March Madness? The Library Version

Earlier this evening (March 18) we held the March Pleasant Valley Free Library Board meeting. It was the first meeting for our two new Board members, Donna Letteri and Sue Holland. Probably because the Board has moved the starting time for regular meetings up from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., there was a little time before the meeting got started that was used profitably in bringing the new members up to date on our plans for Chapter 414. We will need to get somewhat more than 600 registered Pleasant Valley voters to sign a petition asking for our proposal to be put on the ballot in November.  The proposal is to increase Town taxes by about the cost of a large cup of coffee per month, although when multiplied by the number of taxable units in the Valley, it is a more frightening sounding increase of $80,000.  The new Trustees wanted to know why we needed the increase.  The answer is partly inflation and significantly less funding by the State and County.   They also wanted to know what would happen if the vote in November goes against us. Library Director Daniela Pulice plans to give us a detailed list of services that will be cut or reduced.  Note that we would not lose the current level of funding if the vote fails, but that level is not sufficient to run the Library in the manner to which we are now accustomed. Indeed, another topic discussed during the regular meeting was what we are going to do if we lose another $5,000 in funding this year, which is beginning to seem likely. There is no fat in the present budget that we can turn to, although in the unlikely event that no maintenance problems surface, we might make it through.

The meeting format has long featured reports by the various standing and ad hoc committees of the Library Board, but this year the reports are in writing and delivered as much as a week in advance of the actual meeting.  Even with these at hand, we still find ourselves discussing matters of how to handle minor but annoying issues, such as how to remove the roots of some lilacs that were cut down last year to make room for the new sidewalk, to very large matters such as revising plans for expanding the Library building.  Not all issues are easily resolved, so for the expansion plans we hope to have a special meeting in April with the whole Board and that as the single topic.  This would be in addition to the regular April meeting at 6:00 p.m. on the third Thursday, April 15. Note that the public is always welcome to attend the regular meetings.