#1 2009-10-17 09:14:55
Many people in town are not aware of what goes on in the library. But I think the truth needs to be told. Last fall, when the ITA reduced the hours from 41 to 25, staff reductions were made. One full time person was laid off: three part time people were let go and never returned, two pages and one part time children's librarian. Two full time staff members had their hours reduced to 25 per week; three (18 hour) part timers had their hours cut in half, and three full time people remained (two were union and could not have their hours cut and one was the acting director).
Today, one of the full time staff, the acting library director has still not been replaced since she left in early July. A library director's position is a department head, and since she gave the required notice, and the job was posted almost immediately, this position should have been replaced. I am completely puzzled as to what is taking so long to replace the director. According to the staff, the current Acting Director is rarely seen in the library although her assistant sometimes is in the library. I am not sure what the assistant does there since the staff does its own scheduling and basically run the library. A couple of weeks ago, three people were interviewed at the library for the director's position. I don't understand what is taking so long. A qualified director with an MLS is desperately needed at the library.
And at the beginning of October, Lynda Byrne, who was a full timer whose hours had only been returned to 30 hours a week, retired. She gave enough notice so that she could train a replacement. Her position has never even been posted never mind a replacement hired.
In addition, although all of the hours have been returned to the part time staff, the one full timer whose hours were only returned to 30 per week has never been put back to full time, although the new fiscal budget submitted by S. Pizzolato and accepted by the ITA and voted on at town meeting, had all staff returning to their regular hours (before the cut backs). This staff member is working 30 hours and with Ms. Pizzolato gone and Lynda Byrne gone, the administration (acting director and ITA) will not restore her hours to full time. I don't understand this. There is no reason for this staff member not to be working full time again when the staff has been reduced so much. She has asked multiple times to have her hours returned to her.
The library is now running on 6 staff members who are doing their own work and the work of those no longer working. Two are full time and four are part-time. The few volunteers who came forward still help the staff, but the library is seriously understaffed. In a building the size of the library and with the number of people who visit the library every day, having only two people sometimes working a shift is a safety issue and does not provide the patrons with the service they deserve. When the single staff member still remaining in the children's room was seriously ill this summer, or when she is not present, the children's room is often closed to the public. This is a travesty considering the importance of reading to this age group.
Posted on the bulletin board in the library are two fliers of job postings for positions at the COA. Clearly there is not a hiring freeze in town. One person told me the COA has 11 employees. I can't verify that, nor do I know how many people the COA serves each day in its facility.
I do know that the library serves all ages in town and currently, there are 13,830 library card holders in Wareham. The citizens in this town deserve a fully functioning, fully staffed library.
My personal opinion is that the staff members and the library card holders and citizens of Wareham are being punished by the town officials for the library litigation. What else could explain the deterioration of library service to the town?
But the litigation had NOTHING to do with the staff or the patrons. The former trustees sued the town for a violation of their civil rights. They contended that they were dismissed as part of the ongoing vendetta against the library that began with Mrs. Pillsbury and continued in the town meeting where the library budget was restored against the wishes of the selectmen. Then the town sued the Friends and the Foundation along with the trustees.
You can still see the animosity this board of selectmen have for the library by the nasty and inappropriate comments made by them during the interviews of the trustee applicants. I believe that video can be found on this blog site if you missed it. I also have the transcripts of many of their previous meetings where anti-library comments were made. This has been ongoing for more than two years now and needs to stop. The library is a department of the town and should be treated as the valued entity it is.
NONE OF THE STAFF WERE INVOLVED IN THE LITIGATION, YET THEY ARE BEING PUNISHED. NONE OF THE PATRONS WERE INVOLVED, YET THEY ARE ALSO BEING PUNISHED WITH THE LEVEL OF SERVICE THEY RECEIVE.
The library director must be replaced immediately. The new trustees must be appointed. The staffing needs to be brought back so that the service can be returned to a better, safer level. The budget that was passed for the library at the April town meeting should NOT be used to pay for the litigation that was brought on by the selectmen.
The original litigation, the lawsuit by the trustees against the town, was covered by the town's insurance. The legal bills racked up by the town in the case was due solely to the fact that the selectmen sued the Friends, Trustees and the Foundation. If the selectmen had not sued those entities, there would have been no legal bills for the town since the town's insurance would have covered it all. Understand that before the town brought its suit, a letter was sent to the insurance lawyer asking for mediation (I have a copy of that letter from August, 2007). The costly litigation could have been avoided had the selectmen agreed to mediation immediately. I also have documentation of at least four times during the case that we requested mediation. The library entities tried to end the suit, but we were clearly not successful in our mediation requests. The last refusal was from K and P lawyer Corbo. This was prior to the very costly depositions. The selectmen refused. Legal costs continued to grow.
