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New Library Sought on '09 Referendum
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Karen Haave
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Frankfort Neue Press
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September 25, 2008
Frankfort Library officials are looking at an April 2009 referendum for a new facility at Pfeiffer Road and U.S. Route 30.
But local residents are saying they will not support it until the Board of Trustees reinstates the popular book sale initiated by Board President Kay MacNeil over 30 years ago.
The board majority and Temporary Director Mary Sue Brown of Mary Jane Kepner Consultants are under fire for giving the money-making book sale the heave-ho this summer, just two days after the short-term director was hired. (A new director, Pierre Gregoire, was hired last week, and Book Sale fans are hopeful that the sale will be reinstated under his tenure, which begins October 20.)
In the meantime, residents are planning a mass protest at the board's meeting on Thursday, September 25, at 7 p.m. at the library. Flyers are popping up on bulletin boards all over town urging residents to attend and make their feelings known.
Residents generally are allowed to give remarks during the Public Comments segment of any library board meeting. However, the board usually does not respond or engage in dialogue during that segment, which is intended only to allow the public to speak about issues.
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Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees has budgeted $15.6 million for the new library.
Plans are to increase the library district's operating budget by about $1,257,000 annually, to a total of $3 million per year. Information has not been made available about how that would impact property tax bills. Voter approval, via referendum election, is required.
Tentative plans, based on a board consensus at a special meeting September 11, call for tearing down the old building and constructing a new 50,000-square-foot facility.
Library trustees have spent months talking about the need for additional space for collections, offices, storage and programming. It appeared that they all had leaned toward a building addition to provide relief from cramped quarters long-ago outgrown.
At a special meeting earlier this month, however, they did an about-face to favor a tear-down in phases, beginning with a new addition at the east side of the existing building. The library would move into that, once completed, followed by demolition of the old facility and additional new construction.
Joe Huberty of the architectural firm Engberg Anderson said at the August 21 board meeting that plans were "about $1 million over-budget," an amount that would have to be trimmed.
He also told the board of trustees that for an additional $800,000, the library district could tear down the existing building and replace it with new. Advantages of a new facility include lower long-range maintenance and designed-to-order spaces.
At the same time, Huberty pointed out that the complete tear-down plan would cost another $800,000 for site development, and the building set-back would have to be increased to 150 feet from Route 30.
At the September 11 special meeting, a consensus of the board showed Trustees John Tylk, Richard Schmidt, Lynn Grever, Rosemary Georgen, Rick Jones and Christina Ruiz in favor of a completely new building.
Only Board President Kay MacNeil, a 13-year board veteran and longest-serving trustee, supported the option that called for a three-story addition (second floor, main floor and basement) with an expanded parking lot.
The Library Board has been discussing the possibility of a referendum for nearly two years, beginning with community focus groups and a survey.
Now that officials appear to be ready to begin the referendum process, the continued negative publicity over the library's book sale threatens to undermine the outcome.
At least part of the rhubarb appears to be the result of what MacNeil's friends, including former Library Trustee Jeanne DeRiamo and residents Marjorie and John Keane, say is the insulting comments" Mary Sue Brown directed at the long-time board president.
Hired on July 1, Brown has been on vacation for the past three weeks and unavailable for comment.
MacNeil has declined comment on all issues relating to the library, but has confirmed that she will no longer lend her considerable extra volunteer efforts to the district, beyond serving as board president.
Resident furor surfaced after Brown had the tables laden with donated books, DVDs, CDs, tapes, small toys and other useable odds and ends like golf balls, removed from the library. She told the board she wanted them gone because they took up too much room and were unsightly.
Residents are questioning why a temporary employee would be allowed to make a permanent decision about a program that has been so much a part of the library for three decades.
Former Library Director Detlev Pansch had never objected to the sale, even the expanded summer book sale, which added even more tables to the facility's limited space. No resident complaints ever were brought before the board.
The book sale has netted more than $25,000 Ð some say as much as $40,000 Ð in extra funding for the library every year and has helped to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of "extras" for the district.
In addition, donated books often were placed on the library shelves to boost collections, at no cost to the district. This year, for example, 1,086 books went onto the library's shelves.
Fans of the sale also are upset that donations are being tossed in a dumpster now, instead of being sold or given to another worthwhile organization, as MacNeil did when she coordinated it.
Brown has turned it over to the Friends of the Frankfort Library, saying that most other libraries' fundraisers are headed by their Friends organizations. But in Frankfort, the group has scaled it back so much that fans are calling it a "shadow of its former self." It now has only old, out-of-date books and no childrens' books, toys or collectibles.
After MacNeil withdrew from all participation in the sale, Trustee John Tylk was quoted saying that, if she wants to be part of it, she is "welcome to join the Friends".
MacNeil's legion of supporters took offense at Tylk's remark and chided his lack of knowledge about the library group. "She doesn't have to join Friends," one said, "she founded the Friends 30 years ago."
MacNeil has been one of the library's most ardent backers for so long that many residents don't remember a time when she wasn't there, creating beautiful gardens, weeding flower beds, overseeing maintenance, and arranging an annual prairie burn and reseeding with assistance from Frankfort Square Park staffers.
In addition, she has voluntarily hosted parties for authors, the Lincoln-Way Madrigal Singers, and staff; conducted special free library programs for adults; and promoted library programs and the book sale.
Moreover, she has been an exemplary community volunteer and environmentalist. With donations and assistance from colleagues in the Prestwick Garden Guild, she has given away free saplings every year on Arbor Day, spearheaded the bluebird house-building program, arranged for trees and shrubs to be planted at Hickory Creek Middle School, coordinated the Illinois Audubon Society stamps fundraising effort at Grand Prairie School, and tended the Outdoor Education Center at GPS.
Supporters have said there isn't enough money in the library budget to hire someone to do all that she has done, free of charge, for so many years.
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