Pahrump Community Library
Minutes of the February 9. 2026 Board of Trustees Meeting
- Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 10:09 a.m.
- Members Roll Call
In attendance: Chair John Shewalter, Vice Chair Runion, Trustee Ann Underdahl, Trustee Mathew Morris, Director Kimberly Thomas, Head of Circulation Barbara, Head of Reference Kit, Michelle Nelson from the DA’s Office
- Pledge of Allegiance
Trustee Underdahl led the Pledge of Allegiance prior to the Call to Order.
- GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT: * (Action will NOT be taken on matters considered during this period until specifically included on an agenda as an action item.)
There is no public comment.
- 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 says she is sorry she wasn’t able to attend the last meeting.
Trustee Underdahl wants to remind everyone that the 21st is Bring Your Child to the Library Day.
With no further comment, Item 5 is closed.
- Approval of February 9, 2026 Agenda (Non-action item)
Item 7 is struck as there are no emergency items.
Without objection, the February 9, 2026 agenda is approved.
- For Possible Action: Emergency Items
Item 7 is struck as there are no emergency items.
- For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or amend and approve the meeting minutes for January 12, 2026.
Vice Chair Runion moves to approve the meeting minutes for January 12, 2026.
Trustee Underdahl seconds.
There is no public comment.
There is no board comment.
Chair Shewalter calls the question. The measure passes 4-0.
- Presentation: Treasurer’s Report by Kim Thomas for discussion of monthly expenditures and revenue for January 2026 through February 2026.
Director Thomas begins by clarifying from a question last month that the Clovers that were cancelled were Clover Flex devices – portable handheld devices for card payment – and that we still currently have Clover registers that take both cash and card payment. The Flex devices the library had had become obsolete anyway, and she opted to pay off the lease, send the devices back, and close out the now-unused merchant accounts connected to them.
Director Thomas reads the revenues and expenditures as found in the backup.
Chair Shewalter asks for clarification on the Vortex Doors expense.
Director Thomas clarifies that there were 2 invoices and $600 was to have someone adjust the back door, as it hadn’t been closing behind people.
Chair Shewalter asks for clarification on the Desert Wire expense for $450. Director Thomas says it was for them sending out a locksmith company to adjust the back door previously for it not closing properly.
There is additional discussion about the back door and Director Thomas says that it seemed fixed for about a month and a half and then had problems closing again and Vortex Doors adjusted it again. The Vortex technician advised that the door itself may eventually need replaced.
Chair Shewalter asks for clarification on Network Savants and Director Thomas goes over the two invoices for the month.
Chair Shewalter asks about the Gunny’s expense and Director Thomas goes over the work that was performed.
Trustee Underdahl asks about the Valley Electric internet bill, and Director Thomas says we haven’t been getting one and get a huge discount through the E-Rate program. There is discussion of what the E-Rate program is.
Chair Shewalter asks for clarification on what happened with the credit card payment, and Director Thomas says that the payment didn’t go through paying it through the county finance system, so she paid the minimum through the petty cash account and called bank and they reversed the late charge.
Chair Shewalter asks for clarification on the job postings and response from posting on ALA. There was discussion of the amount of qualified applications and the ROI on posting on ALA.
- For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or amend and approve payment vouchers for January 2026 through February 2026.
There is a motion by Vice Chair Runion to approve the payment vouchers for January 2026 through February 2026. Trustee Morris seconds.
There is no public comment.
Vice Chair Runion says he commends the director on being organized and having everything Chair Shewalter asked about ready.
There is no additional board comment.
The measure passes 4-0.
- Presentation: Librarian’s Report by Kimberly Thomas for discussion on library activity for January 2026 through February 2026. 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.
Chair Shewalter asks about Tales with Pebbles and Director Thomas says it is starting again in May as attendance was higher in the summer, but that the Youth Services Head asked the handlers to come to Take Your Child to the Library Day and one is coming.
Chair Shewalter talks about the roof and the length of time it is taking for the insurance to make a determination, as the leak was 3 months ago.
