Sunday, December 30, 2007

VACANCY ON LIBRARY BOARD

I received a letter from the President of the Library Board advising that there will be a vacancy on the Library Board. Ginger Grant, a member of the Library Board, is resigning. The Town Board is required, by law, to make the appointment which will expire in December, 2011. If you are interested in being considered please e mail me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com and cc townboard@greenburghny.com.

This Board is important. Unlike other Boards – the Library Board is semi independent. The Town Board approves a budget for the library. The library has the ability to shift funds without obtaining approval by the Town Board. For example—we can fund the cybermobile. The Library Board could then cut the cybermobile and use the funds that we identified for the cybermobile for any other purpose they choose. The library claims it is “an independent autonomous and education corporation charted by the Board of Regents” and does not have to answer to the Town Board once it receives a budget.

Last week the Library Board decided to eliminate the cybermobile and to close the library on Sunday’s. I strongly object to these cuts. They are not necessary. I feel that many of the library purchases could/should be deferred until AFTER the new library opens. Construction will not be completed until at least October, 2008. I am interested in knowing how potential candidates for this vacancy feel about both the cybermobile and Sunday hours.

I would also be interested to know Library Board candidates views on creating an independent Library District. An independent library district would have their annual budgets approved by the voters each year. And, Library Board members would be elected by the people.

PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

The answer is obvious - appoint Hal Samis.
He's honest, incorruptible and irascible.

Anonymous said...

The blogger before me had the same idea as to whom I would suggest for this position.
There is no one better than Samis to serve in this position.
There is no one as knowledgeable as to how the library SHOULD be run.
Let's see if this advice is taken seriously by the whole new town board and of course Samis.
We have to start putting honest people into slots that will help the residents of Greenburgh.
Now the next person in line is Krauss,see where you can convince him to take on a position.
Another person for consideration is Kolesar.
Above all you need a police commissioner.

Anonymous said...

The idea for the library system to be independant from the town is good BUT will it save the taxpayers money.
If the same director is in office forget about it .
To do this one would have to start from the top to show them the door.
They have been spending the residents money left and right with no honest accountablity.
Think twice before this is done and what are the pluses to benefit the residents,
Really did we need a monster of a library in todays world.

Anonymous said...

Finally residents are realizing what a fiasco this Library Board has brought us,only two years too late.

New board members can't cure the past but they can make sure we don't taken again.

Anonymous said...

Hal Samis is my first choice.

Anonymous said...

Hal Samis is my first choice.

Anonymous said...

HAl Samis should be the only one to be considered for this position.
His input about the failures of the plans plus the input on the budget made the residents realize that something smells with the present library board.
We need a change so let's start with this mismanaged facility.
I do hope that Samis will accept.

Anonymous said...

The library needs additional oversight. Hal --go for it!

Anonymous said...

Hal doesn't have a hair on is A.. or his head to accept this spot on the board. If he did, maybe some more members would resign!

Anonymous said...

*******HAPPY
************NEW
***************YEAR
*******************TO
*********************ALL

Anonymous said...

Save the cybermobile. Replace library board members with mmembers who will put the public first.

Anonymous said...

Right on this present board was only out to fill THEIR pockets and empty ours.
Get rid of them all and start anew.
The person in charge of the library is he clled the director,he should be fired for mismanagement.

Anonymous said...

Putting Samis in this position will weed out the corruption going on in this library.
You could rest assured that the rest of the crew will resign.
BRING SAMIS ON ASAP

Anonymous said...

HOw many feiner political hacks will get jobs?

Kolesar, Samis, whose next?

What type of property tax increase will we see next year.

Anonymous said...

The definition of a Feiner political hack is someone Bernstein doesn't like.

Easy.

Anonymous said...

Who cares who Bernstein likes or dislikes.
Who died and made him boss.
We need honest people to take over positions being serviced by those who do not care for the residents of Greenburgh.
Whom ever could bring back honest and willing candidates to do a good job bring them on.
The ones employed now within the library walls have got to go.
They have done us more harm than good but you can be sure of one thing they have filled their pockets full of our money.

ed krauss said...

