Former Arnold Educator Elected President of Library Foundation Board

Vernon Sullivan, a retired educator from Arnold, was elected 2013 President of the Jefferson County Library Foundation at its annual meeting March 5, according to a news release from the library district.

Attorney and Jefferson County Council Member Renee Reuter, of Imperial, was elected vice president. Eric Knoll, a retired local government administrator from Arnold, was elected treasurer, and High Ridge Fire Protection District Chief Michael Arnhart was elected secretary.

“I’m looking forward to my year as president,” Sullivan said. “I know the key to raising money for the foundation is convincing folks that the library is a worthy cause that deserves our support. I think we can make our case.”

Sullivan gave as an example the library’s new e-book lending service.

“After just six months, there are over 600 library cardholders using this service on a regular basis,” he said in the news release. “If each of those people would donate just $25 to the foundation, we could raise $15,000 to help make the library and its resources more accessible to everyone.” 

Tom Dixon, David Mangelsdorf, Reuter, Linda Schroeder and Tom Yarbrough were all re-elected to three year terms (2013-2016) on the Foundation Board. Other continuing board members for 2013 are Arnhart, Knoll, Ryan McKenna, and Sullivan.

The board approved the final financial report for 2012. The library foundation began the year with a balance of $801. Revenues for 2012 totaled $8,489, including $4,500 in grants from the Walmart Foundation and the Enterprise Holdings Foundation. The Foundation donated $5,395 to the library to start a collection of View players for young children and to add children’s and teen titles to the library’s e-book lending service, which debuted last June. The foundation ended the year with a balance of $3,885.

The Board voted unanimously to establish an endowment fund for the future technology needs of the library, and transferred $1,000 to the endowment.

Since the first two months of 2013, the Foundation has received an additional $1,325 in donations. The Board adopted a Statement of Funding Activities and Priorities for 2013.

The Board voted to approve an allocation of $499 to fund one-year trial subscriptions to three Tumblebooks e-content services that provide 24/7 online access to books, audio books, and videos for children, teens and adults. The services are available through the Library’s website, http://jeffersoncountylibrary.org to anyone with access to the Internet at home, at work or on a mobile device.

Two committees were established to pursue fundraising proposals in 2013. Mangelsdorf, Sullivan and Arnhart are charged with organizing a golf tournament this summer; Reuter and Schroeder are investigating a dinner and auction next fall.