Let me explain about the results of the litigation: We did not mediate the Friends case at all during the 10 hours of mediation. The judge, at the onset, said the contract that the town had with the Friends for the Spinney project was valid and that the Friends would keep the $75,000 gift from the Trustees. He told us that case should never have been brought against the Friends and at no time during the mediation was it discussed. The judge also said the Foundation was legally formed and that the money given to it by the Trustees was perfectly legal. The Foundation got to keep most of its funds but a check for $50,000 was placed in its lawyers escrow account and as soon as the new trustees are in place and a trust fund is established, the check will be transferred to the town. The town's insurance will pay for $40,000 of the trustees' legal bills.
The legal case is over. The library does not deserve to be punished. The staff should be restored and a library director appointed. Please speak up for the library and insist that the punishment stops.
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#2 2009-10-17 09:54:09
I think someone should bring this up at the community meeting today :) We need to support the library.
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#3 2009-10-17 10:28:07
Way to go Nora. Wouldn't it make sense to print up 200 copies of this to bring to the Town Hall Love Fest this afternoon ? It's a perfect "slam dunk" for the library story Janies-cakes has ben rehearsing all week. I forget the appropriate word for her version........It's the one we use to describe hay and oats that have spent an hour inside horse.....
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#4 2009-10-17 10:30:00
Horse Crispies? Save me a seat Dick Wheeler! Should I put my eye black on ? It is football Saturday.
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#5 2009-10-17 10:30:03
Is the acting Library Director, namely the Council on Aging Director, currently receiving any addtional money for holding the dual position? If so, is she being required to put in a specified number of hours at the library to compensate for that additonal pay? If she is in fact receiving additional pay, what are her specific duties and how many hours a week is she actually at the library doing them?
Did Susan Pizzolato receive any additional pay for being acting libaray director? To the best of my knowledge, she didn't.
She obviously put in forty hours a week at the library with duties beyond being a research librarian. If she did not receive extra money, then if this acting director is getting extra money, Susan should be entitled to back pay for her extra work.
When John Foster took over as acting Town Administrator,he was paid extra so I'm curious as to whether or not this acting Library Director is getting additional money and if so, what exactly is she getting, how many hours is she spending at the library, and what are her specific duties? Someone should ask today.
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#6 2009-10-17 11:39:11
Nora I think the COA has about 7 employees most of them are part time, 3 work in the social day center the others work in the office. There are 4 additional people who work at the COA through the citizens for citizens program the town doesn’t pay their salaries. The citizens for citizens program is a federal or state program (I’m not sure which) that tries to find jobs for seniors who are trying to get back into the work force. I’m think there is a low income qualification for getting into this program. I think they are limited to 20 hours a week. They are allowed to work for any non profit. It’s a great way for the town or any other none profit to get free help and for seniors to learn new skills so they can eventually get a full time job somewhere. When you do get a new library director which I hope is soon maybe the new director can call them to some free help. The person you refer to as Marcia’s assistant works through this program. The jobs that are posted are not new jobs they are jobs that have to be filled because of all the people that have quit the COA.
Maturvoter I have heard that Marcia is being compensated for her work at the library whatever she is getting is supposedly based on her working 20 hours at the library. Although she sometimes shows her face at the library from the beginning she has sent staff from the COA to the library to help her. I have also heard she has her part time help working on the budget. The budget is clearly the directors job and should be done by the director not the part time help. She’s incapable of doing budgets she had her staff and an intern (who is no longer there) write her grants. She has been there almost a year and not one grant has come through. Is this woman capable of doing anything but collecting a pay check?
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#7 2009-10-17 11:46:36
I have been told thru the grapevine that the actin director is being paid $131.00 extra per week for the time she spends at the library. The amount maybe incorrect, but she is receiving a stipend for doing this second job. Susan Pizzolato was not paid anything extra for the 3 jobs she performed at the library, namely
assistant director, acting director and reference librarian. Susan is also one the dept. heads that took the 6% pay cut. The case is over, please let us move on. In times like we are going through now the library is essential to those especially that have lost jobs or reduced income. Library use has increased since people have less disposable income.
Priscilla
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#8 2009-10-17 11:50:40
This is perhaps the best place to insert a follow-up to my response yesterday to emma's post that spoke of WFL's need for some of the basic supplies for day to day operation.
What I've learned makes good sense: Although appropriate "gifts-in-kind "are always appreciated,
cash or gift cards make better sense.
I found that Bob Brady had already donated a two or three month supply of paper so I bought a Staples gift card instead. The best way to route all $upport for WFL is through the Friends of Wareham Library, 59 Marion Road, Wareham 02571 .
