County & library board positions set

Board would change but when and by whose standard still in question, By DaVid HUlse MILFORD — Positions in the conflict over who should control the Pike County Library were formalized this week. The three Pike County Commissioners signed off on a Feb. 2 letter to the library board including a 12-point “final position on the composition” of the board “and other issues.” The commissioners’ called for retaining a nine-member board, with four members chosen by library board, four members chosen by the commissioners and the ninth from the Community House, which currently houses the library. The letter was a response to the Jan. 25 proposal by the library board at their last meeting. The commissioners now name three of nine library board members. The library board’s proposal is to have the commissioners appoint a fourth member in the near future, and the fifth member after a new building is completed and the Community House no longer appoints one. If a majority of the current board wishes to remain, the commissioners would increase the board to 11 members, with the same split of appointments. The current board majority would be lost. Last month, library board members also expressed concern that they may be voted out the minute they are no longer “in control.” In apparent response, the commissioners would recommend that “A Director of the (library) can only be removed for cause.” A sticking point has been the current board’s contention that private and undisclosed contributors will pull out of funding commitments should another board oversee construction of a proposed new Milford “central” library. So a big and still unanswered question is when the composition of the library board would change. The commissioners only reference to a time frame was, “In Dec. 2010, the Board and Commissioners will discuss the future composition of the Library Board and the continued support of $200,000 from the County Commissioners to the Library.” The commissioners went on to state that the annual $200,000 would be paid quarterly, “depending on performance and progress towards a countywide library system.” Following the completion of new building the commissioners call on the board to reorganize once more, according to the state’s 1961 Library Code. That original Library Code law calls for the majority of the library board to be appointed by municipalities supporting it, but the state code enforcing it says a municipality must provide 15% of the library revenues to be eligible to appoint members.