Chair Shewalter asks about the number of 990 for reference transactions and how the automation will help. Kit Hickman responds that the automation should cut those by 60-75% and that we also need the program so that they can sign into the computers without having to come up to the reference desk.
Trustee Morris asks if the doors are working properly now. Director Thomas says the front and back door are working great right now.
Chair Shewalter opens Item 16 before Item 12.
16) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve the Fiscal Year 2024-25 audit for the Pahrump Library audit conducted by Daniel McArthur, LTD.
Michelle Nelson asks Daniel McArthur and Chair Shewalter if the financial audit copies Daniel McArthur brought to distribute are the same as what was provided in the backup. Daniel McArthur says it is the same and just doesn’t have “draft” on it.
Daniel McArthur presents the financial audit and states it is a clean audit.
Trustee Underdahl has no questions.
Trustee Morris has no questions.
Vice Chair Runion says he wants to express gratitude to Mr. McArthur for doing this so well for us for so many years.
Chair Shewalter asks Daniel McArthur if the audit means the library is in great financial shape.
Daniel McArthur says Pahrump Library District is in really good financial shape and is in better financial shape than most local governments.
Chair Shewalter thanks Daniel McArthur for all his diligence and for everything he does for the library.
Vice Chair Runion moves to approve the fiscal year 2024-2025 audit for the Pahrump Library District conducted by Daniel McArthur LTD.
Chair Shewalter seconds.
The measure passes 4-0.
- For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to (1) approve, amend and approve or reject retaining Sutton Law & Consulting Group to investigate allegations concerning a hostile work environment and (2) execute the agreement.
Chair Shewalter recuses himself from this item and leaves the room.
Vice Chair Runion acts as Chair for this item.
Vice Chair Runion makes a motion to approve 1) retaining Sutton Law & Consulting Group to investigate allegations concerning a hostile work environment and (2) execute the agreement.
Trustee Morris seconds.
There is no public comment.
Trustee Underdahl says most attorneys specialize in something and asks what the specialty is for Sutton Law & Consulting Group.
Michelle Nelson says she is not involved in this and that would be DA Kunzi. She states the retainer agreement should have been included in the backup. She asks Director Thomas about it and she states she does not have a copy of it. Michelle Nelson asks if the board would like to take a recess so that she can call DA Kunzi and see if he can send a copy. She says the board can continue it, or proceed as is.
Chair Runion calls for a 5 minute recess to obtain the backup.
Meeting called back to order at 11:50 a.m.
Chair Runion makes a motion to accept the new backup.
Trustee Morris seconds.
There is no public comment.
There is no board comment.
Chair Runion calls the question. The measure passes 3-0 with one absention to add the additional backup.
Chair Runion calls a 15 minute recess to review the backup.
Meeting called back to order at 12:08 p.m.
Public comment:
Helen Schneider says it’s a shame you have to do something like this but you need to protect the library so go ahead and do it.
Larissa Hall says this letter doesn’t state what Sutton Law & Consulting Group specializes in and she would hope we can do more investigation into it because the library should be protected.
Ann Underdahl says from the standpoint of finding out what they do they do have specialties in employment law and administrative aspects. This is for an investigation and they will be presenting their findings to the law company the library deals with.
Trustee Morris says this is a firm in Pahrump and he is good with it based on that.
Chair Runion says he did some research during the recess and they do contract law and government. He says Tim used to be our county manager so he is familiar with how we work and how the county works. He says this would be who he would use if he was involved in this kind of thing. He thinks $335 an hour is reasonable. It is an independent individual and provides the transparency we need.
Chair Runion calls the question to 1) retain Sutton Law & Consulting Group to investigate allegations concerning a hostile work environment and (2) execute the agreement. The measure passes 3-0 with one abstention.
Chair Runion opens item 13.
- For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject the library employee salary schedule created by the library Director.
Chair Shewalter rejoins the meeting.
Vice Chair Runion moves to approve the library employee schedule created by the Library Director.
Trustee Underdahl seconds.
There is no public comment.
Trustee Underdahl says she researched about 15 counties as did the director and the numbers matched pretty closely. She thinks they are good numbers and we should go with them.