The library itself and the people who work in it, and those who have been working for it ,have been brutalized for nearly three years.They need our support...and three cheers for Nora for "telling it like it is".The whole purpose of "mediation" is to get past the unpleasantness and "get on withit"
The WFL people did that but the BOS and The Rag continued their twisted tales. I'm so glad she has revealed some of the "behind the scenes" stuff that documents the mix of meanness and stupidity they've been dealing with almost daily for all this time.
There's a good chance that the way they present the library story this afternoon will make me remember the word I couldn't think of in my previous post.
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#9 2009-10-18 08:10:48
Marny, thanks for the info. The point remains that there is no reason NOT to have posted Lynda B's position in the library and hired her replacement in time for Lynda to train that person. There is no hiring freeze if COA is hiring. So why not have replaced this library employee? And honestly, since my tax dollars support the COA, I'm glad they are able to hire new employees for the ones who quit. Good for them. Still, bad for the library. No surprise there.
I am not sure how much or how little Marcia Griswold is supposed to be working at the library. You say 20 hours. According to the staff, they rarely see her and in the past month, only 2 or 3 times. She has been ill and in the hospital according to some, so that's understandable. However, neither she nor Carol Metivier who spends a little time in the library understand best management practices related to library service. This is evident by some of what has been going on in the library that the public is not aware of.
I do know that Carol was working on the crucial forms for state aid that were due on October 16. The year before last, the library got around $29,000 in state aid. Last year we got less because of the time we were decertified. The forms are complicated even for library directors who have been filling out the forms annually. I certainly hope they were sent in and done correctly. The library needs this money, and the money can ONLY be used on the library and not put into the general fund.
I also know that the library most likely lost about $2000 in net lending refunds because those forms were not sent in on time. That's a shame. One staff member told me the forms were left for the acting director or her helper Carol, but the forms were not picked up from the library and sent in by the due date. A full time, qualified library director would not have let that happen. Maybe she sent the forms in late and tried to get an extension on the due date time. I don't know, but I would hope she tried to do something. Every penny counts for the library.
I still cannot understand why we don't have a new library director. And I don't understand the delay in appointing library trustees. When you have such a large department that serves the entire community including 13,830 library card holders, taxpayers deserve to have qualified personnel running that department. There is a reason for requiring a Masters of Library Science (MLS) for the position of director. Librarians who hold an MLS are well versed in best management for library service and we deserve to have our library run by a qualified librarian and not a person trying to run two departments at the same time. It's not fair to the staff, the taxpayers, library patrons, or the acting library director.
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#10 2009-10-18 08:48:15
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THEY WANT TO PUT IN A LIBRARY DIRECTOR AND TRUSTEES WHO ARE LOYAL TO THE SELECTMAN AND IF THEY CANT FIND THEM THEY WILL LEAVE THE LIBRARY HAMGING , WE NEED TO RID ARE SELFS OF THESE CLOWNS IN APRIP AND ONLY THEN SHALL THE LIBRARY PROSPER,AND I DONT THINK THE SELECTMAN SHOUL APPOINT TRUSTEES BECAUSE THEY WILL ONLY BRING POLITICS INTO THEIR THINKING, THEY ARE UNEDUCATED RATS , I BELEAVE A SEPERATE GROUP SHOUD BE CREATED TO APPOINT TRUSTEES.
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#11 2009-10-18 09:10:56
That's a real good suggestion, IHL. I'm more convinced after seeing this year's appointments that we should change the Charter to provide for a seven
(7) member appointing authority (one from each precinct elected) and the
administrator. Maybe then ALL citizens will get fair consideration, we won't
have as many vacancies AND the Slavins won't control all the activity in Wareham. They seem to be the only ones considered for appointments.
Now Alan wants to be a Library Trustee and a member to the CEDA Board.
That will make 6 or 7 boards, committees or commissions he'd be appointed to. Does anyone else see a problem with that. Maybe he wants to be the first Mayor of Wareham. ???
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#12 2009-10-18 09:18:21
Common sense tells you that if you are spread too thin, you can't give the proper attention to everything. But I've never heard anyone blame this bos of being too logical.
I watched the interviews and Slavin was the only one of the trustee applicants who spoke negatively about the library. The other candidates spoke of how important a library is to a community, moving forward beyond the legal crap, budget and education concerns. His negativity alone, never mind how many committees or boards he is already on, should weigh the heaviest in the bos's decision to appoint. Then again, a lackey in the bush is a lackey in the hand. Don't ask me what that means. I need another cup of coffee.
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#13 2009-10-18 11:34:22
It's sad when you have the talent base Wareham has and it's ignored. Brilliant people with backgrounds that could benefit the town are regularly ignored when applying or interviewing for committees and trustee positions. Why? Because they do not hold the same beliefs as our elected officials. This is poor management! Our town is sinking further into the abyss because of politics.
