As president of the Friends of the Wareham Free Library during the litigation, I need to correct misinformation in both the Standard Times article and Slager's article.  The Friends did not give any money to the town as part of the mediation settlement. The Friends did however, get to keep the $75,000 it received from the Trustees to help furnish the Spinney library with books, computers, furniture and so forth after the building project is complete.

According to Mr. Urbon, "The settlement, reached with a federal mediator in U.S. District Court on Monday, eventually will dissolve the existing private trustees and replace them with a new town-appointed board that will be "seeded" with $50,000 from the combined assets of the Trustees of the Wareham Free Library, the Friends of the Library and the library foundation."

Correction: The assets that will supply the $50,000 come solely from the Trustees and the Foundation. The Friends will not give any of its assets to the town as part of the mediation agreement.

According to Slager, "The new town-appointed board will be given $50,000 from assets currently in the possession of the former trustees and the Friends of the Wareham Free Library. The former trustees, who created a private foundation two years ago on which they serve as directors of the board, along with the Friends of the Wareham Free Library, will be allowed to keep $180,000 of their assets, which will be used in support of the library."

Correction: In fact, the assets that will be given to the town are in the possession of the former trustees and the foundation.  The only money the Friends received from the Trustees was the $75,000 and we will be allowed to keep that entire amount. No other Friends' assets were involved in the litigation.

Slager is also incorrect when he says, "As part of the agreement, the town’s insurer will pay $40,000 toward legal bills for the former trustees. The exact amount of those legal bills is unclear, but a former trustee estimated the number to be well over $100,000."

As part of the litigation, I have seen each legal bill, and I can tell you that the statement that the bill estimate of being "well over $100,000" is also not true. The money paid to the library trustees and foundation for its legal bills from the town's insurer represents a significant portion of the library organizations' overall bill. Furthermore, the Friends' bills were completely covered by its liability insurer and we, at no time, asked for reimbursement.

All library parties have agreed not to discuss the mediation with the press, but I felt compelled to correct the false statements particularly those dealing with the Friends.