Library Board Video - Fine Tuning Expansion Concepts and a Trustee Resigns

Below are links to the Plainfield Public Library District’s meeting of July 15th, 2015. Total run time is 2 ½ hours. There was just a bit of brief action required after closed session.

PPL July 15th meeting, part 1 of 6 (30 mins)
PPL July 15th meeting, part 2 of 6 (30 mins)
PPL July 15th meeting, part 3 of 6 (30 mins)
PPL July 15th meeting, part 4 of 6 (30 mins)
PPL July 15th meeting, part 5 of 6 (27 mins)
PPL July 15th meeting, part 6 of 6 (3 mins)

All trustees present, except Trustee Samantha Hurtado, whose resignation from this board was accepted during this meeting.

At the next board meeting on August 19th, a new trustee will be selected by the board AND sworn in during, first, a special (mostly) closed session meeting at 6p to interview the three applicants who met the July 31st deadline to apply. Then during the regular board meeting at 6:30p (which may start late due to interviewing of applicants), the board’s choice to fill the vacancy until the 2017 election (when that seat is up) will be sworn in. Ms. Hurtado, a newlywed, recently moved to Louisiana to continue her education. The board expressed congratulations to her and wished her well. The board felt that with so much happening at the PPL, it is important to fill this vacancy ASAP and keep working with all trustees on deck.

Once again, though, the biggest piece of the meeting was regarding library expansion plans.

My take:

Nagle Hartray architects went over—beginning at Part 1, also linked above, at the 16 min mark--what is looking more and more like the final public and board choice for an expansion: a new 3-story building, at north end of existing library lot, facing southward, and running about 90,000 square feet (give or take—this will be further tuned up as costs start being discussed in more detail).

In addition to the architects, Library Director Julie Milavec presented information from a recent public workshop on the expansion, about the library and the community it serves. You can catch her presentation beginning in the Part 2 clip, also linked above, at the 5 min 40 sec mark. After Ms. Milavec speaks, there is more from the architecture firm on all of this.

Remember that there is another round of public/task force meetings about the expansion this Wednesday the 12th, at 7p, in the small meeting room at the library AND this Thursday, the 13th, at 7p, over at the Plainfield Township Community Center (15014 S. Des Plaines St.). Just so you know, the meetings have very similar content, so while anyone can come to both meetings, just making it to one of them will be informative and you can contribute to the discussion in either instance.

If you go to the main page of the PPL’s website, you will find a link specifically for the expansion project on the left, under Quick Links—but, click here and you’ll go right to it. On that expansion page, you’ll find survey and email registration links, plus the current concept drawings and the project timeline.

You can see meeting agendas and, as they become available, minutes for the board’s meetings on the library’s website: Plainfield Public Library, board page.

As always, should you have any questions regarding this content, please feel free to contact me at radical4plainfield@gmail.com or via regular mail at Polito, PO Box 1071, Plainfield, IL 60544.