Pahrump Community Library
Minutes of the December 8, 2025 Board Meeting
1) Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 10:11 a.m.
2) Members Roll Call
In attendance: Trustee Dee Mounts, Trustee Matthew Morris, Chair John Shewalter via Zoom, Vice Chair Runion acting as Chair, Director Kimberly Thomas, Reference Department Head Kit Hickman
3) Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance was prior to the Call to Order.
4) GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT: (*Action will NOT be taken on matters considered during this period until specifically included on an agenda as an action item.)
Vice Chair Runion opens public comment.
Public comment:
Caroline Logue says she has some questions about the workshop and agendas posted on the website for December 4 and December 5. She wants clarification on the one December 5 workshop from 1 to 5, with University Center for Economic Development, which is part of the College of Business at University of Nevada, Reno. She was unable to attend because the meeting wasn't held. She wants to know what happened and why it wasn’t held. The director called her back and ultimately said she was sorry but had to hang up. She wants clarification on what happened, because the public is part of what needs to happen here.
Ginny Okawa says it’s very upsetting to see the amount of turmoil in the library over the past several years. Just in the last couple of months, we've lost an IT tech, a board trustee has resigned, and she understands another library employee has quit. This is something that can't be fixed by almost a million dollar facelift with new lighting, paint, and new carpet to the library. She says there's one common denominator, and feels it's way past time to request the resignation of the Board Chair.
With no further public comment, public comment is closed.
5) Trustee/Director/Liaison Comments: - This item is limited to announcements, brief discussions of public comments, correction of factual inaccuracies, direction to staff, or topics proposed for future board meetings. (Lengthy deliberation of topics not on the agenda is prohibited by the Nevada Open Meeting Law).
Trustee Mounts says she wants to respond to Ms. Logue. We had the meeting on Thursday and Friday. And on Thursday, we actually finished all the work early. The guy that was going over it with us said we don't have to have anything on Friday. She says Kim was very like, well, what do I do to cancel this and she told her I don't know, put something on the door, I have no idea if it's kind of last minute. So that's all that happened. She knows that he talked about doing all the paperwork, and it should be done in the first of the year.
Director Thomas says there wasn't a quorum, so it wasn't actually a meeting. We had the discussion with him. He took the notes and he’s going to put it together and send it back. There was a survey that was sent out to the public.
Trustee Mounts says sorry about that, but Kim is very busy. She has to hang up on us sometimes, too, because something else is going on. She shows coloring books for the therapy dogs, that are of Diesel and Georgia who are the actual teams. There are little games in there and stuff. They are being sold for $2 up front and they're good stocking stuffers if you want any.
Trustee Morris says regarding the, for lack of a better word, the kerfuffle amongst our employees, that's been kind of something that has been going on for a time. He says that this is regretful, but we're working through it as best we can.
John Shewalter says he will keep his comments to himself for now.
Chair Runion says he appreciates the public's input. He don't want to be chair. He does not wish to be chair. He says there has been turnover here and that's not something the board has a lot of hand in those day-to-day operations. He knows it’s been a challenge for the public and for the staff. He appreciates the staff stepping up and filling the gaps as best we can. If there's anything the board can do, please let him know.
Trustee Shewalter says there's been some changes in staff and sometimes to make an omelet, you gotta crack some eggs. He’s not disappointed that some people are gone, some people are there. The people who are not at the library anymore have left of their own volition. He says he’s not addressing it because those are internal matters of the library and they're completely under the authority of the director who will, in her time and at her discretion, make those decisions. If anybody was well informed enough, they would understand that it has nothing to do with the board. He says to Ms. Okawa, he won't be resigning.
Chair Runion calls a 5 minute recess to distribute additional backup.
Chair Runion makes a motion to include additional backup. Dee Mounts seconds.
There is no public comment. There is no board comment.
The measure passes 4-0.
Item 7 is struck because there are no emergency items.
6) Approval of December 8, 2025 Agenda (Non-action item)
8) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or amend and approve the meeting minutes for November 10, 2025.
Trustee Morris makes a motion to approve the meeting minutes for November 10, 2025. Vice Chair Runion approves.
There is no public comment.
There is no board comment.
The measure passes 4-0.
9) Presentation: Treasurer’s Report by Kim Thomas for discussion of monthly expenditures and revenue for November 2025 through December 2025.
