Board Meeting Minutes 1/27/2026 (html)
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Ingrid Donnerstag Christy Davis, Director
Dmitry White Stacy Higby
Michelle Sanguinetti
Megan Smith (Zoom) Public Present:
Kori Sarrett
Board Members Absent:
Nancy Miller
CALL TO ORDER
Chair White called the meeting to order at 5:36 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
No changes
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
On Page 5, Newberg is misspelled.
Motion: To approve the December 2, 2025, Board Meeting minutes as corrected.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT, NOVEMBER 2025
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
The Board asked Kori Sarrett from Accuity several questions:
Should the funds received from the City of Silverton for the parking lot upgrades remain in Miscellaneous Income or be moved to a different account? She said that the audit team would prefer it to be reclassified.
Once we own the building, should it be listed under Assets in the financial reports? She said that since we use a cash basis for our accounting, it is not required to report the building as a capital asset, but it would be smart to disclose it. We could have the building assessed or ask Marion County for its assessed value. The amount that SDIS uses for insurance for the building and its contents could also be used. A valuation may also have been done during the lot line adjustment. Christy will contact Marion County.
Should the C-REP solar construction grant be categorized as Capital Outlay? Since we use only one fund, the General Fund, the income and expenses do not need to be recategorized, but for the grant reporting and tracking, it would probably be beneficial to do so. Stacy created a sub-account line for the construction costs under Building Maintenance but will move the costs to its own line. When the grant funds are received, the Board will need a Budget Resolution to accept and spend the grant funds.
Will the parking lot and the funds for upgrading it need to be on the depreciation table? If we work toward capital valuation, they will end up on that list.
Statement of Cash Receipts:
Where did the $1700 in Donations come from? There were 2 quarterly book donations of $600 each and one donation of $500 for Employee Benefit (used for refreshments at full stall meetings) from the Friends of the Library. The $500 should be in the Donations Employee Benefit sub-line. Stacy will move it.
Statement of Cash Disbursements
What do the expenses in Building Maintenance include? There were the usual monthly costs (trash, landscape maintenance, and alarm monitoring), but we also purchased a new vacuum, had pest control service, and Rite Way Electric mapped all of our electrical panels, partially in preparation for the solar project.
Check Register
What was the $35 check to Christy for? Refreshments for a staff meeting.
What was the $55.95 check to Stacy for? A card and gift card for an employee wedding.
FINANCIAL REPORT, DECEMBER 2025
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
Statement of Cash Receipts:
Have we received tax revenue for January? We won’t receive it until the first week of February. Property taxes split into 3 payments will be received by the County in February and distributed to tax districts the first week of March.
Statement of Cash Disbursements
Page 2 reads Dec-24 instead of Dec-25. Stacy will correct it.
Check Register
What is the $88.57 check to Christy for? Holiday party supplies.
What is the payment to AT&T Mobility for? It is for our only Chromebook with Wi-Fi. We will consider upgrading the Chromebook in the next fiscal year.
Motion: To approve the NOVEMBER 2025 Financial Report as presented, including checks #18248 through and including #18281, and all EFTs for a total of $93,339.55 and to approve the DECEMBER 2025 Financial Report as presented, including checks #18282 through and including #18304, and all EFTs, for a total of $93,409.61.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
AUDIT PRESENTATION
Kori Sarrett from our auditing firm, Accuity, LLC presented the Annual Financial Report for the District’s 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The District ended the year with just over $1 million in carryover, which is about 9 months of operating expenses. The recommended amount is 6 months. Oregon looks for budget compliance, and the audit team found no issues at all. There were almost no journal entries either, which indicates little need for corrections. The team recommended no adjustments. Kori commended the staff as very diligent and doing a phenomenal job.
