Monday, January 9, 2012

Middletown Library Will Adhere To State Guidlines For The Selection Of Board Attorney

I think your readers should be aware that the Library follows the purchasing laws of the State for selecting all of its vendors and service providers. No one’s expressed “interest” in doing business with the library can supersede this process, or weigh the outcome.

The library puts out an annual Request for Proposal [RFP] for legal services, and the award is made to a firm/or individual within firm, based upon meeting the published criteria. The RFPs are available to the public via the library’s web page. www.mtpl.org This is the approved process, following the purchasing laws of the State of NJ.

It is unusual for the name of a prospective respondent to an RFP to be made public, as it was in the case of Linda Baum’s blog, but she had asked our Administrative Secretary a direct question about the identity of Mr. Leahy, and she received an accurate answer. Ms. Latona is not the “Library Administrator” as those responsibilities are mine alone.

The full body of the Board of Trustees will evaluate the responses to each RFP and make the decisions on the awards. It is not incorrect to use the words “appointed” for the legal counsel position, but the context should be that such appointment is made following the required legal process. It is possible that, due to timing issues, the selection of legal counsel for 2012 may be deferred to the February meeting, but I won’t know that for sure until I see how many responses we have, and how detailed they are, and, of course, what the will of the Board is in this regard.

Susan O'Neal, M.S.L.S.

Director
Middletown Township Public Library
55 New Monmouth Road
Middletown, NJ 07748

4 comments:

Legion said...

Susan -

Any comment on the accusations made by Ms. Baum?

Is the Library Board in an "adversarial relationship" with the Township Committee?

Would Mr. Leahey have a conflict of interest in providing counsel to the Library Board while providing other services for the township and the TOMSA Board?

Anonymous said...

I believe the TC has an adversarial relationship with many

Anonymous said...

"Is the Library Board in an adversarial relationship with the Township Committee?"

Are you for real ? Anybody who attended the "funds heist" meeting of the TC mob at the library last year can answer that question. YOU BET THEY ARE. The Library Board trying to protect the Middletown Library from the TC thugs.

Anonymous said...

he only ones the TC do not have an adversarial relationship with are EACH OTHER and that may even be a stretch !!