What's Going On At the Library?

Middletown Township has long been redirecting library funds back to the general budget, which is legal and relatively easy to do. Shoot, since 2012 they've turned it into an art form. They can increase township charge backs, reduce the library budget to increase reserves and unrestrict monies previously restricted for projects.

They get away with it easily and with little resistance because the Township Committee appoints cronies to the library board, that will do their bidding. The members of the library board often don't have the best interests of the library at heart, they are merely political puppets who are loyal to the Township Committee and care little for the library itself.

I haven't been paying much attention to the library situation for quite a long time now, hell I can't even remember the last time is was there. But when I received the following via email from a person going by the name of Mahat Macote. It may be time to start looking a little more closely again:

What's happening at the Library?

Malfeasance...that's what!

Why are they having budgetary problems?

I heard that they have have massive turnover of employees, without replacement, which under normal circumstance would mean that the budget is fine?

So why is there a budget shortfall....???

The Library Board has been shedding employees and library jobs, and getting them off the healthcare roles, "quietly"...but where are these so called, "SAVINGS" going...??

To the Taxpayers..???

Don't count on it...

To the LIBRARY...???

Don't make me laugh...

The funds are NOT going to fund the library, as they legally should...to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars...

Yet who is getting raises for doing the bidding of the Library Board and Town Council, who are one in the same, we wonders...yes, we wonders...???

I believe...no.... I KNOW that this is happening--the money is being held back and the Town Council is using the library as it's little piggy bank slush fund, for their personal accounts...or to pad their own budgets, but NOT to the library, as it should be...

They may be trying to justify this as "charge backs" for services rendered, but that is a smoke screen...Don't believe it

Do I have smoking gun proof?

No, unfortunately not... but I do know that this is happening...

A little investigative reporting and looking under a few stones may turn something up....besides some worms, and Fiore....

What else...who knows?

The Shadow knows....

For those wondering who this Mahat Macote fellow is? I really don't know.  During the great library controversies of 2012-2013 this person was a frequent commentator on the this blog, as well as, sending me emails. If something fishy is truly going on, as Mahat seems to think, then I feel it's something that may be worthwhile perusing.

The Middletown Friends of Different Learners Hosting Meet the Candidate Night on October 19th

Speaking of the Middletown Board of Education upcoming election.

The Middletown Friends of Different Learners will be hosting a meet the candidate night on October 19th, at the Middletown Library. This is a great opportunity to meet and learn about those seeking a seat on Middletown Board of Education.

The focus of this candidates's night will be on special education and I'm planning to show up and see what everyone has to say.

Russian For Trumpkins

If you voted for Donald trump this past November and consider yourself a "Trumpkin", the Middletown Library is offering a class just for you! Russian for Beginners

That's right, now you too can show your love for Mother Russian and it's leader Vladimir Putin, the same way that our soon to be president Donald Trump does. Only now, you can do it after you learn how to express yourself verbally after learning how to say, "I love you" in Russian, instead of relying on an incoherent, 3 am Twitter tirade.

Classes are for adults only on Thursday nights, so hurry up now and sign up. Your comrades are waiting.

4/23/15 Public Info Session on GSP Interchange 109

Middletown Public Information:

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority will host a Public Information Center in Middletown to present information about proposed improvements to Garden State Parkway Interchange 109. The event will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 23rd, in the Middletown Library Community Room, 55 New Monmouth Road, Middletown.

August 4, 2014 Township Committee Meeting

Monday came and went and with it another workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Committee took place.

The meeting was typically short but some interesting discussion did take place. Middletown's Township Attorney Brian Nelson, dominated the discussions by introducing the idea an ordinance that would mandate all fire and first aid departments in town to have common bylaws. He also thought each department should be audited annually. I assume the audits would be so that the township could assess the needs of the each organization and allocate funding appropriately.

Or, the annual audits could just be a devise to see how much surplus funds are on hand  in order to confiscate, much like the surplus funds of the Middletown Library were, to help balance and bolster the township's bottom line.



As always, you can download a copy of the Meeting Agenda that contains the discussion items and the proposed resolutions and ordinances that were voted on or presented during the meeting. A box around an item is a link, bringing you further into the document to that resolution or ordinance. At the end of the resolution there will be a link bringing you back to the agenda. Attached to this agenda is also the monthly bill list, so that everyone can see how the Township is spending our tax dollars.

April 16, 2013 Middletown Township Public Library Board Meeting

Here is another video that just recently became available and I haven't had the time to view in it's entirety . This video is from the April 16th meeting of the Middletown Library Board of Trustees meeting. Why not take a look and share with us what you find.