Chair Shewalter asks if they were Nevada counties and Trustee Underdahl says yes.
Trustee Morris has no comment.
Vice Chair Runion says he agrees with Trustee Underdahl and also did research and if her research, his, and the director’s said the same thing they should make it so.
Chair Shewalter asks why there is no range for the Assistant Director and says someone is missing.
Director Thomas says she knows at the last meeting the board talked about a salary increase for the Director but it is not yet official, and every library she looked at that had an Assistant Director, the Assistant Director’s range ended before the Director’s range began, so she wasn’t sure what to put as the top of the Assistant Director range because at the last meeting the board said there was no cap for the Assistant Director.
There is discussion of what position is missing, and she says she didn’t put a Director salary on there because the board sets the Director’s pay. Chair Shewalter says it is good to have some ranges to look at. Director Thomas says Item 13 page 2 has salaries for what other counties are paying their Library Directors.
Chair Shewalter says he wants to amend and approve and add a top end to the Assistant Director payscale, average out the Library Director salaries, and add the Director salary as well.
Trustee Underdahl says there is a separate item for the Director’s salary on item 15.
Michelle Nelson says the board can open Item 15 and discuss the employee salary schedule and the increase in pay for the Library Director at the same time.
Chair Shewalter opens Item 15 concurrently with Item 13.
15) For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject an increase in salary for the Library Director.
Trustee Underdahl withdraws her second on Item 13. Vice Chair Runion withdraws his motion.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion to amend and approve Item 13 and approve an increase in salary for the Library Director. His amendment will be to determine a salary cap for the Assistant Director and add a line item for a salary range for the Director as well.
Vice Chair Runion says for Assistant Director $70,000-$100,000 for Humboldt County would be comparable population wise
Director Thomas says Humboldt County has a population of 17,000.
Vice Chair Runion asks who has the most similar population. Trustee Underdahl says Douglas and it’s on the paperwork. Vice Chair Runion proposes a cap of $100,000 for the Assistant Director. Chair Shewalter says that’s lower than Douglas and that’s our closest in population served. Vice Chair Runion proposes $70,000-$120,000.
Trustee Underdahl says she came up with salaries from 2024 and discusses the inflation rate and proposes the salary range based on that. Director Thomas says Item 13 page 5 has the current salary schedule for Douglas County from their govermentjobs.com classifications.
Chair Shewalter goes down the list for Douglas County starting with Librarian and asks the Director how our Librarian aligns with Douglas County’s Librarian.
Director Thomas says we are missing a position which is a Library Assistant and our Library Technician aligns more closely with an Assistant. She says the Librarian would align but Douglas County lacks the Specialist position, which is what our current department heads are classified as, as they lack the master’s degree. Chair Shewalter comments that some amendments to the manual for the position qualifications might come following the salary changes.
Chair Shewalter says he proposes setting our salaries to align with Douglas County’s, and proposes Librarian at $67,000-$94,000.
Chair Shewalter asks if a Specialist is higher or lower than a librarian. Director Thomas says it is lower but can encompass some of the same duties. It warrants more pay than a Technician but less than a Librarian because of the qualifications. He proposes a range of $50,000-$70,000 for a Library Specialist. Chair Shewalter asks about the education requirements for Library Technician. Director Thomas says it has experience requirements and duties.
Director Thomas reads the requirements for the positions and there is discussion of the requirements. Chair Shewalter proposes $50,000-$72,000 for a Library Technician. Director Thomas says a Specialist has more responsibility than a Tehnician and he changes the proposed Technician range to $60,000-$80,000. For Library Aide/Clerk, he proposes $28,000-$35,000.
Vice Chair Runion goes over the responsibilities for IT Coordinator, which was created as a specialist position with the task of coordinating with our service level agreements, as well as being able to provide on the ground support here in order to reduce our cost of having to run to Network Savants every time.
He says the IT Coordinator salary is a little low, and proposes $37,000-$60,000. Anyone from green tech who never had a real IT job to a retired network admin just looking for a side gig could end up applying, and he thinks it is a fair range.