For the C-REP solar construction grant, because we have only one fund, the General Fund, Kori initially recommended starting a separate fund for the grant for easier tracking and reporting, and that fund could be completely closed out upon completion of construction. However, just a separate budget line with subaccounts would also work because staff is capable and diligent. During COVID-19, we created subaccounts for FEMA grant reporting. We could also track the grant funds and expenses in a separate section under Capital Outlay. Placing all the different categories in one place would make it easier for the audit team, but more work for staff. Kori promised to help with any tracking method we choose. There is a mandatory online meeting for C-REP grant recipients on February 5 from 1:30-2:30. Christy will send an invite in case Hannah or Stephanie from Accuity would like to attend.
OLD BUSINESS
In the parking lot striping saga, KNL returned to add 18 inches of asphalt and a volunteer trimmed the tree to improve access to the handicapped parking spaces. We removed one of the signs, but we still need more signs reading “Library staff parking only during library hours”, and “Library patron parking only during library hours.”
We will also be purchasing external cameras which will cover the parking lot, the sidewalks that we’re responsible for, the back of the building, and the battery storage space. Our Building Maintenance expenses have been increasing, so we might move that to the next fiscal year if the expensive battery storage equipment isn’t installed before July.
NEW BUSINESS
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
The director used a combined number of 24.5 vacation hours and 23 sick hours in November and December. She could be gone during the time regularly scheduled for the March board meeting and maybe be asking for a change of date. The current scheduled date is during spring break.
ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD AND STAFF PARTICIPATION
Do we know how many total new library cards were created in 2025? Christy will update next month.
Have we learned more about consolidating our security alarms? We will revisit after we get the security cameras installed.
Is there an update on the request to extend the Walk Your Wheels area past the library? City Manager Cory Misley said he’ll take care of it, but we haven’t heard of any progress yet. Dmitry and Christy will ask Stacy Palmer at the Chamber and museum leadership to add their voices to the request.
How is the plan to move and/or purchase new benches progressing? One of our patrons, Janet, brings folks to the library via the Silver Trolley several days per week. She talked to Public Works who said they have outdoor benches in storage. Christy will go look at them to see if they’ll work for the north side of the building near the handicapped parking spots. We will get quotes for benches in front for next year’s budget, and Dmitry reminded us to check in the Oregon Department of Corrections for this as well.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:31 p.m.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
____________________________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Approved: __________________________ (date)
__________________________________________
Dmitry White
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICTSilver Falls Library Program Room
410 S. Water St., Silverton, Oregon
Board Members Present: Staff Present:
Ingrid Donnerstag Christy Davis, Director
Dmitry White Stacy Higby
Michelle Sanguinetti
Megan Smith (Zoom) Public Present:
Kori Sarrett
Board Members Absent:
Nancy Miller
CALL TO ORDER
Chair White called the meeting to order at 5:36 p.m.
REVIEW OF AGENDA
No changes
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
On Page 5, Newberg is misspelled.
Motion: To approve the December 2, 2025, Board Meeting minutes as corrected.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
FINANCIAL REPORT, NOVEMBER 2025
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
- Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances (as of November 30, 2025)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Receipts (as of November 30, 2025)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Disbursements (as of November 30, 2025)
- Check Register – Citizen’s Bank (November 1-30, 2025)
- LGIP Account Statement (as of November 30, 2025)
- Purchase Order – Visa (closing date October 21, 2025)
- Journal Entries (as of November 30, 2025)
The Board asked Kori Sarrett from Accuity several questions:
Should the funds received from the City of Silverton for the parking lot upgrades remain in Miscellaneous Income or be moved to a different account? She said that the audit team would prefer it to be reclassified.
Once we own the building, should it be listed under Assets in the financial reports? She said that since we use a cash basis for our accounting, it is not required to report the building as a capital asset, but it would be smart to disclose it. We could have the building assessed or ask Marion County for its assessed value. The amount that SDIS uses for insurance for the building and its contents could also be used. A valuation may also have been done during the lot line adjustment. Christy will contact Marion County.