Director Thomas reads her report as found in the backup.
10) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or amend and approve payment vouchers for November 2025 through December 2025.
Chair Runion makes a motion to approve the payment vouchers for November 2025 through December 2025.
Trustee Morris seconds.
There is no public comment.
There is no board comment.
Chair Runion calls the question.
The measure passes 4-0.
11) Presentation: Librarian’s Report by Kimberly Thomas for discussion on library activity for November 2025 through December 2025. Report activities include staff activities and training, library project updates, patron traffic, books checked out, books returned, fees collected, online story time, STEAM, internet use, website usage and materials added.
Director Thomas reads her report as found in the backup.
12) For Possible Action: Election of Secretary of the Pahrump Community Library District.
Trustee Shewalter asks to reopen the Librarian’s Report.
Chair Runion reopens item 11.
Trustee Shewalter says he’s read all the notes things sent to him about this roof issue. He asks if he is recalling correctly that the director had mentioned that one of the people who have assessed this roof has said that the roof was improperly pitched?
Director Thomas says yes.
Trustee Shewalter says he finds that hard to believe, but fair enough. People are all supposed to know what they're doing. So now we're going to have a structural engineer come out and take a look at it, correct?
Director Thomas says he came out on Friday, but she has not gotten word back from him yet.
Trustee Shewalter says so that's a yes.
Director Thomas says yes.
Trustee Shewalter says he thinks we should also get involved the people who built that building, the structural engineer who put it together, the concept, because if that roof was improperly pitched, and that either caused or helped to magnify this issue, we should be having conversations with them as well. He says if she could figure out who those people are, and we'll get a determination as to when it's appropriate to get them involved. But if we had a structural engineer designed that place or checked it, and there's problems with it, then he thinks that's a worthwhile discussion. He says he would just note that when we were redoing the lights, everybody was saying we should get the structural engineers who built the place involved and anyways, briefcase from out of town.
Chair Runion reopens Item 12.
Trustee Shewalter moves to elect Dee Mounts as the secretary of the Pahrump Community Library District.
Chair Runion seconds.
Trustee Mounts accepts.
There is no public comment.
Chair Runion comments he’s glad it’s not him.
Trustee Shewalter says Dee's been sliding by with the dog program and things she wanted to do, and everybody else has assignments, so good. He’s glad she's going to accept.
Chair Runion calls the question.
The measure passes 4-0.
13) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or reject the 2026 Authorization to Pre-Pay Pahrump Community Library Bills Under Specific Circumstances.
Chair Runion makes a motion to approve the 2026 Authorization to Pre-Pay Pahrump Community Library Bills Under Specific Circumstances.
Trustee Shewalter seconds.
There is no public comment.
Trustee Mounts asks if we already did this.
Chair Runion says we have to do this yearly.
Trustee Morris has no comment.
Chair Runion says it looks good to him, we have to do this every year.
Trustee Shewalter says we do this every year, let’s do this again.
Vice Chair Runion calls the question.
The measure passes 4-0.
14) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or reject Christmas Eve as a recognized holiday.
Trustee Shewalter makes a motion to reject Christmas Eve as a recognized holiday.
Trustee Mounts seconds.
Public comment:
Helen Schneider says she checked to see that there were 12 holidays. She knows Christmas Eve will be kind of in and out and she’s suggesting maybe half a day and also putting half a day for New Year's Eve. That way there's still some time people who work on Christmas wouldn't have to work on New Year's Eve. Library personnel would get a half day each way. People are going to be doing last minute Christmas shopping, and on New Year's Eve, they're thinking about the New Year's Eve parties. So they're not going to bring their kids here either. That's her suggestion.
Chair Runion thanks her for her comment.
Caroline Logue says she concurs that at least limited time for the staff to have to take holiday time that everybody else is celebrating. People here and the taxpayers that pay for their salaries certainly take the time off if they can. As a taxpayer, she thinks that any time off from a job is important during a holiday time. Even though it states on legally that if it's on a Saturday or a Sunday, Christmas Day falls on one of those days, that the day before, the day after can be called as a complete day off. So not wanting to have a bunch of Christmas grinches around, we really should look at giving our staff and the people that contribute some ability to be here, but also some time off.
There is no additional public comment.
Trustee Shewalter asks if anyone would object if he went first because I wrote this and stuck it in here personally.
