Niles library board meeting ends abruptly
Trustees walk off before the vote to cut building hours
A special meeting of the Niles-Maine District Library Board, called to consider a reduction in library hours and the adoption of new policies on communication with the media and library administrators, ended abruptly when three of the six trustees present walked off the dais saying they had not been given background information on matters they were expected to discuss or vote on. The action followed more than an hour of public comment.
The Wednesday meeting, which did not include copies of the proposed policies on the agenda or a memo on the proposal to reduce the number of hours the library is open each week, ended when Trustee Patti Rozanski announced that if she and trustees Becky Keane-Adams and Diane Olson left the meeting, no further discussion or action could be taken.
Lack of background info
“If the three of us leave, you no longer have a quorum. Goodbye,” Rozanski told Board President Carolyn Drblik, drawing applause and cheers from members of the audience, many of them wearing buttons that read “Save Niles Library.”
“You couldn’t give us a proper agenda,” Rozanski continued as the three trustees stood up following the public comment portion of the meeting. “We had nothing to look at.”
Rozanski was referring to the lack of background information given to trustees on several motions included on the meeting agenda. Trustees of local government entities, such as village boards and school, park and library boards, are normally provided information on matters they are expected to vote on so they can make informed decisions.
In a YouTube video that Keane-Adams recorded prior to the meeting, she said that documentation for the agenda items was not provided to her, despite a provision in the trustee manual requiring agendas to contain “a documented explanation” with “pertinent details” on all items up for discussion or vote.
Though they left the meeting dais, the three trustees remained inside the meeting room after the meeting’s end, speaking with members of the audience.
The at-times volatile meeting included four residents calling for the resignations of Drblik, Olivia Hanusiak, Joe Makula and Suzanne Schoenfeldt, all of whom hold officer positions on the board and form a voting bloc.
Keane-Adams, Olson and Rozanski are opposed to many of the measures supported by the other four trustees.
Hanusiak was absent from the meeting and did not attend the board’s previous meeting on June 18. She, Makula and Schoenfeldt were elected in April.
Residents who addressed the board during the June 30 meeting expressed anger over proposed cuts to the library budget and building hours, which were supported by Drblik,
Hanusiak, Makula and Schoenfeldt. One resident, Jeannette Lee, accused the four of trying to “dismantle a beloved institution.”
“It is truly shocking the amount of damage you have done in a few weeks to our library,” added Elizabeth Lynch, a member of a new community campaign called #SaveNilesLibrary.
In February, Library Journal named NilesMaine District Library a Star Library, an honor given to about 4% of the nation’s libraries, for the eighth time.
Speakers at the Wednesday meeting also objected to the motion on the agenda to reduce weekly library hours to 54 per week during the 2021-22 fiscal year “or until further direction from the board.”
Cutting hours: 70 to 54
Currently, the library is open 66 hours per week and closed Sundays.
“With the proposed reduction in hours to 54, you are locking doors to new thoughts and experiences for both adults and children,” resident Margaret
Carr said. “You are limiting the exchange of ideas, you are shrinking the world and turning off the light to fostering and encouraging the love of reading for children, teenagers, adults and even seniors.”
Former Library Executive Director Susan Dove Lempke earlier told the board she planned to resume regular hours — 70 per week — by the fall. Lempke agreed to a resignation agreement with the board during a closed session meeting in June 18, and said at that time she resigned because she felt the board was preparing to fire her.
In a written statement last month, Makula said the library budget, which was tentatively adopted and includes a $5.9 million spending plan, provides “adequate” resources in order for the library to be open 54 hours per week.
A public hearing on the tentative budget is set for 6:30 p.m. July 20, with a final vote by the board at a meeting the next day.
The special meeting agenda Wednesday also called for approving a “policy regarding press and media inquiries” and approving a “policy regarding board president’s communications with library director and assistant directors.”
Neither item included background information. Assistant Library Director Cyndi Rademacher told Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune that library staff had not received copies of the policies referenced on the agenda and Keane-Adams, Olson and Rozanski said they had not been given documents either.
The meeting also called for a closed-door executive session.
Asking what newcomers’ goals are
At one point, Drblik addressed the room during the public comment portion of the meeting when resident Gary Karshna questioned what the mission and vision of the board members is in light of the proposed library cuts. He suggested that the board conduct community meetings to articulate “what it is you are doing.”
Drblik said she hoped such a meeting could take place soon, during which the board members could discuss their plans for the library. She alleged that “half-truths or totally false statements are out there generating all this anxiety and discourse.”
“Our plan is not to destroy this library,” she insisted. “We have plans to make it better than it’s ever been.”
Drblik said there are “many hours where there are no patrons” in the building and said the board needs to form a plan to draw more people to the library.
“Our plan was not to cut everything,” she said. “It was to enhance the services, to have programming everyone wants to attend. That increases our numbers.”
The budget tentatively approved by the board on June 16 is $1.5 million less than what was recommended by library staff. It contains reductions in spending for employees, programs, and books and other materials. Library outreach to elementary schools, deliveries to Niles nursing facilities and a roof replacement project are eliminated in the budget.
David Carrabotta, a former Maine Township Town Board trustee who has spoken at recent meetings of the Niles-Maine District Library Board, praised the four board members for cutting spending, made references to taxation at the state level and accused members of the public of making remarks that he described as “libel and slander,” though he did not provide examples.
The division on the NilesMaine District Library Board is reminiscent of what occurred on the Maine Township Board during Carrabotta’s fouryear term, as newly elected members of the largely Republican board clashed, often vocally and loudly, with incumbents over policies, spending and taxes and often struggled with board rules of order.
The special Wednesday meeting of the library board, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., was delayed by 20 minutes due to the absence of Drblik, who normally calls the meetings to order. Trustees and members of the audience debated whether someone else on the board should start the meeting and whether a motion by Keane-Adams to do so was proper.
The meeting began when Drblik arrived around 6:50 p.m.