The agenda and minutes can be viewed ... HERE

Hurricane Sandy Hope & Healing At Middletown Library

Middletown Library Wins APP's Readers Choice Award

I don't know how many people noticed this but several days ago the Asbury Park Press released the names of the winners in their annual Reader's Choice Award contest for 2013.

Despite the closure of its satellite branches and of all the nonsense, cutthroat bickering and name calling towards its now "retired" Director Susan O'Neal, by certain members of the Middletown Township Committee (Fiore & Murray) and Library Trustees (Brock Siebert, Michael Vitkansis, Rob Cordiano) that have no business being trustees, the Middletown Library was named the best library in Monmouth County by the readers of the Asbury Park Press.

With this Reader's Choice Award, I think a big dose of kudos should thrown in Susan O'Neal's direction. She steered the library for the past several years and it was her leadership that made the library what it is today; The best Library in all of Monmouth County.

It's a shame that the greed and vindictiveness of the Township Committee lead to systematic dismantling of the previous leadership of the library board of trustees and the departure of Susan  O'Neal.

Middletown Township CFO Trasente Resigns

Here we go again...

Seems as though last Friday, October 4th, was Middletown CFO Nick Trasente’s last day on the job.


There was a resolution ( see below) adopted at the Township Committee’s Workshop meeting this past Monday night, October 7th, which states that he has agreed to work on an interim basis – at $80 per hour for up to 10 hours per week – until January 31, 2014.

We are told that Trasente, who had been Township CFO since March 2010 and was earning close to $143K a year, resigned to take a job with Somerset County.

There was a sugary article in Tuesday’s APP about it with accolades from the mayor for Trasente, whom we are told simply left for an opportunity that better suited him.

However, there’s reason to suspect there may be more to the story than just the usual departure for greener pastures.

It was recently revealed on this blog that Trasente lied in a May 10, 2013 memo he sent to Township Committeeman Fiore. Trasente implied that the Township’s accounting system had been updated timely to reflect accurate library reserves when it was not. Trasente’s claim was repeated by Fiore himself in an email Fiore sent to the library board on May 14th, an email Fiore has done his best to downplay.

In a comment submitted to my Sept. 12, 2013 blog post “No Action Taken At Last Night's Library Board Meeting”, Linda Baum stated:

“It has occurred to me that when he wrote his May 10th memo to Committeeman Fiore implying that the Edmunds accounting system was updated in 2012, CFO Nick Trasente had to have known that wasn’t true. He had to have known because this year’s delay followed similar lengthy delays for at least the two prior years. He had to have known because repeated appeals from library staff to move the money into a spending account visible on the accounting system would have tipped him off. He had to have known as a result of the late April communication between his office and the library which led to the system update. So when he wrote his May 10th memo implying the system was updated in 2012, he knowingly lied. He lied to an elected official no less.”

Baum questioned why we weren’t hearing anything about Trasente’s firing given the seriousness of his offense.

And now just a few short weeks later….


RESOLUTION NO. 13-246

TOWNSHIP OF MIDDLETOWN
COUNTY OF MONMOUTH

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING INTERIM CFO APPOINTMENT AND AGREEMENT

WHEREAS, the Township’s Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) has secured employment with another large government entity commencing effective October 7, 2013, and has offered in the interim to assist the Township on a limited part-time basis while seeking a new CFO; and

WHEREAS, the Township Administrator has negotiated the terms of an Agreement with the Township’s former CFO to continue to serve as the Township’s CFO for an interim basis through January 31, 2014; and

WHEREAS, the services of a certified municipal chief financial officer are required until the position can be filled on a permanent basis.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Committee of the Township of Middletown in the County of Monmouth, State of New Jersey that the Mayor is hereby authorized and directed to execute an Agreement with former Township Chief Financial Officer Nicola Trasante to serve as the Township’s Interim Chief Financial Officer on a part-time basis for up to 10 hours per week at a rate of $80 per hour for a term commencing on October 7, 2013 and ending on January 31, 2014 unless and until extended by mutual agreement, if needed, subject only to certification of the availability of funds for the same.

September 18, 2013 Middletown Library Board Meeting

As promised here is the video from last night's meeting of the Middletown Library Board of Trustees. As discussed earlier it was at last night's meeting that the board announced the resignation of Library Director Susan O'Neal.