Should the C-REP solar construction grant be categorized as Capital Outlay? Since we use only one fund, the General Fund, the income and expenses do not need to be recategorized, but for the grant reporting and tracking, it would probably be beneficial to do so. Stacy created a sub-account line for the construction costs under Building Maintenance but will move the costs to its own line. When the grant funds are received, the Board will need a Budget Resolution to accept and spend the grant funds.
Will the parking lot and the funds for upgrading it need to be on the depreciation table? If we work toward capital valuation, they will end up on that list.
Statement of Cash Receipts:
Where did the $1700 in Donations come from? There were 2 quarterly book donations of $600 each and one donation of $500 for Employee Benefit (used for refreshments at full stall meetings) from the Friends of the Library. The $500 should be in the Donations Employee Benefit sub-line. Stacy will move it.
Statement of Cash Disbursements
What do the expenses in Building Maintenance include? There were the usual monthly costs (trash, landscape maintenance, and alarm monitoring), but we also purchased a new vacuum, had pest control service, and Rite Way Electric mapped all of our electrical panels, partially in preparation for the solar project.
Check Register
What was the $35 check to Christy for? Refreshments for a staff meeting.
What was the $55.95 check to Stacy for? A card and gift card for an employee wedding.
FINANCIAL REPORT, DECEMBER 2025
The Board received and reviewed the following reports:
- Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances (as of December 31, 2025)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Receipts (as of December 31, 2025)
- General Fund Statement of Cash Disbursements (as of December 31, 2025)
- Check Register – Citizen’s Bank (December 1-31, 2025)
- LGIP Account Statement (as of December 31, 2025)
- Purchase Order – Visa (closing date November 20, 2025)
- Journal Entries (as of December 31, 2025)
Statement of Cash Receipts:
Have we received tax revenue for January? We won’t receive it until the first week of February. Property taxes split into 3 payments will be received by the County in February and distributed to tax districts the first week of March.
Statement of Cash Disbursements
Page 2 reads Dec-24 instead of Dec-25. Stacy will correct it.
Check Register
What is the $88.57 check to Christy for? Holiday party supplies.
What is the payment to AT&T Mobility for? It is for our only Chromebook with Wi-Fi. We will consider upgrading the Chromebook in the next fiscal year.
Motion: To approve the NOVEMBER 2025 Financial Report as presented, including checks #18248 through and including #18281, and all EFTs for a total of $93,339.55 and to approve the DECEMBER 2025 Financial Report as presented, including checks #18282 through and including #18304, and all EFTs, for a total of $93,409.61.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
AUDIT PRESENTATION
Kori Sarrett from our auditing firm, Accuity, LLC presented the Annual Financial Report for the District’s 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The District ended the year with just over $1 million in carryover, which is about 9 months of operating expenses. The recommended amount is 6 months. Oregon looks for budget compliance, and the audit team found no issues at all. There were almost no journal entries either, which indicates little need for corrections. The team recommended no adjustments. Kori commended the staff as very diligent and doing a phenomenal job.
For the C-REP solar construction grant, because we have only one fund, the General Fund, Kori initially recommended starting a separate fund for the grant for easier tracking and reporting, and that fund could be completely closed out upon completion of construction. However, just a separate budget line with subaccounts would also work because staff is capable and diligent. During COVID-19, we created subaccounts for FEMA grant reporting. We could also track the grant funds and expenses in a separate section under Capital Outlay. Placing all the different categories in one place would make it easier for the audit team, but more work for staff. Kori promised to help with any tracking method we choose. There is a mandatory online meeting for C-REP grant recipients on February 5 from 1:30-2:30. Christy will send an invite in case Hannah or Stephanie from Accuity would like to attend.
OLD BUSINESS
- Parking Lot and City of Silverton Updates
In the parking lot striping saga, KNL returned to add 18 inches of asphalt and a volunteer trimmed the tree to improve access to the handicapped parking spaces. We removed one of the signs, but we still need more signs reading “Library staff parking only during library hours”, and “Library patron parking only during library hours.”