Trustee Shewalter says he made the motion and wrote the item for several reasons. The comments are not applicable. Because we are a public entity, the holidays are dictated by the NRS. We don't choose them. The law chooses them. Secondly, our policies dictate that, for example, in order to be paid for Christmas Day, because it is a holiday, you must work Christmas Eve to be eligible for Christmas Day pay. And the day after. And what most people don't realize is that for several years, at least six, excluding one. The staff has been taking off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So they violated the policy. They paid themselves for a day that they were not eligible for. In doing so, they nullified the day that they were eligible for and got paid for it anyway. And last but not least, they took every measure possible to keep these actions hidden from the board. He would not vote to approve this. The board needs to know what's been hidden from them. The public needs to know the reality so they might have an understanding of what we have to deal with. And yes, sometimes making an omelet is worth it.
Trustee Mounts says she agrees with John that Christmas Eve is not a holiday. These employees, we have done a lot for them financially and otherwise. She doesn’t think it’s a good thing to do right now or anytime because there's no NRS to support it and we do everything legally.
Trustee Morris says Mr. Shewalter’s point is a valid one and that the idea that information would be hidden from the board is a serious thing. Follow the NRS and the laws.
Chair Runion says he really doesn't care about anything else other than this NRS. NRS says what we gotta do, we follow the law. That's his understanding of how we should be functioning.
Chair Runion calls the question.
The measure passes 4-0 to reject Christmas Eve as a holiday.
15) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve amend and approve or reject 1) automation of the library’s document handling services for utilizing EnvisionWare, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $20,000.00 and 2) funding to be determined by the Board.
Trustee Shewalter makes a motion to approve 1) automation of the library’s document handling services for utilizing EnvisionWare, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $20,000.00 and 2) to fund from capital improvement funds.
Chair Runion seconds.
Public comment:
A member of the public who did not identify himself asks for clarification on what this is for and if the $20,000 is annual.
Director Thomas says the maintenance is annual, but the main bulk of it is not. We would own the document station and the coin and bill acceptor and all the actual hardware of it.
Trustee Shewalter asks that we stick with the public comment and let the director or anybody else who has information provide that information after public comment.
Vice Chair Runion asks if there is additional public comment.
Caroline Logue asks if it is going to replace a staff member, or is this just an accommodation that could be added to the public services? And will the public be able to know what it's all about. You're building technology here and utilizing it, which is great. The public would like to know what it's about, how it's going to be used. She just can't picture this whole thing so appreciate some discussions.
There is no additional public comment.
Director Thomas says this is to provide for the patrons to be able to make their own and pay for their own copies, scans, faxes, prints, and free up the staff from involvement. The staff are still there to help them. The staff can have more time to do other things. And many libraries have a copy machine that the patron can touch and use themselves. This includes not just the copier, but the scanning, the faxing, and the printing. A nice add-on is that for our mobile printing right now we have a Princh and it's got the QR code that you scan. She has asked Princh if they have a way for patrons to e-mail the document to you through your secure system, because we have patrons that would prefer to do that. They have no plan to add that. Envisionware has a version of Princh that is their own where it includes that. It's also going to have, if the board approves this entire quote and doesn't cross anything out of it, the print release station, so the patrons can release their own prints. It frees the staff to be able to do some other things. It's not meant to replace them. It empowers the patrons to do their own things without staff intervention because we have had people that maybe they don't want to hand a staff member their social security card to have a copy made of it. We had a lady that wanted copies of her old journal that didn't want a staff member to take it in the back and copy it. So that's why she asked the board if we could do this.
Reference Department Head Kit Hickman asks to speak.
Kit Hickman says he is in charge of reference, which is where the copying is being done. And at libraries he worked at before, they had these kind of self-serve systems. Here, he’s spent almost 60% of his time helping people make copies. He would rather spend that time helping people his age and older deal with computers and digital technology. He’s been telling people he can't help them with that because he’s busy making copies for people. This frees him and his other staff members to help people in areas that are more important. It's definitely worth it as far as he’s concerned. If we hired another person to do all those copies, it would cost us more than $20,000 a year.
Director Thomas says it’s not per year.
Chair Runion thanks him for his comment.
Trustee Shewalter asks to clarify that Kit identified himself.
Trustee Mounts says she thinks Kit made a very important point, that he can do more work here that is more important than copies and such. She is totally for this, and hopefully it relieves you of a lot of stuff.