The last thing
I would characterize Hal Samis as is a political hack. He is as apolitical as one can get.

Because he spoke out against Paul Feiner and then agreed with him lately, could it possibly mean he disagreed with him on some issues and agrees with him on others, irrespective of political labels?

Mike Kolesar is of the similar ilk. He is an honest man, ergo a bad politician.

There are an army of political hacks in Greenburgh, Samis and Kolesar are not members.They served their country, and not in the political hack brigade.

After all, just yesterday I complimented Paul Feiner for trying to help seniors. Does that make me a Feinerite? I don't think so. Emphatically NO!

However when he's right he's right. And,when he's wrong I try to take him to task.

I know it's difficult to be objective, but "don't get mad, get even," prevents one from getting ahead. And, standing or jogging in place is akin to going backwards.

Chill out. Try to be positive.

Samis would be a tremendos asset to the library board,and an asset to the town by doing so.

Similarly, Kolesar would be a tremendous asset as the first town CFO, something, and/or someone we desperately need.

Look at their credentials before the conclusions you draw, without looking at them.

Anonymous said...

Amen to what Ed Krauss said.

Anonymous said...

Boy if anyone can express the feelings of many of the residents is Ed Krauss.
I do hope that your comments are accepted by the supervisor and his new board members because you know dam well if we leave this to the remaining two nothing of interest will be implimented.
Thank you again for being honest .
Buon Capo D'anno which means Happy New Year to you and yours.

Anonymous said...

why is government in the library business? in an era of the internet, ebay, google, netflix, the wls, etc - spending millions on libraries looks more and more ridiculous. wake up greenburgh - this is 2008 not 1908!

Anonymous said...

You are 101% right.
Comments have been made that we do not need that white elephant on 119
What we need is more taxable properties to help our cause.
With all the new technology why did the library board and a few of the town board members think that we needed a new library.
This is the largest money project in the history of Greenburgh that should not have been voted in.
We have to thank those who pushed for this project that they too will feel the same pinch in their pockets one day the way we feel today.
Those who fought for the library have good friends on the board.
That is why you have to get rid of the board asap and start anew.

Anonymous said...

It's too late for everyone to start complaining about the Library and how much it's going to cost. Where was everyone two years ago when there was a vote ?
It' a shame only about 4,000 people voted and it passed by 66 votes. If it was voted on at the same time as the general election more people would have voted and I'm sure it would have been voted down. The Library board did a good job and had a vote where it benifitted them to get it passed.
People are trying to close the barn door after the horse got away!
It's just too late.

Anonymous said...

oops!
benefitted

Anonymous said...

The supervisor wanted to have the voting for the library in November BUT as you know our town councils voted to have it done before the election ,and each one made it their business to get out the vote in Edgemont in particular to give Feiner the business.
No the council did not give Feiner the business they subjected all the residents to higher taxes for this year and some years to come.
We have to remember that come election time for Juettner and Sheehan we should get the vote out to have them defeated.
If they do not get defeated we will be looking at higher taxes for many years to come.

ed krauss said...

Thank you 1/1/08, 5:54PM.

Your good wishes in Italian "Buon Capo D'Anno," literally translate to: "Good Head of the Year." In Yiddish, the similarity is eerie."Eine Gittah Rosh HaShanah," A Good Head Of the Year."

Thank you for jogging my memory.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if the Library Board of Trustees would announce that there is a vacancy on the Board?

They must know because they have already started interviewing to fill the seat. They run the Board like a private club so why bother with formalities?

Would it be so difficult to announce this as they have access to the Town's email list and the Library has its own web site?

But this is a Library Board which believes only in providing costly expansion space for a Library which doesn't seek to provide information.

Anonymous said...

The whole Library board has to go.
We will see if they stay in charge our taxes will never go down.
They got away with too much with no
one checking on them.
Where does all this money go.
Boy their pockets should be overflowing.