RED BANK — The Red Bank Public Library’s new board of trustees is eyeing a return to normalcy, following months of highly publicized turbulence.
Meeting for the first time on May 1, board members said they are working to adopt a long-delayed operating budget and potentially restore hours and programs that have been cut since the previous board laid off six employees in March.
With two full-time librarians back at work and a new director in place, Mayor Pasquale Menna said the board is now digging into financials with an eye toward restoring the library’s most popular offerings, which could include Saturday hours.
“The whole idea is to make it more accessible for the peak periods when people are available to use it,” said Menna, who is temporarily serving on the board until two new members are selected.
“Nothing has been decided yet, but that could mean that on a certain weekday — an off day — it may be closed, but then the tradeoff would be a Saturday opening.”
In March, the previous library board laid off three full-time librarians and all three parttimers at the Eisner Memorial Library, citing a $131,000 budget hole and an unsustainable percentage of funding going toward salaries and benefits.
The layoffs sparked an outcry from dozens of library supporters, who petitioned the Borough Council to step in.
After a series of unsuccessful negotiations with the previous board, borough officials prepared a revised budget for the library and unanimously voted to rehire the librarians.
All but one member of the library board resigned in protest on April 12.
Despite the conflicts, new Acting Library Director Elizabeth McDermott said the ordeal helped publicize the library’s financial troubles and generate a wave of support that continues to grow.
“We have had people who walked in the door to get library cards who didn’t even know this was a library,” she said. “I think the publicity has been a really good catalyst for the things that we have coming in the next couple months.”
During the board meeting, members of the two nonprofit organizations formed to support the library announced a number of upcoming fundraisers, some of which had been in doubt during the height of the conflict only weeks prior.
Suellen Sims, president of Friends of the Red Bank Public Library, highlighted the organization’s townwide yard sale on May 3 and a coordinated effort on May 6 involving two local businesses that volunteered to donate 15 percent of their daily sales to the group.
On Sundays in May, the Red Bank Jersey Mike’s sub shop will donate 15 percent of every sale as long as customers declare themselves patrons of the library, Sims said.
“What we would like to do is pledge to the new board and the new director our support,” Sims said, handing flowers to new board member and former Friends of the Red Bank Public Library President Beth Hanratty.
“We are very, very wholeheartedly looking forward to working with all of you to get the library back on track, and to help the library achieve its mission.”
The library foundation, which counts Mc- Dermott and Sims among its board members, has also coordinated with Red Bank River- Center to provide volunteers for the upcoming Rockin’ Country Festival from June 28-29.
In return, the library will receive a portion of the proceeds, McDermott said.
The renewed wave of support, in tandem with a new board and the hard work of the library’s staff, have helped the library move past its recent troubles, she added.
“The staff are really kind of like coming out of hibernation,” she said. “They are just bursting with ideas.”
For now, however, the new board members are trying to find their footing and return to business as usual. Last week, the board voted to change the availability of the New Jersey History Room from weekly hours to appointment-only, until more personnel are available.
The board also authorized a $5,000 expenditure for new books and digital materials, which Menna said had been previously certified by the borough chief financial officer.
The board will now have to discuss, and ultimately adopt, an operating budget for 2014.
Menna said board members are working off the revised budget most recently prepared by borough officials, which would require the borough to fund a full-time custodian at a cost of $65,000 and pay about $41,000 in employer pension contributions for full-time library staff.
The approximately $690,000 budget is primarily funded by a $668,788 local tax levy.
Menna said the recent fundraisers, which were not previously accounted for, will be used to augment the budget, along with a number of pending funding opportunities that have yet to be announced.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
The Eisner Memorial Library on West Front Street is currently open from 1-5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays; and Thursdays from 5-9 p.m.