April cannot come soon enough!
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#14 2009-10-18 14:34:50
In my opinion, Alan Slavin is a "smooth criminal" (and he's not alone). He's NOT "Citizen of the Year", as they'd have you believe. I'd term him a "Political Lackey Operative with Aspirations", I like that.
One thing he said during the "interview" which Molly referred to (as Brucey/Jane and he started out with some "jovial banter"), was:
Alan Slavin:
"I'll never be able to repent for all my sins."
That may be true of us all. (and particularly so of the man who spoke the words)
PShooter
TAKEBACKWAREHAM
Last edited by PShooter (2009-10-18 14:35:35)
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#15 2009-10-21 11:06:06
The president of the Friends was informed by the ITA that he put the name of the person he recommended be hired for the library director's position into the selectmen's folders on Monday and that he expected he would get the ok Tuesday night. I did not hear the hiring of the new library director even mentioned last night. The ITA said he expected the new director to start December first. I would have to assume that the person he decided on has to give a very long notice to have to wait until December to start work! Susan P. resigned at the end of June and was gone early in July. In business and professional organizations, it would never take this long (almost 5 months) for a qualified replacement to be on the job. Remember, we were told we got 12 applications for the position originally, and shortly after she resigned.
But what is very disturbing to me is that even though trustees have been interviewed, none have been appointed.
I don't understand the long delays in hiring and appointments in this town. As a taxpayer, I expect these positions to be filled promptly so there is little or no disruption in service.
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#17 2009-10-28 08:25:55
Nora Bicki wrote:
I am not sure how much or how little Marcia Griswold is supposed to be working at the library. You say 20 hours. According to the staff, they rarely see her and in the past month, only 2 or 3 times.
According to the staffer I asked last night, no one has seen Marcia Griswold at the Wareham Library in seven weeks. Maybe she's borrowing her books elsewhere?
Seriously, if this doesn't prompt state intervention, what will?
Last edited by billw (2009-10-28 08:27:08)
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#18 2009-10-28 09:02:45
Could someone explain how Marcia can be working for two totally different departments in town isn’t that illegal isn’t that double dipping? They should have named someone from the library as interim not someone from a different department. This is one more example of our selectman and ITA ignoring the law.
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#19 2009-10-28 09:48:05
I have said it many times. Time to break the Library away from Town Government and revert to private funding and foundations. No government on the Town level has the ability to be in charge of a Library system. Politics should always be left out.
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#20 2009-10-28 10:00:35
Perhaps the ITA had to go back to the alleged new director and tell him that due to recent financial set backs the library is on the chopping block....and he has wisely withdrawn.
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#21 2009-10-28 11:57:45
Dan, as much as I've enjoyed many of the things you've posted on this site, I strongly disagree with your viewpoint that the our Public Free Library should become separately and entirely funded via foundations, etc. I take exception to your viewpoint regardless whether we happen to be in Wareham or any of the hundred or so public free libraries communities found in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which today are primarily funded via their municipalities. On account of the turmoil which has engulfed Wareham not only concerning the Library but other entities as well, our BOS has attempted to create a political football(s) where there originally was none. If anything, I believe now is the time for the Library to begin standing tall again and be fairly supported via the municipality as well as various foundations. To crumble beneathe what has happened here in the last few years would be a disgrace and hand the BOS the prize they so easily thought they could obtain early on. Our Library has been a successful cornerstone of our community for over one hundred years. Its services are more wide spread and freely engaged than any other service in town. To stick it on the chopping block like this would be unfair. It is not an albatross to the municipality and it should be fairly funded for the fundamental services it provides our community. Perhaps these need to be reiterated to remind all those what these are and the heroic tasks which many of our library employees continue to perform. The library budget has been severely cut over the last two years and dare I say it is probably barely a third of what it once was. We need to save what we have, not diminish it further. We need to cut out things like irresponsible audits, consultants and legal fees long before we entertain cutting the library budget further or setting the library adrift. To make a decision based on current political circumstances would be foolish.
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#22 2009-10-28 12:19:18
Wag...I have had this conversation since I entered politics in Wareham in 1969.
I don't believe, and never have, that Libraries should be totally funded and operated by government. I don't like government running most enterprises that should be funded by the public. The arts, for example.
The original Spinney funds and Tobey funds were to provide libraries for Wareham and Onset to be supported by the people of the Town. Government interference is the downfall of all entities that should be private. I think government should SUPPORT libraries, via Town Meetings, seeking grants thought State and Federal funds, etc. But, to have politicians run your institutions that were designed to be private? No.
We agree to disagree. I will not personally get involved with any efforts that you folks have worked on that would be contrary to your wishes. I only express my opinions, and that is all. I have no horse in this race.
Just my opinions.
Thank you for your service to Wareham.
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