Richmond Hill council appoints three councillors to library board
'I’m going back to the library board to make sure this doesn’t happen again'

Sheila Wang
May 13, 2019
Yorkregion.com

 

Three Richmond Hill councillors appointed themselves to the Richmond Hill Public Library Board on May 7.

Council voted 8 to 1 to approve a motion adding Deputy Mayor Joe DiPaola, Ward 1 Councillor Greg Beros and Ward 2 Councillor Tom Muench to the library board for the term of December 2018 to November 2020.

They made the decision at a committee of the whole meeting in the absence of Ward 3 Councillor Castro Liu, who is also the only councillor currently on the nine-member library board.

“Mayor Barrow, what made you come up with those three names if I may ask?” said Ward 5 Councillor Karen Cilevitz, who voted against the motion proposed by Mayor Dave Barrow.

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Barrow said he’d like to have more councillors on the library board in light of the board’s recent decision on Sunday service, and the three councillors had expressed interested in serving.

“I think it’s unfortunate that this wasn’t first put out to all members of council to get their opinions as to whether or not they’d like to be one of these three,” Cilevitz responded.

Ward 4 Councillor David West who said he wasn’t aware of the motion until minutes before the start of the meeting moved an amendment to add his name to the list.

But a fifth councillor cannot be added to the board, said chief administrative officer Neil Garbe, who cited Ontario’s Public Libraries Act that the number of municipal councillors may not exceed “one less than a majority” on the library board in accordance with Ontario’s Public Libraries.

The motion

The Liberal received a copy of the motion on May 6, a day ahead of the meeting and a day after Perrelli made the promise to the library-goers the central branch will remain this summer.

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The copy — slightly different from the motion presented at the meeting — stated that the motion was put forward by Beros and seconded by Perrelli.

“I’m the chair of the meeting, so it’s difficult at the time to move motions, so the mayor wanted to take the lead on this one,” Beros said, noting the three of them volunteered to serve on the board prior to the meeting.

When asked if they approached the mayor about the motion or the other way around, Beros said he didn’t recall.

On the same day, board chair David Bishop announced Sunday service will remain at the central branch this summer, reversing a decision the library board made in April.

Having served on the library board from 2006 to 2018, the councillor said he believed the change of mind by the library board had to do with this motion.

“It’s a shame that the library board went after front-line services, and I won’t allow this to happen. And I’m going back to the library board to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Beros said he found it “unbelievable” that the board chair said he did not know about the completion date of the new Oak Ridges Library before the board decided to close Sunday service for the summer.

He pointed out the library board was informed of the status of the new Oak Ridges Library at a board meeting on March 28, which stated the new branch is anticipated for fall 2019.

Bishop, who is currently unavailable, said in an earlier interview that the board had to plan the budget based on “uncertainties” when deciding on Sunday closure.

“They did this spitefully,” Beros said. “There is a plethora of options they could have taken to move $40,000 in a $10 million budget. But what did they choose?”

The councillor did not elaborate on the options to adjust to the $9.2-million funding envelope allocated by council to the library board for 2019. He later stated that it’d be fair to provide those options at the next board meeting scheduled for May 16.

In a followup email, Beros provided the actual total cost to maintain Sunday service at the central branch, which was $35,677. 72 from June 9 to Sept. 1, based on $2,744.44 per Sunday.

The library board has not confirmed the figures, as of May 10.

The next board meeting is scheduled for May 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the board room on the fourth floor of the central library at 1 Atkinson St.