Westhampton residents who are steaming at rejection of their demands for an elected library board are also angry that the library plans to spend $1 million on a parking lot and $623K on interior redesign on six-year-old building.
The funds were committed at a previous board meeting. Also allocated were $147,905 for marketing and $150,000 for legal expenses. A total of $1.3 million has been set aside for “building expansion.” A donation of that amount came from the estate of Ann Skovek who died in 2013.
Cost of acquiring land for a parking lot was put at $1M. The site of a former gas station next to the library was cleared last year.
The air conditioning system is being replaced at a cost of $100,000.
Website Urges “No” Vote on Budget
The website of citizens who want an elected board to replace the current appointed board is urging citizens to vote “No” on the library budget May 17.
It asks, “Why does an appointed, insular, private club get to decide how to spend our tax dollars? Vote No on the library budget.”
The library subpoenaed a number of people to court on Monday and Tuesday this week. It concerned the Department of Human Rights case in which a library employee in December won "probable cause" to pursue her claim. She was then allowed to move forward and hire an attorney.
Citizen requests for the library to turn off the Wi-Fi system until its safety can be determined have been ignored.
The principles of liberty, self-government and individual rights are often discussed as matters of history. Last week in Odesa, Ukraine, I was reminded they are also very much matters of the present. 
How risks and opportunities have evolved for communicators in the second Trump administration.
Too many executives view public affairs as a technical task. They think that if their policy is strong, their facts are correct, and their lawyers are ready, the outcome will naturally follow. That’s a dangerous misconception.
A majority of Americans (52 percent) say president Trump launched the invasion of Iran in part to distract voters from the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal. Forty percent disagree, according to Drop Site/Zeteo/Data for Progress survey conducted March 6-8.
