Dedham Library Board Votes for Partial Page Funding

Looking to hire back three pages for the full fiscal year beginning July 1, the Dedham Library Board of Trustees voted to use $12,000 of leftover state aid to partial pay for the pages.

Trustees estimated that it would cost about $16,000 to pay for two pages to work the full year, and one page to work the first six weeks of the summer before she takes leave to go to school.

The board was looking to avoid the situation that arose in May when the library fired three pages without expressed board knowledge.

Trustee Mike Chalifoux contended that the board gives "de facto" permission each year for the library director to let go of the pages six weeks before the close of the fiscal year as the budget line approaches zero. Most years, Chalifoux said, there is money to bring them back.

"There were two new board members who had not gone through the process before. Nothing was mentioned to the board members that this was going out," trustee Brad Bauer said.

Without taking from elsewhere for fiscal year 2012, the library wouldn't be able to hire back the pages.

Charged with finding the cash, library director Patricia Lambert said the board could take from the overtime budget line and other expenditures, but she said she didn't support taking any money from overtime.

Bauer, who drafts the financial report each month for the library system, suggested pulling money from state aid to partially pay for it.

Bauer also suggested to pull from state aid they will receive for the next fiscal year to fund the rest, or turn to their trust fund account and used some of the accrued interest.

"It could be taken out of that, I'm not generally in favor of taking money out of [trust funds]," Bauer said.

In years ahead, trustees said they need to work harder on the budget and assure they are including money for staff and moving toward meeting state requirements for books.

"We need to find the money. We need to fight," said trustee Rebecca Peluso.

Chalfioux said the board had gone back four times with the town and fought for several item lines.

"That fight did occur. And we won some and we lost some. One of the areas we lost was the pages," Chalifoux said.

Lambert Refuses Again to Apologize to Pages

When pushed by Peluso to apologize to the pages for the letter that went out, Lambert refused again because she wasn't the pages' direct supervisor.

"It's a hierarchical issue. I didn't hire the pages," Lambert said. "The person that you report to lets you go."

Lambert said the supervisor was following directions to send out the letter.

"I don't feel that's right," Peluso said.

When questioned by Peluso, Lambert also said she didn't know who the three pages were.

"With all due respect, this is the first board that cares about what happens on the budget end [..] about pages and things like that," Lambert said.

Trustee Rachel Forsyth-Tuerck said, "We don't feel good about how it was handled, so we need a policy."