Library officers were told to take down a poster "explaining" the referendum.
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE Relations between the library and the city appear to be strained, judging by two recent events.
The city’s top election official last week ordered the Lambertville Public Library to remove copies of a poster because they contained opinions on a ballot question that could influence voters.
Also, the library recently hired an attorney at a rate of $150 an hour with a $600 retainer. The board of trustees did not go through the traditional move of hiring the firm through the city as the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Adjustment and other city agencies typically do.
Regarding the poster, election law says the institution may display materials designed to provide information on a ballot question but not opinions, according to the city’s top election official, Clerk Lori Buckelew.
The ballot question asked voters whether the city should “de-municipalize” the library, which would change the library’s funding mechanism. Voters Tuesdays agreed to keep the library as it has been for decades, defeating the referendum, 570-479.
Two opposing state laws put Lambertville in a budget crunch. There is a new 4 percent cap on the city’s budget. The library’s budget is tied to property assessments and could increase by a maximum of 15 percent annually.
The library’s trustees have said the library should remain under citizen control, not political control. The trustees have urged the City Council not to rush to change with the referendum. They say a remedy may come from the Legislature.
A citizen complained about the posters to Ms. Buckelew, who said she saw the posters hanging in the library early last week. They were taken down a short time later.
A library trustee characterized the poster as “interpreting the interpretive statement” put out by the city.
”No library funds were spent on the ‘interpreting the interpretive statement’ piece,” trustee Deborah Mercer said in an e-mail. “It was written and printed on my home computer.”
The chairwoman of the library’s board, Leanne Parks, said the poster “was not intended to tell citizens how to vote.”
”The only display in the library was a single-page document with complete and correct information regarding the referendum statement,” Ms. Parks said in an e-mail. “It was posted in order to provide library patrons with accurate information so that they could make an informed decision based on the facts. It did not, and was not, intended to tell citizens how to vote.”
City officials disagreed with Ms. Parks’ assertions the information in the poster was correct.
In addition, the city’s election official said it was more than a single-page document. Rather, it was one document copied into several posters plus a stack of flyers available for voters to take home.
The title of the document, printed at the top, was “What is Wrong with Question 5?”
The text of the poster was the city’s official interpretive statement for the ballot question. In the margins, “error” was handwritten in three places with arrows pointing to items the board considered inaccuracies.
These alleged inaccuracies include the 15 percent maximum budget increase the city is mandated by the state to pay the library next year. The library poster said the figure is actually 4.69 percent.
Both Mayor David Del Vecchio and the city clerk said they were unfamiliar with the figure of 4.69 percent quoted by the trustees. The mayor and clerk reaffirmed the maximum possible increase previously quoted, 15 percent, is correct.
In an exchange of e-mails, Ms. Parks refused to explain the 4.69 percent figure. Instead, she twice directed inquiries to a state library Web site, www.njstatelib.org/LDB/State_Aid/.
”This is where Deborah Mercer got the information, and I verified it through the same Web site,” Ms. Parks wrote. “The only explanation I think you need is why our mayor/city clerk/CFO did not check this out. This was published on Oct. 4 so it could not have been known prior to the council voting to put the referendum on the ballot or the writing of the ‘interpretive statement,’ however, someone in the city administration must have known that the correct numbers would be published prior to the election, but chose to use ‘assumptions’ in their statement! Surely that can be seen as using ‘slanted’ language.”
If voters had approved the referendum Tuesday, it would have taken away the library’s automatic funding under a state mandate. Instead, the library would have become subject to the same annual budget review process as other city departments, such as police and Public Works.
Also, it would have paved the way for the city to negotiate with the Hunterdon County Library System to create a “hybrid” library, locally owned yet still a member of the county system.
Another trustee, Christine Miller, characterized the hiring of an attorney as a “recommended and normal practice.”
”It is recommended by the New Jersey Library Association that all libraries have an attorney on retainer to be available for various legal issues,” she wrote in an e-mail. “This is a recommended and normal practice.”
Ms. Miller said the library abided by the law when it hired Bertram E. Busch, a Harvard- and Yale-educated attorney with Busch and Busch in North Brunswick.
Mr. Busch specializes in insurance defense and civil litigation, according to the firm’s Web site. He was the attorney for East Brunswick Township from 1974 to 1994 and the attorney for South Brunswick Township from 1997 to 2001. He also has been the attorney for the Monroe Township Board of Education since 1973.
”We did not go through the city to hire an attorney as it is recommended by the NJLA and the state library to have an attorney on retainer that specializes in library law,” Ms. Miller wrote. “Our review of attorneys was to find the most appropriate fit for our current and ongoing needs. We interviewed attorneys from a ‘recommended list’ from the NJLA. Obviously, there is not an overabundance of attorneys that practice and specialize in library law. None of the attorneys on the list were hired by the city currently. Our focus on hiring an attorney was to best serve the library and its patrons based on experience and understanding of library law.”