St. Charles Parish Library Board of Control Meeting - March 17, 2026
St. Charles Parish Library Board of Control Meeting - March 17, 2026
Meeting called to order at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers, Courthouse. The board approved the January 20, 2026 minutes, received the Librarian’s Report, approved the 90% estimate for the Hahnville Branch Library project, and passed two resolutions: designation of a Records Officer and a budget amendment for 2025. No public comments were offered. The meeting adjourned without further discussion.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes – January 20, 2026: Motion by Ms. Robin, seconded. Passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were received during either the scheduled or final public comment period.
Librarian’s Report
- February 2026 Programming: An after-hours Pokemon program at the East Regional Library attracted 134 patrons. Staff also participated in outreach events at JB Martin Career Day, Alamans Elementary Mardi Gras Parade, and Mimosa Park Elementary STEM Fair.
- Summer Reading Program: Staff attended summer reading workshops; the event guide will be mailed to all parish households in May.
- Keep Louisiana Beautiful “Get Down and Cleanup” Program: To launch in April during Love the Boot Week and National Library Week. The library will receive 24 cleanup kits (4 per branch) available for two-week checkout. The program is free, with replacement supplies provided at no cost. Patrons are encouraged to register with the parish for credit and to participate in the parish’s Trash Bash.
- Staff News: Raven Spazali co-presented “Teen Book Fair: Engaging Teens in Collection Development” at the Louisiana Library Association conference. Librarian noted that none of the current hires are new positions; they fill vacancies created by retirements.
- No questions were raised about the report beyond the number of kits and registration procedures.
Discussion Items
Hahnville Branch Library Project Update – Review and Approval of 90% Estimate
- The 90% estimate from Woodward, the construction manager at risk (CMR), was received and reviewed with the design team. The current project budget is $9.2 million, and the estimate is within that budget.
- Next steps: architects will provide the 100% design set, Woodward will update the estimate, and the board will give final approval and set the guaranteed maximum price at the next meeting.
- Discussion covered assumptions and clarifications: excluded items would be handled via change order or included in the 100% estimate. The estimate includes a 200 kW generator, stormwater pollution prevention plan (already in early release package), and exposed MEP ductwork/pipe/conduit only in back-of-house spaces. No items were deemed necessary to add at this time.
- Motion to approve the 90% estimate by Miss Lindsay, seconded by Stephanie. Passed unanimously.
Resolution 26-2 – Designation of a Records Officer
- The resolution designates the Library Director as the Records Officer for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2027. This is an annual appointment that was inadvertently omitted last year.
- Motion by Stephanie, seconded by Charlene. Passed unanimously.
Resolution 26-3 – Proposed Amendment to the 2025 Budget
- The amendment adjusts budget lines that exceeded their appropriations at year-end. Overruns were covered by transferring funds from lines with remaining balances (electronic services and major repairs). No cuts were made to programs.
- Key overruns explained:
- Line 264 (maintenance of equipment): $2,080 over due to generator repairs at East Regional Library.
- Line 427 (contractual services): $15,852 over due to new Paycom payroll fees (parish’s payroll system) not budgeted in 2025.
- Line 280 (professional services): over due to geotechnical engineering, boundary/topography surveys for the Hahnville property, labor attorney fees, and bank service charges.
- Line 473 (contribution to retirement system) and Line 857 (transfer indirect cost allocation): over because the parish uses a third-party auditor to determine the library’s percentage; the 2025 charge was $450,000, which is higher than budgeted. The librarian will propose a 2026 budget amendment to reflect this ongoing cost.
- Motion by Miss Robin, seconded by Stephanie. Passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the January 20, 2026 minutes.
- Approved the 90% estimate for the Hahnville Branch Library project, moving toward the 100% estimate and guaranteed maximum price at the next meeting.
- Adopted Resolution 26-2 appointing the Library Director as Records Officer through June 30, 2027.
- Adopted Resolution 26-3 amending the 2025 budget, transferring funds to cover overruns in several line items.
- No further business; meeting adjourned.
Meeting adjourned shortly after 6:30 PM.
Meeting Transcript
All right, we'll go ahead and get started. Welcome to the St. Charles Parish Library Board of Control meeting for March 17th. We'll call this meeting to order. If we can all stand and say a silent prayer and follow Bada Pledge. Hi. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for one nation under God, indivisible Liberty and Justice Borough. Does everybody have a copy of the minutes from January 20, 2026? Yes. If so, can we get a motion to approve the minutes from last month? I'll make a motion. Ms. Robin seconds. And that motion passes. Yes. And then we're moving right along. Do we have any public comment? We do not. Okay, being none, we're gonna go to the librarian's report. Okay. All right. So we continue to remain busy at all of our branches with lots of programming and outreach happening. In addition to our regular story times, teen and adult programs at the East Regional Library. We hosted an after hours Pokemon program in February that brought in 134 patrons. Library staff also participated in several special outreach events last month, including the JB Martin Career Day, Alamans Elementary Mardi Gar Parade, and the Mimosa Park Elementary STEM Fair. We always enjoy going out into the community. Library staff are currently busy preparing for our 2026 summer reading program. Several of our staff attended summer reading workshops this past month, and programmers have been busy finalizing programming schedules for the event guide that will once again be mailed to all households in the parish sometime in May. Thanks to the Keep Louisiana Beautiful Get Down and Cleanup program. Keep Louisiana Beautiful is a state program that supports local communities through resources for litter prevention, beautification, and sustainability initiatives. Get down and cleanup is their library program that makes litter cleanup supplies readily available for checkout at local libraries across the state. In conjunction with Love the Boot Week and National Library Week in April, we will be joining 45 other parishes by launching the Get Down and Cleanup program. These kits will be a permanent item in our collection, and each branch will have four kits available. Patrons will use their library cards to check them out for two-week periods. And I have a sample of what the kits look like. So each kit includes a tote bag that holds everything. A trash grabber. Oh, if they do. Let me hold it. Trash grabber. A safety vest. And trash bags. So when patrons check these out, they will get this, be able to use them for cleanup projects in the community. They'll return them back to the libraries. So kids can check them out to use them for service hours. Things like that. And this program is offered to us for free, and replacement items are available to us at no cost. So we don't pay for any of this. So we're hoping to be able to get them ready for checkout that week so that patrons can come in and check them out and use them for trash bash. So keep an eye on our website and social media for more information.
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