Library board member reveals resignation concerns

Charlotte Zulick has released her August resignation letter from the Board of the Pike County Public Library. . I am submitting my resignation from the Associate Board of the Pike County Library (PCPL). I can no longer work within the confines of the present Board. My main concern is that excessive funds are being channeled to the plans for the building that will house the library in Milford without consideration for the satellite branches in Pike County. I am grateful Dorothy Warner put one million dollars into a trust to be used toward building a library in Milford. But, when we compare the planning being done for the PCPL building in Miiford and what is being done on a comparable building, such as the Susquehanna library, our costs are prohibitive. Our Dingman branch has manageable operating costs and has served the PCPL well. Something comparable to the Dingman branch at our Milford site could be a solution. Or, if a more grandiose building is desired to house the materials needed for the library, then the funding for the building should be accomplished through individual private donations. At the first meeting I attended after being appointed to the Associate Board, a gentleman asked me, “What is the matter with you people in Matamoras? Why haven’t you given any money to the PCPL Board?” I was taken aback by the question, but on reflection, I realized he apparently had no knowledge of the history of the library. Let me review it for you. Historically, the Milford branch has been a small library frequented mainly by the townspeople. Traditionally, residents of Matamoras and most of Westfail used the library facilities in Port Jervis, N.Y. The Port Jervis Library is part of the Ramapo Catskill system which has 47 member libraries to resource from. There was a small annual fee to maintain a library card at the Port Jervis Library. In Milford, adequate parking has always been a problem Geographically, the Milford branch does not provide easy access to other areas of the county. In light of this, how can members of the PCPL Board expect residents of the county to be willing to build an $8.4 million building in Milford? If the board continues with the present planning and factors in operational costs, there will not be adequate assets available for new library buildings or library services to meet the needs of the rest of the county for an unacceptable time to come. Even now, the largest population growth is in another area of the county. A library tax, which we should have, will not be welcomed by taxpayers. I have additional concerns, such as not allowing librarians to have full participation in planning, but I will not elaborate on those at the present time. I am an optimist at heart, so I close with a quotation from William James, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” If the present board members are able to change their focus to looking at the needs of the entire county before any construction takes place, that would show a change in attitude that many of us desire. Charlotte Zulick Matamoras