Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve (ESCWR) students to create 1,501 valentines for the third annual Valentines for Seniors project. Valentines were distributed to all nursing homes, the Department on Aging and meals On Wheels.
The Volunteer Lunch brought together library volunteers, donors, and board members.

Assistant Director’s Report - Ms Farrell

The Winter Reading Program is going well. Adults and teens read 2,600 books by the halfway point in the challenge, while children completed 560 activity logs. This year, children were rewarded with a small prize if they turned in a log during the week of February 2. This additional prize was added to encourage children to keep reading.
Bainbridge: During STEM storytime, participants focused on weights and measurements. The STEAM Club built Leonardo DaVinci Bridges to test how much weight the bridge could hold.
Chardon: Youth Services moved toddler and family storytimes into the Bostwick Room for the session to accommodate larger groups
Geauga West: Local poet, Wendy Brooks, read parts of her book and answered questions.
Middlefield: The Edgar Allan Poe Escape Room program was very popular, generating good patron feedback.
Mobile Service: Three stops were cancelled because of the weather and road conditions. Some patrons did not want to walk down icy driveways, but many braved the cold.
Thompson: A library patron and avid gardener donated 40 baggies of various seeds. Most were separated out to provide three to five packets for other patrons. The branch is putting together a seed library.
Statistics for January 2025:
- 35,959 patrons served at the branches
- 2,826 computer and 14,480 wi-fi uses
- 182 programs presented 3,654 for patrons
- 13,907 reference interactions
- total circulation of items 247,084

New Business - Ms Carroll

Kathy Catani, Vice President of the Chagrin Valley Herb Society (CVHS) sent in a report and the GCPL Board approved the CVHS Memorandum of Understanding and approved the gift of an additional memorial bench for the Teahouse on the Bainbridge property. Since 1991, GCPL has provided land, water and meeting space for the Herb Society. The Herb Society has maintained an educational garden for society members and library patrons. This MOU clarifies goals and responsibilities for GCPL and the Society. The garden will provide Society members with a learning, growing, and educational experience with herbs. For patrons and staff of the library, the garden will be an educational garden, a reading garden, a fragrance garden, and a touching garden. The MOU is renewed and updated annually at the February Board of Trustees meeting before garden and speaker planning for that year is done. A summary of the previous year’s garden activity including library programming provided will be made in the report.

The Board discussed and approved the New Operating Policy 558 for Study Rooms:
- Library study rooms are to be used for individual or small group work or study.
- Reservations for study rooms may be made up to one month in advance. Reservations will be confirmed by library staff and are not valid until confirmed verbally or via email. Library staff may adjust the assigned study room to accommodate the needs of patrons, while ensuring that the requestor still has a room available that fits their requested time and need.
- If no one is using a room and there is not a current reservation, a library patron may request to use the room while they are in the library. This will be done on a first-come, first served basis. If a room has an advance reservation, patrons using the room will be asked to vacate the room to accommodate the reservation
- Study Room reservations will be held for 20 minutes, after which, if a patron is a no-show, it can be released for another patron to use.
- Study room reservations are for two hours. If the room is not reserved and there are no other requests to use the room, the two-hour time limit may be extended by library staff.
- Library supervisors may grant exceptions for patron study room reservations and use for unique situations, such as job interviews, taking exams, and other pressing needs. Study rooms are not available for private parties, such as showers and birthday parties.
- The Behavior and Conduct in the Library policy (OP 951) applies to all people using the study rooms. Any patron who violates these usage guidelines or damages property may be banned from using a study room for up to one year. This decision will be shared in writing by the Branch Manager, in accordance with Library Administration.

Board Development - Ms Carroll

The Board packet contained a list of Board committee assignments and duties. No discussion occurred at this meeting.

Upcoming Events:

April 5 Annual Mini Golf
April 24-26 Maple Festival Book Sale

Public Comment - None

Executive Session - To Discuss the Purchase of Property. No action taken.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned after the Board left executive session. No action was taken.

Next Meeting: The next Regular Board meeting is March 18, 4:00 pm, Bainbridge Branch. See website for information on meeting dates and locations.

Minutes: The latest minutes are posted here. Prior to March 2023, videos of meetings were available to the public here. The GCPL is no longer posting videos of their meetings.

Observer: Cris Takacs

Editor: Anne Ondrey

Reviewer: Carol Benton

Date Submitted: March 8, 2025

The League of Women Voters of Geauga is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. They do not support or oppose individual candidates or parties. Learn more about the LWVG at www.lwvgeauga.org.

Return to Previous Page