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Bob Horton: On library pact, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'

Updated 10:56 pm, Thursday, January 10, 2013

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  • Greenwich residents without power descended on Greenwich Library on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, a day after Irene passed through town. Photo: Helen Neafsey / Greenwich Time Staff

    Greenwich residents without power descended on Greenwich Library on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, a day after Irene passed through town.

    Photo: Helen Neafsey

 

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Today let's play a quick game of fill in the blank. Complete this sentence: Greenwich Library is where I ...

Some answers that leap to mind: attend lectures, hear great jazz, browse the Internet, listen to or borrow from a terrific music collection, view art exhibits, download e-books, send my kids to reading programs, attend career counseling sessions or, my personal favorite, seek shelter from the storms.

There are literally hundreds of other equally great answers, and that is really my point. To my mind, Greenwich Library is the best-run and most responsive public institution in town. Together with its Byram and Cos Cob branches, plus through its close working relationship with Perrot Memorial Library in Old Greenwich, this forms the vibrant cultural heart of our town.

That is why I am more than a little curious about an effort started last March to change the wording of the so-called Stowell memorandum, which defines the financial relationship between the town of Greenwich and the Greenwich Library. In broad terms, town taxpayers are responsible for the library system's operating costs, including most employee salaries and benefits, books, equipment and building maintenance. Private fundraising pays for new programs and construction of any new facility. This year the town is contributing about $7.6 million, or roughly 75 percent of the system's budget.

By all accounts, the Stowell document has worked well since it was first crafted in 1988. (Sam Stowell was the Board of Estimate and Taxation chairman at the time). A search of BET minutes and news articles did not turn up any complaints or concerns about the long-standing funding policy. In fact, given that the library is consistently rated as one of the top municipal libraries in the country, one could argue that it is a model for a successful public/private partnership.

But last March, Republican Arthur Norton, BET Audit Committee chairman, formed what he described as a "working group" comprised of the four Audit Committee members and several representatives from the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees, to review the Stowell memorandum.

The group met for the first, and I believe only, time last June. Group members told me, and the official minutes confirmed, that the group reached clear consensus that the financial responsibilities between public and private dollars were clear and there was no need for any changes.

At that June meeting, Mr. Norton asked, according to people in attendance, what I can only describe as some peculiar questions. For example, they said he wanted to know what would happen if there was a "hostile takeover" of the Friends of Greenwich Library? I know Greenwich has more than its share of hedge funds, but is there a new takeover trend involving nonprofit agencies that I've completely missed?

And then there was the question that is just under the surface in any issue in Greenwich: do any members of the Friends of Greenwich Library not live in Greenwich? This is our birther issue, but instead of demanding birth certificates, the town of Greenwich demands that we all produce utility bills from time to time to prove that we are who we claim we are. Personally, I have taken to wearing mine on a lanyard around my neck just in case I'm stopped at the border.

If you've made it this far through this tale, you are probably wondering just what problem generated Mr. Norton's efforts. If you need an answer before reading on, stop right here, because I have no good answer for you. All I have is a narrative of a man (Norton) on a mission to change something, though that "something" is not at all clear.

In an email exchange with Norton, all he would tell me was that the "changes" to the memorandum had been sent to the town's law department for review and he would not share a copy with me. So I called BET Chairman Michael Mason, who said that all he was hoping to do was to make the Stowell memorandum consistent with the "budget process" other town departments use. So why not just draft those technical changes, circulate it to all the parties involved, and discuss it openly. Instead, hundreds of man-hours over 10 months have gone into solving an as-yet-undisclosed problem, unless that problem is a hostile takeover of the library by outside agitators.

I said that I had no answers, and I don't. But one possible explanation may lie in all the capital projects currently competing for tax dollars.

In the past, the Greenwich Library and the Perrot Memorial Library, raised private dollars for the design and construction of any new structure, but construction would not go forward until the BET and the Representative Town Meeting agreed to pick up the annual operating costs. That put elected officials in the difficult political position of possibly saying no to a project for which the public has shown support by contributing private money. So maybe the proposed new language will somehow change that political dynamic. Though I don't see how the town can create a process that keeps the library from either raising or spending private dollars.

Mr. Norton should take a cue from the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Bob Horton can be reached at bobhorton@yahoo.com.

 
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