MY TURN By Charlotte Zulick

Time to start over As a former associate board member of the Pike County Public Library, from 2003 to 2007, when I resigned in protest of actions taken by the Board, and as I have since attended board and commissioners public meetings, I feel qualified to give an opinion regarding the present t state of the PCPL. I am ready to move on regarding building or purchasing a library building in Milford. In spite of what is stated I believe they do not have the funds to build anything at this time. The grants they speak about probably have little chance of being acquired because of the state of the economy. Secondly, some guarantee of where they will acquire funds for long term operating costs is not known at this time. From the time I joined the board I advocated tax revenue as the only way to fund a library. When a majority of the Board insisted that their plans for the Schwarz design be followed we went astray. The overwhelming defeat of the referendum was because citizens did not agree with the cost of those plans, not because they were against a library tax. If you look at a 2000 census map you will see the following population: Shohola (2,008) Milford Township (1,292) Westfall (2,430); Matamoras (2,312) and Milford boroughs (1,104), total 9,146. Greeley has a branch which serves the Lackawaxen area (4,154). Dingman branch (8,788) Blooming Grove (3,621) Palmyra (3,145) Greene (3,149) total 18,703. Lehman (7,515) Delaware (6,319) Porter (385) total 14,219. You may debate how the areas served should be grouped, but the history of the board has always concentrated on the Milford branch in spite of the fact they contribute the least. Growth in the next census will almost certainly show the Lehman area to be the greatest. In spite of requests, to my knowledge, the only public library board meeting to be held outside of Milford was in Lehman. This excludes the meetings held to advance the Schwarz design before the referendum. Unfair, I say. Meetings should be held in all parts of the county. It is the Pike County Public Library, not the Milford Library. I think the present Board should have acknowledged their failure when the referendum was voted down. They have ruined the opportunity for a renewed effort to get funding from taxes and that is the only way to properly fund a library for the county. Have they worked diligently to achieve the goals they were pursuing? Of course they have, but just as others have made contributions to projects that have not been fulfilled in their communities, they need to recognize their mission is not viable and it is time to resign. Let others take up the reigns with a fresh start. Even if this start simply goes back to libraries used in past, with Matamoras/Westfall using the Port Jervis library, Newfoundland and Hawley serving the western part of the county, and Smithfield/Stroudsburg serving the Lehman, Porter, Delaware area. These libraries are all outside of the county. From there, new solutions may be forthcoming. Gordon Olsommer (Greene) and Rob Rohner (Lehman) have been dedicated board members, travelling many miles in order to participate. More citizens such as these from other parts of the county need to be more involved if we are to have a viable PCPL system. The system we have now is not working. Years and funds have been wasted. Let’s start with a positive new direction where librarians will be acknowledged for their skills and all citizens in the county will participate.