Photo by Sanja Gjenero via morgueFile.com
Where Salem Chairman Linda Valentine stands on the make-up of the Community Library Board has been clarified. She favors the population based-apportionment that would give Salem more board members than any of the other four member municipalities.
The make-up of the Library Board was discussed at a Salem Town Board meeting for the third month in a row this week. Valentine said it was on the agenda, which she sets, to clarify earlier action.
When an agreement between the libraries municipalities was created and approved in 1992, state statutes were silent on what the make-up of such joint library boards should be. Later, the state specified that such joint boards should have membership apportioned by the relative population of the member municipalities.
On Monday, Valentine asked for a motion on the make-up of the board to clarify the issue, but no board member made one. She then made one, but it failed for the lack of a second. As for her position, she said:
I’m on record to want to go with a library board that is equal with what state statutes say.