Chair Shewalter asks where the Director is at now and Director Thomas replies $87,00 after the COLA. Chair Shewalter proposes $138,000-$224,000 for the Library Director. Vice Chair Runion says he agrees. Chair Shewalter says we should set salary ranges for a position, not a person. If requirements are not being met, it is the Director’s responsibility to rectify it, whether through training, counseling, or termination.
Michelle Nelson says the board sets the Director’s salary and it can’t be a range.
Vice Chair Runion proposes going on par with Douglas County to $138,000 for the Library Director position.
Chair Shewalter makes a motion for Item 13 and Item 15: To amend and approve the library employee salary schedule created by the Director, with the amendments being to add the director at $138,0000 annually, change Assistant $70,000-$120,000, change the Librarian to $67,000-$94,000, change the Library Specialist to $60,00-$80,000, IT Coordinator to $37,000-$60,000, Library Technician from $49,000-$72,000, and Library Aide/Clerk from $28,000-$35,000, all annual salary numbers, effective tomorrow.
Vice Chair Runion seconds.
There is no public comment.
Director Thomas asks if this eliminates the ability to have part-time employees with only annual salary ranges listed. Chair Shewalter says no, the part time salaries are as presented and only full time salaries are amended.
Director Thomas asks if $70,000 for the low end of Assistant Director is high enough in light of the other salaries. Vice Chair Runion says it is a range.
Trustee Underdahl says this is more than fair as the Director has been here a year working more than 40 hours a week and if we paid an hourly rate we’d probably have to pay her more than what she’s been getting.
Trustee Morris says this is taking it up quite a ways after only a year and it seems a bit much.
Vice Chair Runion says he is glad we had the accountant’s presentation first.
Chair Shewalter says we now have part-time, full-time, everything is covered, and he hopes it is the Director’s belief that if you make this kind of salary you will earn it.
Trustee Morris says his reservation is to move up at such an extreme rate it’s substantial and not conducive to merit-based pay, and he thinks it could be detrimental to someone to get that huge of an increase.
Chair Shewalter says if the Director is worth holding the position, she is worth paying the money that that position dictates. He says the comments last month were positive
Trustee Underdahl says this is $19 a day and is a pretty penny ante difference.
Chair Shewalter opens for public comment again.
Public comment: Casey Solis asks about provisions for health care, vacation, and retirement.
Chair Shewalter thanks her for her comment and advises her to speak with the director offline for an answer to her question.
Chair Shewalter calls the questions.
The measure passes 4-0.
- For Possible Action: Discussion and deliberation to approve or reject the exclusive use of “pahrumplibrary.org” email by the Pahrump Library Board of Trustees.
Vice Chair moves to approve the exclusive use of pahrumplibrary.org email by the Pahrump Library Board of Trustees.
Chair Shewalter seconds.
There is no public comment.
Trustee Underdahl says it works for her.
Trustee Morris has no comment.
Vice Chair Runion says we're a public entity and therefore possibly subject to records holds and conducting all official business through an official e-mail address makes that a whole lot easier.
Chair Shewalter says if there is an inspection the last thing you want is them crawling through your personal phone and he supports this.
Chair Shewalter calls the question.
The measure passes 4-0.
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).
Michelle Nelson has no comment.
Director Thomas says this was a great meeting and wants to remind everyone that the 21st is Take Your Child to the Library Day.
Trustee Underdahl says she wants to thank the patience of the public for participating in this meeting and understanding some of the inner workings of the library and how carefully we take our responsibilities. She thanks the public and says come back again.
Chair Shewalter says there is a lot of difference sitting out there and up here.
Trustee Morris thanks everyone for coming and appreciates their support, and hopes more people come to participate.
Vice Chair Runion reminds people to turn their phones back on and invites the public with ideas for the library to bring those ideas to the board, to let them know what they would like to see improved or added, and says they are happy to agendize whether they agree or not.
Chair Shewalter asks what the event is and Director Thomas says it is Take Your Child to the Library Day.
18) Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 1:12 p.m.