The Town Council reviewed potential alternates for the Leech Library Trustees during its most recent meeting.
Town Council Chair Ron Dunn explained that he received an email from the Library Trustees explaining that they met on July 19 to select three candidates as alternates on unanimous consent.
Those three alternate candidates include Maria Barud, Richard Bielinski, and Cris Navarro.
Dunn explained that they had a last-minute addition for the meeting, due to Town Councilor Ted Combes not being able to attend the Aug. 4 meeting, and wanting to be able to vote or provide input on the plan.
Combes, however, immediately made a motion to push the decision back to provide time for the public to formally apply for the positions, and for the Town Council to review it.
“I believe this should go to the public and all members of the public, and they should all be notified appropriately,” Combes said.
Town Councilor Deb Paul urged members to follow the rules and procedures they normally have in place for open positions.
After some confusion, Town Manager Shaun Mulholland explained that the Library Trustees can make recommendations on who to fill the open alternate positions, but the Town Council has the ultimate decision on who to appoint or what process is followed.
Town Council Vice Chair Shawn Faber said that he thinks they should remain neutral on it as much as possible, and said that the trustees should be able to conduct their own business.
“What I’m saying is the Library Trustee Board needs to handle their business and send it to us,” he explained about the recommendations.
Faber explained that he thinks they could ask them to go through a different procedure, but felt the Trustees should ultimately come up with their recommendations.
Town Councilor Dan Bouchard, who serves as the Town Council liaison for the Library, explained that he was asked what they should do to fill the openings, and told the Trustees that they should follow the process the town normally follows, which didn’t take place.
During the meeting, Trustee Nancy Hendricks explained that they should have a process in place and that they didn’t have one when it came to recommending names for the alternate positions.
“There was no process here,” she said.
Hendricks explained that, in her opinion, she was OK with going through the process of making recommendations on who the alternates should be, but explained that they were given little to no information about the candidates they originally chose from before the meeting.
For example, she explained that they received the letters of interest for some candidates minutes before the meeting started.
“How do you make these decisions in three minutes?” Hendricks said.
Trustee Moira Ryan said it has been an issue on the table for a while, since they had a resignation, and doesn’t think they would have any other recommendations than what they already sent to the Town Council.
“I think we’ve sent you the slate that we unanimously recommended, and I think at this point it’s kind of up to you guys,” Ryan said.
The Town Council ultimately voted 4-1 to have the positions posted and for interviews to be conducted in September, with Faber voting in opposition.