Kit Hickman says that’s what he’s hoping.
Trustee Morris says he has a question about this particular company, Envisionware. Are they vetted? It's a good idea, but $20,000 is a lot of money for a library. Was there a bid put out for this, or is this just a single offering here? Are there other companies that do the same thing?
Director Thomas says there are other companies that have this type of service. She did not put it out to a bid, but got different quotes and looked at a few. This one is kind of the big name in library land. The woman that was selling this actually came out in person and met with her, Kit, and the other staff member who works at reference to talk to us about it. They are not the only company that does this, but they are a reputable one.
Trustee Morris asks if she is confident with this.
Director Thomas says yes.
Kit Hickman says he worked at the Prescott City Library before coming here, and this was the system they using there, and I really like it.
Chair Runion says back in his youth, in the '80s, the Anaheim Public Library had a system very similar to this where you drop the quarter in and you made your own copies and it worked great. And if it could free up a staff member to answer reference questions and provide better service and it's still available, he’s good with it. He thinks $20,000 is a small price to pay to get this man back his time. And they answered my other question was, do they want it? Does the library staff think this is a good idea? If they think it's a good idea, he’s all in favor.
Trustee Shewalter says he’s had multiple conversations with the director about this item. This is part of the director's vision and realigning the direction of where we're going. It's a tremendously necessary move. She did it at the circulation desk. She looked at whatever system she wanted, he has no input in it whatsoever. It does not reach the limit of $25,000 that requires it to go out to bid. There was no bidding done on it, because it's not necessary. The limit is $25,000 before you have to put something out the bid. As far as the amount of money, $20,000 is nothing. We spent a half a million dollars remodeling the library. We spent another half a million dollars updating the electrical and the lighting. $20,000 to modernize patron services is nothing. It's nothing. He thanks Kit for his input and says when the staff and director support it, how can we not support this? He’s in favor of voting to approve this.
Trustee Shewalter reiterates that the motion is to fund this through capital improvements. That can be changed. We don't have to fund it through there, but we'll have to withdraw the motions and redo them if we decided through the general fund. We don’t have to do that, that was just what he picked, so that we can get this item discussed.
The measure passes 4-0.
16) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or reject to pay for a standard or premiere membership for Dee Mounts in the Marquis Who's Who in recognition for her work in the Tales with Pebbles program.
Trustee Mounts says she has a disclosure. She is not benefiting from this financially whatsoever. This is a name recognition for the library and herself, so she will be voting on this.
Trustee Shewalter makes a motion to approve to pay for a premier membership for Dee Mounts in the Marquee's Who's Who in recognition of her work in the Tales with Pebbles program.
Trustee Morris seconds.
Public comment:
Caroline Logue commends Ms. Mounts for starting this program. She thinks it's a very attractive one, and it reaches people from all ages. Her concern is that this board has a fantastic reputation for spending the taxpayer dollar. The taxpayer dollar is what funds the library for books, for its main services. Having this kind of service is nice to be divided on a volunteer basis, but some of the things that happen out in the world of advertising is that there's scams out there. And research was done on this that Who's Who for Tales with Pebbles for premier membership costs $1,789. That could buy a lot of books. And besides that, there are comments within the American Library Association about this particular scam. The statements are, don't do it. They acted like it was a big deal, then hung up the phone on me when I asked about the cost. That was one of the comments from ALA. That was in Syracuse, New York. Tennessee said, stay far, far away. Libraries used to buy some of them, but not in decades. Even then, if you were paying to get into the book or paying a lot to buy a copy, it was a scam. Indiana said, yes, don't do it. They acted like it was a big deal, then hung up the phone when they asked for the cost. So the whole system of who's providing this needs to be looked at. It's a great way to get recognition, but there's cheaper ways to get recognition than this. She highly recommends you don't fall for a scam.
Chair Runion thanks her for her comments.
Dave Ochenreider asks does anybody know off the top of their head what the current balance is in the capital improvement fund or the general fund? He used to track that. When we first started, there was $3 million in the general fund. That was five years ago. At that point in time, the staff had not been given any raises other than the cost of living. And John Shewalter looked into it and found that we were so far behind the average salaries of libraries this size and towns of this size. And as the board approved raising the salaries to be competitive so we could keep the good people here. He is for recognizing Dee. She's done a lot of work on her own time, a lot more than he ever did. And he’s all for it. Yes, it's expensive. Every once in a while, you gotta say thank you.
