OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The Edith Belle Libby Memorial Library has had its power reinstated and has been granted the funding library officials say it needs to remain in operation the rest of the fiscal year.
The town council voted Wednesday night, 4-2, to terminate a memorandum of understanding and restore self administration to the library, and also voted, 4-2, to grant the library nearly $68,600.
Councilors Michael Coleman and Robin Dayton voted against both measures, and Councilor Bob Quinn was absent.
The library is a quasi-municipal organization with a board of trustees and a set of bylaws. It receives the bulk of its funding from the town.
In March 2012, it was discovered that library funds were missing, and a police investigation determined that the bookkeeper, Linda Jenkins, had embezzled $140,000 over six years. Jenkins died of cancer days after officials learned of the missing funds.
The town council and library officials later signed a memorandum of understanding outlining an agreement for the town to take over the payroll and accounts payable of the library.
Library officials recently came to the town council and said the town underfunded the library this year, and if it didn’t get this additional funding, the library would have to close its doors.
Coleman said at Wednesday night’s meeting that he thinks the council “erred on the low side” when approving the library’s budget, but said he couldn’t support the full amount the library was asking. He also said he thought the library should do more fundraising.
“I do not want to see the library closed,” said Coleman. “I do want our tax money being spent as efficiently and as wisely as possible.”
Council Chairwoman Sharri MacDonald spoke of the importance of libraries to communities.
“I think we need to fund it and move forward,” said MacDonald. “We need to fix this.”
Councilor Linda Mailhot said the situation was brought on by an unfortunate circumstance, and since then, the library has put controls in place.
“The library is not a town department and cannot be treated as such,” said Mailhot. She said she’d like to see quarterly reviews from the library. She said she’d also like to see them do more fundraising, and volunteered to help them.
Dayton said the memorandum of understanding took a long time to draw up, and she felt there hadn’t been a good faith effort to work together under the document, which had been in place less than a year.
“We haven’t learned enough from each other,” she said. “We haven’t done as good of a job as we could, on either side of the aisle.”
The council’s decision generated loud applause from library officials, and there were many hugs shared after the close of the meeting. Eileen McNally, assistant director of the library, thanked the council and the members of the public who attended the meeting.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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