<!--Mark Scheer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Mark Scheer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com">mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
While members of the Niagara Falls Library Board wait for word on an interim administrator to replace former director Betty Babanoury who resigned last week, attention now turns to its relationship with the city.
Some board members cited the often contentious relationship between the library and the city as a contributing factor in Babanoury’s decision to resign. The board intends to send a letter to Mayor Paul Dyster and the chairman of the City Council, inviting them to a “working luncheon” at the library on Nov. 24. Library Board President Delores Marino said Dyster’s office also has agreed to sit down with representatives from the library on Dec. 2.
Library Board member Carmen Granto said he would expect any meeting involving officials from the city to focus on the process by which the library receives funding from the city. At this point, he said it is not clear to him how the library submits annual budget requests or what the expectations are for sharing revenue and expense figures each year.
“I don’t intend to spend a lot of time getting into the nitty gritty,” he said. “All I intend to do is talk about the process. It’s their money and they want to take control of the budget in the sense of accounting for it, that’s all right with me. I just want to know the process. It’s as simple as that.”
Board member and former Niagara Falls City Judge Robert Restaino believes the discussion should focus on the distribution of funds, including how revenue is provided to the library and how the library’s expenses are paid.
“Unless I’m wrong, the lion’s share of the discussion focuses on money — how is the money appropriated, when is it delivered, how is it paid out,” Restaino said. “If those are all the questions, then the agenda really centers around budgets.”
Board member Don King expressed concern that the lines of communication between the two entities could be improved. He noted that while Dyster’s administration has suggested that Babanoury was invited to participate in meetings leading up to the preparation of the tentative 2010 city budget, he’s not sure she took part in those meetings or if City Hall was responsive to her attempts to discuss budgetary matters.
“Maybe it’s just communication, that’s all,” he said.
Marino agreed that communication was a key issue and expressed hope that future meetings with the city will produce progress on a number of long-standing concerns, both in terms of library finances and ongoing infrastructure repair projects at both branches.
“I also think we should go in with the attitude that we are going to come out with some solutions in an amicable attitude,” she said.
The board’s next official meeting is scheduled for noon Nov. 23 at the Main Street branch. Board members agreed to prepare a formal list of items to be discussed during the upcoming meeting with city officials at that time.
Contact reporter Mark Scheer
at 282-2311, ext. 2250.