We will also be purchasing external cameras which will cover the parking lot, the sidewalks that we’re responsible for, the back of the building, and the battery storage space. Our Building Maintenance expenses have been increasing, so we might move that to the next fiscal year if the expensive battery storage equipment isn’t installed before July.
- Transfer of scrapbooks to the Silverton Country Historical Society Update
NEW BUSINESS
- Oregon Department of Energy, Community Renewable energy Program Construction Grant Information
LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Director Davis reported on the following:
Good things:
- The Friends of the Library met in January and have agreed on supporting the library financially for a few unbudgeted endeavors this fiscal year. They are going to help pay for a Donna Cohen Civics for Adults class in the springtime, the topic being about how to spot and respond to misinformation. The Friends also agreed to support an Oregon Humanities Program that is scheduled for late March, the topic being on the concept and personal interpretations of the American phase, “The Pursuit of Happiness.” Additionally, Friends said they’d contribute $1500 towards a college intern this summer if we decide to pursue the SDAO internship grant this year. The grant will match up to 3K in wages, meaning that the Friends would split the library’s 3K match with them.
- Many new members came to the Friends meeting in January and at least two are considering running for board positions. The elections will be at the March meeting. There will also be a spring book sale in March to keep the book storage at the Elk’s club storeroom manageable. If they don’t do two book sales per year now, they run out of storage space.
- The Repair Fair will once again be held at the library in March. We continue in cooperation with Sustainable Silverton and the network of “fixperts” that were originally curated by the Marion County Environmental Services department. This will be the third year we’ve been on our own and we’ve added a new knife and ax sharpener as the original one wants to retire. We also now have a knitted goods fixpert and will have representatives from the Silverton Grange here to do a pop-up event in lieu of Seedy Saturday.
- Speaking of Seedy Saturday: Some of you may be familiar with this Grange program that has been running for years. This year, the core volunteers were unavailable for the event and so the seeds ordered for the event are now part of the Seed Library of our District. We will resume the Seed Library display and operation in February, and it will be announced in our newsletter. The Grange and Marion County Master Gardeners will help.
- The custody transfer or scrapbooks to the Silverton Country Historical Society’s museum next door is completed. The library donated 8 scrapbooks of varying delicate condition to be part of the Museum’s scrapbook collection. These were all comprised of pasted newspaper clippings. We also sent over a duplicate copy of Pioneer Obituaries from the Silverton Area. This is under a temporary custody agreement until the museum’s curator makes a final decision. Any unwanted donations will be returned to our library. After conferring with our contracted archivist, we decided to keep the library’s run of obituary notices from the early 1960s through the 1990s. They are also in newspaper clipping form but are uniformly bound and may be useful to genealogists who have a hard time accessing the museum due to its limited hours.
- On Tuesday, February 3rd at 4pm, Dmitry and Christy will be meeting with Kate Van Ummersen. Kate is the recently retired head of the Salem Public Library Foundation where she served for many years. We are going to pick her brain about the idea of starting a foundation for our library so that we can pursue some capital improvement projects that are out of the scope of our finite, taxpayer generated budget. If someone else on the board would like to join this preliminary meeting, please speak up. We can only have one additional board member so as to not run afoul of public meetings law.
- Baker and Taylor Books, one of the country’s two main booksellers for Libraries, went out of business in late 2025. Luckily, we have only ordered about 25 reference books each year from them. However, the other bookseller, Ingram, was already experiencing some trouble before this, and the sudden deluge of new orders created long wait times for book orders, going from several days to more than a month for our last nonfiction order. Ingram emailed last week that they expect to get back to 3-5 day turnarounds on new orders starting next month.
