Petition forces vote on library change
Proposal to dissolve district and transfer supervision to town could be on fall ballot
WOODSTOCK, N.Y. » Supporters of the effort to dissolve the Woodstock Library District and have the facility become a municipal library under Town Board supervision have collected enough signatures on a petition to force a public vote on the matter.
The dissolution backers submitted a petition with 815 signatures to the library board, and 703 were verified as being from registered Woodstock voters, Town Clerk Jackie Early said Monday. The petition needed only 450 valid signatures to be certified.
Library Director Jessica Kerr said the board will review the petition on Aug. 16 and then determine whether a special meeting of the board is needed to schedule a public referendum.
“It does appear that the general election [in November] will be within the time frame, but the trustees will definitely be discussing that at the August meeting,” Kerr said Monday.
The filing of a valid petition gives the library board 30 days to vote on scheduling a public referendum on the matter, and the referendum must be held 60 to 90 days later.
If town residents vote to dissolve the library district, library board members would be appointed by the Town Board rather than elected by residents.
Supporters of dissolving the library district say the library board has not been responsive to the community when drafting various proposals for expanding and renovating the library.
The current proposal is for a $5 million replacement of the existing building that would increase library space from the current 7,841 square feet to about 15,000 square feet. Supporters of dissolving the district oppose demolishing the 1960s building on Library Lane, off Tinker Street, that houses the facility.
The issue of improving or replacing the library dates to September 2007, when a proposed $1.1 million library budget was overwhelmingly rejected by voters because the spending plan called for setting aside money to avoid interest payments on bonds.
Dissolution advocate John Ludwig said last month that the Town Board is better equipped to make decisions about the library’s future and how it can be expanded to accommodate growing demand.
“We claim that the town has a proven track record of creating and building capital reserve funds for building maintenance, which we believe that the trustees of the library have not been doing,” Ludwig said.
He also said the process of replacing the 11-member board, whose members serve staggered terms, through annual votes is too slow. But Kerr said there hasn’t been a concerted effort to replace members. She noted three seats on the board were uncontested in last year’s election.
“There’s plenty of opportunity to be involved, and the petitioners have chosen not to,” she said.
Kerr also said there’s no guarantee that a library board appointed by the Town Board would make different decisions than those made by the current library board.