Officials are at odds over who should control the library and its funding.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – With town meeting right around the corner, a tempest suddenly sprang to life Tuesday between Ludden Library trustees and selectmen.

The right to manage library affairs, including money – whether town-appropriated or not – appears to be the crux of the storm.

Following comments made by selectmen at their May 12 meeting, the Ludden Library Board of Trustees issued a press release Tuesday citing their opposition.

Trustees “believe that they have the right to manage the affairs of the library and spend funds given to the library,” the release stated. “They disagree with the statement that the Board of Selectmen have the sole responsibility to direct the activities of the library and spend library funds.”

At the May 12 selectmen’s meeting, Selectman Dan Mitchell stirred the cauldron by confronting head librarian Justy Nazar about ongoing library renovations.

“I’m concerned about the Board of Trustees making changes in the library without public knowledge,” Mitchell said on May 12, noting that any desired changes must first go through selectmen because the town owns the library.

Nazar countered, saying the renovation work, which involves finishing the basement area, is all part of the library’s original plan for expansion and, therefore, up to the trustees.

But Selectmen Sandra Buchanan and Chairman Hugh Daley agreed with Mitchell, saying they’d fielded questions from the public about ongoing costly renovation work.

Town Manager Nanci Allard added that the town is the source of the library renovation money.

However, Nazar said the money was coming from the George D. Bartlett Fund, which was a gift and not town-appropriated money. Trustees on Tuesday concurred with Nazar.

“The money currently being spent to complete deferred portions of the original expansion, mostly downstairs, is not appropriated money. The money was a gift from George D. Bartlett in his will of 1925,” the release stated.

Citing the minutes of a trustees meeting in 1960, trustees claim the Bartlett Fund was given to the town for the library. But selectmen then turned the gift over to the trustees for library use.

Although Allard said Thursday that Bartlett gave the town $4,600, trustees have since increased it to $17,000.

“These funds should be in our (General) Fund. If trustees want to spend it, they should come before the Board of Selectmen. That’s the appropriate way to handle funds, but no one is suggesting there’s been mismanaged funds or inappropriate spending,” Allard added.

In addition, Tuesday’s press release from the trustees states that when the library was opened in 1939, townspeople at town meeting charged trustees with caring for the library.

“Based on this vote of the townspeople, the trustees through the years have worked to develop policy, provide guidance to the librarian, spend funds given to the library and spend town-appropriated funds” as approved by selectmen, the release stated.

Trustees further claimed that townspeople had yet to remove the management responsibility from the Board of Trustees.

But Allard said Thursday that townspeople did just that when they instituted a town-manager form of government in the 1980s.

Library Building Committee member Paul A. Jones, however, disagreed with Allard when contacted Thursday. Jones said that trustees have yet to see any written documentation that cements Allard’s contention.

“There’s been no documented validation that having created a town-manager form of government canceled the 1939 agreement for non-appropriated funds,” Jones said.

The issue comes to a head at the Board of Selectmen’s 4:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday, May 27, in the town office when trustees are slated to discuss the matter.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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