Richmond Hill council to expand library board despite concerns

The four councillors on board want to bring five more citizens

Yorkregion.com
July 29, 2019
Sheila Wang

It hasn’t been long since the dust settled on the saga of Richmond Hill public library services, and a few council members are seeking to make changes on the library board again.

A majority of councillors voted to expand the 12-member library board to 17 at a council meeting on July 9, four months after the new term of the board was officially formed.

The motion, introduced by Regional Coun. Joe DiPaola, was met with opposition from Mayor Dave Barrow and his fellow council members David West and Godwin Chan. Karen Cilevitz was absent for the vote.

The change to the library board composition was proposed on the grounds that “it can sometimes to be a challenge to achieve quorum with a smaller board,” according to the motion.

“That’s not factual,” said David Bishop, chair of the library board. “We have no difficulties meeting quorum. The quorum is the majority of the member of the board. The bigger it is, the more awkward it will be.”

The board chair, baffled by the council decision, also questioned the legality of the appointing new members to the board in the middle of the term.

Earlier in May, three councillors -- DiPaola, Muench and Beros -- appointed themselves to the board at a council meeting to expand the nine-member board to 12, amid the dispute over the Sunday service at the central branch.

In March, the library board initially decided to cut the Sunday service for the summer due to funding constraints. The decision was later reversed following the joining of the three councillors on board.

Perrelli joined the board shortly after to replace outgoing board member Castro Liu, ward 3 councillor.

Now the four councillors on board want to bring five more citizens to make decisions for the city’s public library services.

“Nobody I know has ever encountered anything like this … We’re mulling it over ourselves at this point,” Bishop said.

The Public Library Act states that appointments of board members shall be made at the first council meeting in each term, or within 60 days after its first meeting.

With the board half way through the term, Bishop said he was not sure if council had the authority to still make appointments.

Bishop said he expressed his concerns to DiPaola and was responded with a different interpretation of the act.

The Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport did not respond to requests for a comment on the concerns over the timing of the appointment of the library board members.

The city has since advertised on its website and in The Liberal to fill the additional five positions. A special council meeting will be scheduled to consider the applications after the two-week advertisement period ends.

Visit richmondhill.ca for more information.