Helen Schneider says Dee has done an excellent job but she questions spending money to go into a book. She’d like recognition in the newspaper to people here. She’d rather see it that way because that's this community. Joe Blow out in Ohio could care less. She’d rather have Dee get a plaque or have her get some kind of recognition at the county commissioners meeting. It won't cost as much, and yet it is recognition. And this community needs to know what Dee’s done.
Ginny Okawa says she agrees, it's a wonderful program, and thanks Dee for starting it and running it. There was a great article in our paper a couple of months ago about this Who's Who. She doesn't think that it's worth it. She’s seen them before back when she was in high school. She agrees with what Helen said, that a plaque is a better idea. It's a wonderful program. She thinks we can recognize Dee better here in this community than paying that much money to have a little blurb in a book that nobody else is really going to know or care about.
Chair Runion thanks her for her comments.
Director Thomas says there’s a plaque with this. It includes a professionally written press release, biography, access to the biography database, and the wall plaque.
Trustee Mounts says it also has the online search. So if you put her name in Google it pops up. And then her biography has the library involved with this, too, when she interviews. She understand Ms. Logue's concern and such. Her uncle was in the Who's Who of America, too, as a top litigator for many years. He loved it. She’s very proud of this induction but is already inducted and deciding on a package - the chair wanted a plaque so that's what we're doing.
Trustee Morris says whether some people think $20,000 is nothing he thinks it's something. We have something that from the American Library Association said it was a scam. Is that what I'm understanding?
Trustee Mounts asks what he is talking about for $20,000?
Trustee Morris says from what he understands, according to Ms. Logue, there is a potential scam here. He thinks that should be looked into.
Chair Runion says a long time ago he was approached for induction for his work with the US Geological Survey. He fell for it and paid the $1,000. He has never seen any ROI on this. And then again, if you search him, you come up with someone else, which clearly isn't him. He sees no ROI here. He appreciates Dee and this has been a great program. He sees great ROI on the program itself. But he agrees there are better ways to recognize her, to benefit the community, to get your name out here where it matters, as opposed to blasting this out to some guy in Fairbanks, Alaska that will never, ever come to Pahrump.
Trustee Shewalter has technical difficulties and is no longer on the speaker. Director Thomas calls him directly and he says he was disconnected and is trying to reconnect. He makes his comment over speakerphone:
Trustee Shewalter says this board over a number of years has spent significant funds to remodel, refurbish, rebuild, compensate. The staff has been generously, and in some spots, incredibly generously awarded for their work. He’s not opposed to this item. For those of us who say this item should fail, he challenges them do something in lieu of it. Dee's been on this board for several years. She's done a lot of work. And let's see, what kind of reward do the board members get? Well, we get insulted. We get accused of mismanaging money. We get accused of taking money. We accused of violating the ethics code. Violating the NRS. We get screamed at, spit on. That's the reward that Dee's gotten, and that many of us have gotten, for serving on this board. So you want to talk about recognition, there's the recognition. He’s in favor of Dee having some recognition for the work that she's done instead of all the backhanded comments that everybody seems to throw out there. And if you don't want to do this, then do something.
Chair Runion calls the question.
Trustee Morris: Nay.
Chair Runion: Nay.
Trustee Shewalter: Aye.
Trustee Mounts: Aye
Chair Runion asks to clarify the split vote.
Trustee Shewalter says a 2-2 measure fails.
17) Trustee/Director/Liaison Comments: - This item is limited to announcements, brief discussions of public comments, correction of factual inaccuracies, direction to staff, or topics proposed for future board meetings. (Lengthy deliberation of topics not on the agenda is prohibited by the Nevada Open Meeting Law).
Director Thomas thanks everyone for coming.
Trustee Mounts says don't forget about the coloring books up front.
Chair Runion asks the price.
Trustee Mounts says two dollars.
Trustee Morris says everybody have a great rest of your day and happy holidays. See you next year.
Trustee Shewalter says to Dee he’s sorry that the recognition didn't pass. He’s praying that either the director of the company on the board actually does something. You won't get it from the community. He’s sorry that that happened.
Chair Runion has no comment.
18) Adjournment
Without objection, the meeting is adjourned at 11:41 am.