A special meeting of the Leach Library Board of Trustees was called for Saturday, June 14, where things broke down rather quickly during its public comment session following questions raised over the latest Treasurer’s Report.
“I would like to share with you, very briefly, how the action of the Board have affected me,” said library staff member Colleen Magdziarz, who helped the library prepare its regular financial reports. “I would like to address the Treasurer’s Report for January through March of 2025 that was approved at the Board meeting on June 4. Moria asked if Treasurer Jan had checked over the figures of the report. Jan responded by saying she had not checked over the report. This was extremely frustrating to me as the staff member who does the report, and tries to have it prepared in a timely manner.”
Magdziarz wanted the Board of Trustees to move faster on their reports, urging them to act as if they were “auditors.”
“We are audited every year by the same auditors as the town, the Treasurer’s Reports are included in that audit, along with bank statements, invoices, etc. I know the auditors are going to have questions,” she said. “The numbers on this report are an accurate reflection of your bank statements. However, when preparing this report, I noticed that there were a bunch of missing checks.”
Three checks were voided due to mistakes, something Magdziarz claimed Library Director Erin Matlin initially did not know about because of a lack of a paper trail. Another check apparently remained uncashed.
Resident Alicia Frank echoed the financial concerns.
“I would like to suggest to ask a Board that you take a look at how your current Trustee account check register looks right now,” said Frank. “Before implementing any drastic financial changes, you might want to get that register in order.”
Trustee Chair Liz Thomas expressed her strong disapproval of the assertions.
“How dare anyone come up here and suggest, after Erin has reported that there might have been an impropriety, how dare they come up in public, in a recorded session, and make statements like that. They should check with Erin,” said Thomas. “What I told Erin is that Jan, as an officer of the Trustees, went into the library and requested to get her reports printed. She was refused, by a staff member, and Erin disagrees with this, but Jan was refused not once, but twice.”
Director Matlin disputed the Chair’s claim that anyone was refused access.
One resident interrupted Thomas, questioning whether it was appropriate for a member of the Trustees to speak at length during the public comment section of the meeting, triggering an argument between the resident and the Chair.
“We are not going to let the general public take over these meetings from now on, it’s inappropriate,” said Thomas, who eventually called for the police when the resident responsible for the interruption refused to leave the room.
That resident identified herself as Debbie Desrochers, and she refused to be silenced, citing point of order.
Thomas added, “This is why we can never ever get anything done.”
Although the police arrived a few minutes later, forcing a pause on the meeting, nobody was removed and two officers left after a brief discussion with Thomas.
Both the Chair’s decision to call the police and the interruptions drew heavy criticism from other residents.
“What a circus it became. The audacity to interrupt other Board members as they spoke and the audacity to speak in such a manner to our library staff and Director,” said resident Tara Myles. “I would not put up with that in my own job, and I am disappointed in some of the members of this Board and how they acted.”
Resident Erica Laue criticized the speech as part of the Trustees for poor time management and what she saw as a lack of basic knowledge about library operations.
“I’ve heard you say you don’t know the answer to a question, you ask for clarification on accounts over and over, you don’t know the RSA for this, you don’t know the policy for that, you’re not sure of this, there’s no homework being done,” said Laue. “You are elected officials. No, it’s not a paid position and no, it’s not an overtly thankful position, unfortunately, but when you come up here unprepared for meetings it hurts your taxpayers and it hurts your library.”
She also accused the Trustees of not doing their jobs while “micromanaging” library employees.
The next meeting of the Leach Library Board of Trustees is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9, at 7 p.m. in the Leach Library meeting room.