Library board approves revisions to Art Education Endowment guidelines, acknowledges major donor

The Petersburg Borough Library Board on Nov. 10 approved edits to the Petersburg Public Library Art Education Endowment guidelines and publicly acknowledged substantial gifts from a longtime donor.

Board members moved to vote on both proposed guideline amendments together; the motion was seconded and approved, with the board chair stating the changes include language to avoid hard-coding the job title "library director" so the policy remains accurate if the title changes. "We realized that the library director term . . . they might decide to call it something else," a board member said while presenting the redlined changes.

The board also thanked a donor identified at the meeting as John for multiple gifts to the endowment. Staff read donation entries into the record: May 15 ($6,000), July 21, 2025 ($12,000) and Sept. 3, 2025 ($12,000), and later cited a cumulative figure during the meeting: "It's all it's $229,840 total," a presenter said. Following that report, a motion that the newly elected board chair sign a letter acknowledging the donor's contributions was made, seconded and approved.

Board and staff members described the donor—s long-term interest in supporting local arts and youth programming and noted the endowment will remain overseen by the library board. "The library board will provide oversight for the funds," a board member said during discussion.

The board did not adopt any additional spending decisions for the endowment at the meeting; members asked staff to include a fund balance and spending-capacity report at the next meeting so trustees can review how much is available for programming. The board scheduled a follow-up review of endowment balances for the December meeting.