Thanks for posting the meeting video on this thread PShooter.

Note how often Priscilla Porter tells the BoS that the trustees are perfectly willing to let the appointment process be changed so that the selectmen can appoint the trustees. They NEVER disagreed with changing their by laws to change the process they followed since 1977.  As I said on the other thread, all the BoS needed to do was immediately "appoint" the current trustees so they could fulfill the remainder of their terms, and then the BoS could appoint any new trustees from then on. It was as simple as that.

So, after two years of litigation, and many many tax dollars going to K and P, what is the result?

The BoS get to appoint new trustees.
And:
The town gets $50,000 to be put into a trust fund to be used only by the new trustees.

The town's insurance company pays $40,000 towards the trustee' legal bills, which basically recognizes that the trustees were legally sworn members of a town board since the town's insurance company does not pay legal bills unless an official town board is sued. In this case, ironically, the town's trustee board was sued by the very town that pays for the insurance.

The Friends get to keep the $75,000 given to them by the trustees for the purpose of eventually making Spinney a branch of the WFL.
The private corporation (board of trustees) gets dissolved (along with a piece of Wareham history).
The Foundation gets to keep the money it was given by the former trustees. (The Foundation will continue to support the Wareham Free Library with its carefully invested funds.)

AND THE TAXPAYERS GET TO FOOT THE K and P BILL FOR THE LITIGATION AGAINST THE TRUSTEES, FRIENDS, AND FOUNDATION.

Remember, the original suit brought against the town by the former trustees would have been covered by the town's insurance company as far as the taxpayers go. This litigation was totally unnecessary. And the library continues to be punished. When will it stop?

Someone asked me why the trustees brought the original suit against the town if the trustees were not opposed to letting the selectmen appoint them. Let me explain.

Notice that when the selectmen dismissed the trustees, included in the motion made by Bruce S was this: "Secondly, I would move to have the current treasurer of the Wareham Free Library Board of Trustees turn over all books, records and accounts to the town treasurer."

As I explained, the trusts were held privately and the judge magistrate eventually agreed to that fact. So turning over the accounts was not acceptable. In addition, the trustees, by the actions of the board, and the comments that followed, strongly believed that the dismissal was part of the ongoing vendetta against the library. The whole process should have been handled in a civilized manner where the trustees had been allowed to explain their history and appointment process and so forth.

If PShooter has the July 10, 2007 selectmen's meeting video, you can see how the selectmen blame all the town's fiscal problems on the fact that the townspeople voted to restore the library's budget at town meeting. The library was accused of "stacking" town meeting. The fact that we had no lifeguards, seasonal police, etc. was blamed on the "library lobby."  This went on for weeks and was part of the vindictive campaign against the library. Just look at the BoS meetings that followed that town meeting. I have the transcripts that our lawyers had when they were building our case.

The August 7, BoS meeting is the one where B. Eckstrom calls the trustees "a rogue body of citizens now that have got an attorney? Who gives them the right to use that trustees' money?" Then J. Potter says, "it's very close to money laundering if we find out that that's exactly what it is." And J. Donahue responds "I think that Mr. Potter's description of what is happening ...is a remarkable understatement." J. Cronan says"Shut the place down. That, you know, that'll end it."

So, the trustees felt they had no choice but to hire an attorney and claim a civil rights violation. The rest is history.