No government takeover of PCPL

While the existing bylaws of the Pike County Public Library need careful review, the proposal for a government takeover of the PCPL Board by political appointees from the county’s 13 municipalities plus 2 by the commissioners is hasty, ill-considered and deeply flawed. It would give equal representation to appointees from such lightly populated townships as Green and Porter as to the much larger populations in Dingmans, Delaware and Lehman. The 15 member board would be unwieldy and too large to operate efficiently, particularly since there would be no mechanism to encourage the selection of individuals with the broad array of skills, talents and experiences that makes for an effective board. Most importantly, it would make it almost impossible to “throw the bums out” should that be necessary in the future. Just imagine what would be required for unhappy voters to have to work through numerous governmental bodies to affect major change in the library’s board. Under such a system, we can forget about accountability to the taxpayers or other stakeholders such as the users, volunteers and donors. It is not necessary to have a politically appointed board for the voters to have leverage over the PCPL. Witness the current threat to withhold funding if the board doesn’t do what the commissioners want them to do. A board comprised entirely of appointees from disparate political bodies is unlikely to achieve cohesiveness or to attract the time, talents and treasure of dedicated volunteers and donors. There are better governance models that can represent all the stakeholders in a modern library system. I urge all concerned to avoid any perception of retribution for any aspect of the just concluded referendum campaign and to consider carefully what is in the best long term interest of this important community institution. Richard L. Snyder Milford