Library Bid Process Criticized by Dedham Selectmen

Selectmen took aim Thursday night at the process the Board of Library Trustees took to secure a bid for a five-year study.

“I know as a Board of Selectman I wouldn’t be calling doing [requests for proposals] for the Town of Dedham,” selectman Jim MacDonald said to library trustee Michael Chalifoux. “You can’t do a procurement. You’re not a town employee.”

Chalifoux said he used his personal email to seek bids for an expert to prepare a five-year plan and library vision, and when only one of three people returned the bid, Chalifoux moved forward with bringing on the sole bidder.

A contract to secure that bid is on hold, as it has to go through Town Administrator William Keegan’s office first.

Keegan indicated Thursday that he is hesitant to support something where there is disagreement amongst trustees about the process.

“You want to get an end result that is embraced by everyone […] the community as a whole,” Keegan said. “My suggestion to you all is to rethink [the bid]. Because I think at the end of the day you want a document that you have confidence in.”

Selectmen had requested to meet with trustees and library director Patricia Lambert. Lambert didn’t attend the meeting because she was ill, library chairman Joe D’Amico said.

Chairman MacDonald interrupted selectman Paul Reynolds when he began discussing Lambert’s performance.

“We will not be discussing the library director […] what she does or doesn’t do,” MacDonald said.

Reynolds questioned why Chalifoux moved forward with procuring the bid, instead of a professional town employee.

“Why would the nexus of the decision [for the study] be on your shoulders Mike [Chalifoux]?” Reynolds asked rhetorically.

Later in the meeting, Reynolds attempted to bring up the controversy surrounding the , but was again stopped by chairman MacDonald.

Reynolds requested that the board meet with Lambert at a meeting in the near future.

Chalifoux said there was a communication breakdown over the process and even the availability of funds.

The library received support for $25,000 from the Mitigation Committee to use on a five-year plan, and trustees said they were under the impression that the library only had a year to spend the money. Chalifoux sought a bid for the plan before Town Meeting approved the funds in May.

“That’s not normally how we do it,” Keegan said.

Trustees also thought they had to secure the bid on their own.

“The trustees were under the impression that we had to do this ourselves,” D’Amico said. “Mike, being retired at the time, volunteered to step up. If it had been communicated to us that, ‘you don’t have to this. The town will do this for you,’ we would’ve been happy to.”

Selectman Sarah MacDonald said, “I think there is a little bit of confusion around roles and responsibility. I have to say there was help available through the whole process.”

Chalifoux stuck by the person selected to do the five-year plan – someone he had talked to before the bid about the library’s strategy to create a plan and a long-term vision. He also said she “did not help with the statement of work.”

The woman placed bid less than the $25,000 budgeted for the plan.

“I think we have an extremely good person for a good price,” Chalifoux said.

Correction: a previous version erronously reported Michael Chalifoux was the previous chairman of the Library Board of Trustees.