State mandates New Berlin Library to hold election of board
NEW BERLIN – After years of non-compliance with state law, the New Berlin Library Board of Trustees is being mandated by the State Board of Education to hold an election for all nine board members.
The New Berlin Library (NBL) is an Association Library, which means that it is run by the members of the library rather than the public at large – unlike a public library. Part of the rights of the membership of an Association Library is to vote for the board of trustees of their library. According to the bylaws of The New Berlin Library – and state law – each of these seats must come up for election every five years. This was not the case in New Berlin.
According to Darlene LaBrie, Library Director, this came to light when the library filed its last annual report with the state. “After filing the annual report, the State Board of Education got back to me and said that the term limits of our library board did not comply with state law,” said LaBrie.
When the state saw these inconsistencies, they asked LaBrie to provide prior election material so that they could look into these irregularities further. “I was unable to provide these materials because there were none,” said LaBrie.
The board was made aware of the state's assessment, LaBrie claims, but nothing was done. Months went by. The week before Thanksgiving, the state informed the library that they must hold an election for all nine seats on the board. “The day before Thanksgiving,” said LaBrie, “the board conceded three seats – two that were empty and one that was soon to be empty.” But this was not enough.
The Monday after Thanksgiving, library members started a petition demanding that all nine seats be up for election, just as the state had mandated. Between Monday and Thursday of that week more than 100 signatures were collected from patrons visiting the library.
“There has been a lot of community and member support for this election,” said LaBrie, “Before this, people didn't even know we had a board.”
At the state's request, and prompted by the outpouring of library member support, the Four County Library System became involved.
When the board held a special meeting on Dec. 4, the Director of the Four County Library System (4CLS), Steve Bachman, attended. At this meeting, the 4CLS outlined a fair election process for all nine seats on the board. The 4CLS will oversee an election on Jan. 12, 2015. For those who cannot be there in person, there will be absentee ballots available.
Michelle Priola, a librarian at the NBL said, “Since this has come to light, there have been a lot of members showing up to board meetings.” LaBrie added, “The support by the library members has been fabulous.”
A year and a half ago, Jackie Mineo joined the NBL Board of Trustees and for the first year, things seemed to be running smoothly. In her second year, however, she began to notice some things that seemed out of the ordinary. “In my second year,” said Mineo, “I noticed that financial accountability was lacking on the board, and I also became aware that the library board was not being elected according to state law and the library bylaws.”
Mineo did some research. “I went back about 15 years and could find no record of the last membership election for new board members,” said Mineo. Upon this discovery, Mineo said, “I was in favor of making all of the changes necessary.”
“It's really a big wake up call to everybody,” said Mineo, “And it's going to end up being a very positive thing.”
“What's really good is that there are so many people interested in the positions,” said Mineo, “Once they realized they could take part in how the library is run … people were just enthusiastic about it and wanted to run for the board.”
As an indicator of the member support for the election and the library board overhaul, at press time there are 11 candidates running for only nine seats.
The NBL Board of Trustees election is scheduled to be held on Jan. 12, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Only NBL members will be allowed to vote. Each member can vote for nine candidates. For those unable to be there in person, there will be absentee ballots available. Absentee ballots will be available starting Jan. 3, 2015 and must be received, by post, no later than Jan. 12, 2015. For those interested in voting via absentee ballot, please contact the library at 847-8564.
The New Berlin Library (NBL) is an Association Library, which means that it is run by the members of the library rather than the public at large – unlike a public library. Part of the rights of the membership of an Association Library is to vote for the board of trustees of their library. According to the bylaws of The New Berlin Library – and state law – each of these seats must come up for election every five years. This was not the case in New Berlin.
According to Darlene LaBrie, Library Director, this came to light when the library filed its last annual report with the state. “After filing the annual report, the State Board of Education got back to me and said that the term limits of our library board did not comply with state law,” said LaBrie.
When the state saw these inconsistencies, they asked LaBrie to provide prior election material so that they could look into these irregularities further. “I was unable to provide these materials because there were none,” said LaBrie.
The board was made aware of the state's assessment, LaBrie claims, but nothing was done. Months went by. The week before Thanksgiving, the state informed the library that they must hold an election for all nine seats on the board. “The day before Thanksgiving,” said LaBrie, “the board conceded three seats – two that were empty and one that was soon to be empty.” But this was not enough.
The Monday after Thanksgiving, library members started a petition demanding that all nine seats be up for election, just as the state had mandated. Between Monday and Thursday of that week more than 100 signatures were collected from patrons visiting the library.
“There has been a lot of community and member support for this election,” said LaBrie, “Before this, people didn't even know we had a board.”
At the state's request, and prompted by the outpouring of library member support, the Four County Library System became involved.
When the board held a special meeting on Dec. 4, the Director of the Four County Library System (4CLS), Steve Bachman, attended. At this meeting, the 4CLS outlined a fair election process for all nine seats on the board. The 4CLS will oversee an election on Jan. 12, 2015. For those who cannot be there in person, there will be absentee ballots available.
Michelle Priola, a librarian at the NBL said, “Since this has come to light, there have been a lot of members showing up to board meetings.” LaBrie added, “The support by the library members has been fabulous.”
A year and a half ago, Jackie Mineo joined the NBL Board of Trustees and for the first year, things seemed to be running smoothly. In her second year, however, she began to notice some things that seemed out of the ordinary. “In my second year,” said Mineo, “I noticed that financial accountability was lacking on the board, and I also became aware that the library board was not being elected according to state law and the library bylaws.”
Mineo did some research. “I went back about 15 years and could find no record of the last membership election for new board members,” said Mineo. Upon this discovery, Mineo said, “I was in favor of making all of the changes necessary.”
“It's really a big wake up call to everybody,” said Mineo, “And it's going to end up being a very positive thing.”
“What's really good is that there are so many people interested in the positions,” said Mineo, “Once they realized they could take part in how the library is run … people were just enthusiastic about it and wanted to run for the board.”
As an indicator of the member support for the election and the library board overhaul, at press time there are 11 candidates running for only nine seats.
The NBL Board of Trustees election is scheduled to be held on Jan. 12, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Only NBL members will be allowed to vote. Each member can vote for nine candidates. For those unable to be there in person, there will be absentee ballots available. Absentee ballots will be available starting Jan. 3, 2015 and must be received, by post, no later than Jan. 12, 2015. For those interested in voting via absentee ballot, please contact the library at 847-8564.
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