BELLOWS FALLS — Even though the State Department of Public Safety gave a written grant of occupancy during renovations on May 8, the Rockingham Free Public Library Trustees have voted, this time properly, to close the library during renovations that could last through the end of July.
While the minutes were not yet available, Friends of the Library Chair Elayne Clift reported that, “On Saturday, May 18, five members of the Board of Trustees of the Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL) voted to close the library immediately until mid-July at the earliest. Several Trustees were not present for the vote, but the five votes cast constitute a majority of Trustees.”
The re-vote on the closing of the library came in the wake of the Secretary of State's assistant Brian Leven's May 16 response to Clift, that “the motion to close the library, made by the board on May 1, 2013, was only supported by four members. As a result, no binding action was taken and therefore there is no binding action to reconsider. The board may of course consider and vote on this motion at a future meeting.”
Which they did on May 18, with the required quorum of the board present.
The library board did not heed the resolution that passed unanimously at the May 7 meeting of the Rockingham Selectboard in support of keeping the library open.
The resolution called the closure “detrimental to the children of this community and the taxpayers.” However, the Selectboard then voted against making the Waypoint Center available as a temporary site for some library services.
Selectboard Chair Tom MacPhee confirmed this decision by phone on Monday.
The Friends of the Library (FOL) have been seeking alternatives to closing the library, but, as of Saturday's vote, they are now focusing on how the library staff will be affected in terms of employment.
And in frustration, the FOL organized a protest in front of the library Monday at 10 a.m. when the library would otherwise have opened.
About 15 FOL members and supporters showed up with signs that read, “KEEP IT OPEN,” “HIDDEN AGENDA,” “WAKE UP BF,” and “OUR LIBRARY'S CLOSED,” “DIRTY TRICKS,” “WHY?” and “Kids need the library, summer's coming.”
Within minutes of 10 a.m. when the protesters gathered, Bellows Falls Chief Ron Lake showed up in his police car, its blue flashers lit, and told the protesters he had “already had one complaint,” and he said he hoped he would not have to return, but the protesters needed to keep the sidewalk clear.
During the time of the protest, about 40 minutes, only four people walked either way along the sidewalk, and none before he got there.
An anti-protest
Jim Mitchell, who resides in the apartment building next door, was sitting in a van parked in the handicapped access spot in front of the library.
He said he felt the library “should be closed because it is not ADA-accessible.”
“We're going to settle this once and for all,” Mitchell said.
When asked what he meant, he replied, “You'll see.”
A few minutes later, Mitchell's driver, who declined to be identified, pulled Mitchell's wheelchair from the back of the van and helped him into it. Mitchell then wheeled himself up the ramp to the temporary wooden steps in front of the library, and, leaving his wheelchair, pulled himself up the steps, where he sat for about 15 minutes.
He then got back in his wheelchair, and returned to the car.
Adam Wetzel, witnessing Mitchell's actions, responded, “That is pathetic. Why would a man come and climb up the steps (like that) if it wasn't set up?”
But another protester was overheard to say, “He [Mitchell] has a point.”
Several of the protesters, including Wetzel, and Robert Deacon, an elderly gentleman who walked with apparent difficulty and supported himself with a cane, noted that librarians have consistently taken library items outside to people who could not make it up the steps, since the lift installed by BayButt ceased to function several months ago.
Estimates to repair the lift were deemed too expensive, and options for alternative ADA compliant sites were sought by the board during this remainder of the renovations through July.
Despite the lift's in-operation, the state Department of Public Safety's review reads, “Temp. lift in front of building for ADA access is not working – NOT [underscored twice] required during construction.”
Resident and taxpayer Ted Kovaleff said he is on several housing and development boards, and “the board of directors always considers every possible outcome. There is no outcome here, but the library patrons being denied the service of something they are entitled to.”
“I think the library ought to be open,” MacPhee said. “The architect and the general contractors all said they can get along and work around” the library being in partial use while they work.
Director under fire
Following a formal complaint written May 1 from Vice-Chair Deb Wright, citing library director Celina Houlne's “long-standing insubordination and refusal to perform even the basic duties requested of her by the board of trustees,” on May 14, a corrective action plan (CAP) was submitted to Houlne.
The eight-page document detailed 14 instances of Houlne “undermining the authority of the board as a whole as well as individual board members,” five instances of “operating outside the stated bounds of the position,” six instances of “improper fiscal management not in compliance with job description,” two instances of “not performing required duties as per job description,” and four instances of being “not effective in duties as liaison between staff and trustees.”
At this point, there has been no public meeting with a majority trustee vote to administer the CAP document.
Wright responded that details of Houlne's alleged infractions were “confidential,” and so she declined to comment further.
Houlne was not available for comment, and none of the staff would comment.
At this point, it is unknown how many staff hours will be cut back, where the library will move, and what services will be available through at least the middle of July, a date the board set based on current construction completion plans.
And, when queried about when the library would be reopening, Wright said, “When are the renovations going to be truly completed?”
At press time, an alternative site for summer children's programs and regularly scheduled library activities to take placehas not been found, but places being considered were the Waypoint Center and Union Station.
A special meeting has been warned for May 22 at 9 a.m. at the studios of WOOL radio to discuss “renovation/off-site library locations update and personnel.”