- Most importantly and difficultly, we are facing some staff turnover and may have some staffing challenges in the coming months to cover for medical needs. Our youth services assistant Kerri Evonuk gave notice last week. Her last day at the library will be this Friday. Next week, another member of the youth department will go on medical leave. The department has currently patched together coverage for most of February, and we will be interviewing for Kerri’s vacated position soon. The job posting went up last week and closes on February 3rd at 5pm. We have 9 applicants so far, including 1 internal candidate.
- We continue to wait on news from Marion County Court regarding our building break-in last year. Like most court proceedings, it is a drawn-out ordeal of appeals and delays. We have received no additional information about the case.
- The interest rate from the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) was lowered once again, this time from 4.25% to 4.1%.
- During the last big and windy rainstorm in December, we had yet another roof leak. This time Christy insisted that personnel from both Pace HVAC and Pfeifer Roofing meet synchronously to assess the problem. This resulted in Pfeifer realizing it was on them. This part of the roof is under warranty and so a patch was performed. Additional fortification of the patched area was promised but to our knowledge, Pfeifer has not returned to that. We will follow up.
- During the winter break, Stacy noticed that the new locked study room was very cold and then saw the vertical blinds moving. The window had shifted and there was over a quarter inch gap at the top of the window. South Town Glass out of Salem came out to fix it. The bill was quite high, but the problem is resolved. This is the second window in that area to do this. We believe this is a residual issue from when a car hit the building in 2017.
- Last week we were called by the City of Silverton and told that our new HVAC installation required an inspection. We’ve not had one before but as this was a rooftop replacement as well as an interior one, the inspection was required. It happened today. We do not know if inspection is covered by the City or if we will be billed for it.
- We have added employee dishonesty insurance as suggested by SDIS but haven’t been billed yet.
- We were without Outlook for 24 hours last week. Today Wave Broadband was out until 2pm. Yesterday, the CCRLS IT team installed 9 new computers, but, as they don’t know how, didn’t install any of our software or file mapping. Doug brought up personnel in the last directors’ meeting when he was previewing next year’s budget and Christy reminded the directors that CCRLS only has 3 IT workers for all the networked computers at the 19 member libraries.
- A reminder that we have a display case that we got in 2018, the year Christy arrived. The display case purchase was approved by the Board, along with all the policies associated with it. The purchase itself was made from funds donated by the Friends of the Library. Keeping the case full of fun and/or meaningful items is sometimes a challenge. If you or someone you know has interesting collections of small objects, original art, or other items that would likely be of interest to our guests, please let Christy know! We do not carry special or extra insurance for the case or any of the art in the building.
The director used a combined number of 24.5 vacation hours and 23 sick hours in November and December. She could be gone during the time regularly scheduled for the March board meeting and maybe be asking for a change of date. The current scheduled date is during spring break.
ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA OPEN TO PUBLIC, BOARD AND STAFF PARTICIPATION
Do we know how many total new library cards were created in 2025? Christy will update next month.
Have we learned more about consolidating our security alarms? We will revisit after we get the security cameras installed.
Is there an update on the request to extend the Walk Your Wheels area past the library? City Manager Cory Misley said he’ll take care of it, but we haven’t heard of any progress yet. Dmitry and Christy will ask Stacy Palmer at the Chamber and museum leadership to add their voices to the request.
How is the plan to move and/or purchase new benches progressing? One of our patrons, Janet, brings folks to the library via the Silver Trolley several days per week. She talked to Public Works who said they have outdoor benches in storage. Christy will go look at them to see if they’ll work for the north side of the building near the handicapped parking spots. We will get quotes for benches in front for next year’s budget, and Dmitry reminded us to check in the Oregon Department of Corrections for this as well.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 7:31 p.m.
(Motion by: Dmitry White. Second by: Ingrid Donnerstag).
Vote: Unanimously in favor.
____________________________________________________________
The next Library Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the library program room.
Approved: __________________________ (date)
__________________________________________
Dmitry White
Chair, Library Board of Directors
Silver Falls Library District