The video was posted only a few minutes ago so I haven't had the opportunity to fully watch it but the little that I have seen is interesting. The 2 comments by attendees prior to the board going into executive session were impassioned (as were the comments afterwards) but of most interest of course, is the announcement that Ms. O'Neal had resigned her position at the library. The library board voted unanimously to accept Ms. O'Neal's but voted 6-1 on the compensation package given her as a result of her resignation.

Watch it:

Middletown Library Director Susan O'Neal resigns

At last night's Middletown Library Board of Trustees meeting, the Board attorney Mr. McOmber, announced that Library Director Susan O'Neal had resigned her position after securing a package to walk away. There is an article up on the Asbury Park Press's website written by reporter Susanne Cervenka, the article is a little misleading but worth reading. For convenience I posted the article below but will post the video of the meeting as soon as it is processed.

Don't be fooled, getting rid of Susan O'Neal as Library Director will not end the library's troubles...the future of the library is bleaker now than before since Ms. O'Neal will not be there to shield it from township control any longer. Unfortunately you can't reason with psychopaths and expect positive outcomes:

MIDDLETOWN — Embattled Middletown Township Public Library Director Susan O’Neal resigned Wednesday night after controversy that has been lingering for at least two months.

Middletown Library Board of Trustees tonight also approved a settlement with O’Neal. The terms of that agreement were not disclosed. Library Attorney R. Armen McOmber said Middletown Township is also a party to the settlement and still needs to approve it.
No interim director was appointed to replace O’Neal. Library President Brock Siebert said the three department managers within the library will report directly to him for the time being. The library board’s personnel committee will be responsible for making a longer term appointment.

McOmber advised all library trustees against discussing personnel matters.
O’Neal was given a Rice notice, a formal notification that her employment was going to be discussed, in advance of the July 17 meeting.

That came shortly after emails regarding the library were released via public records request by Committeeman Anthony Fiore between O’Neal’s private Hotmail account and Linda Baum, a library supporter, frequent critic of Middletown government and Democratic candidate for Township Committee. Fiore, who is now on the library board, has said previously he believes those emails prove O’Neal was orchestrating crowds at library trustee meetings to sway board action.

O’Neal’s resignation also came 5½ months after it was discovered that the library actually had an extra $156,000 that arose from a township audit in September 2012. O’Neal has said in public meetings that she did not know about the funds when the library trustees working on their 2013 budget, which eliminated funding for three satellite branches.
The closure of the branches prompted outrage from residents who used them.

Reader applauds Middletown library director

The following letter of support and appreciation for Middletown Library Director Susan O'Neal, appears in this week's edition of the Independent. Unfortunately however, it seems to have come a little too late to have any effect on her bosses. It appears that Susan O'Neal is no longer in charge over at the library; she will be missed greatly. I thank her for her service as well: 

I want to applaud Susan O’Neal for the wonderful job she has done making the Middletown Township Public Library the great institution it is today.

As a frequent user of the library, its books and programs, Susan should know that she is appreciated beyond words. You have not gone unnoticed. People from neighboring towns and as far away as Brick have used our library and celebrate it. I’m very proud of my library. Thank you, Susan.

Felicia Cappadona
Middletown

Where In Middletown Is Susan O'Neal?

Conspicuously missing from the meeting agenda of tomorrow's (Sept. 18th) meeting of the Middletown Library Board of Trustees is the name of Library Director Susan O'Neal. It's nowhere to be found.

Has Ms. O'Neal been quietly relieved of her duties as Library Director after last weeks special meeting of the Board of Trustees where no public action was taken after the board spent nearly 45 minutes in executive session? That's a distinct  possibility, I've been told that she hasn't been seen at the library for a few days and that her office has been cleared out.

If that is the case than I am truly sorry to hear it.  Ms. O'Neal was a well respected librarian though out the state and true advocate for Middletown's Library system whose downfall was set into motion when she and others who had sat on the library's Board of Trustees openly opposed the transfer nearly $750K of dedicated and surplus funds from the Middletown Library to the Township Committee over the past 2+ years.  

I have an email out to Ms. O'Neal but frankly, I don't expect her to respond. If she does I'll pass along her response. In the meantime, I wish her well and I hope the best for her. She deserves better.



 

No Action Taken At Last Night's Library Board Meeting

I couldn't attend last night's special meeting of the Middletown Library Board of Trustees due to my work schedule but from what I've heard it was rather anti-climatic.

After opening the public meeting and then going directly into executive session for about 45 minutes, then meeting was re-opened for public comments, after which the library board took no action regarding the initial purpose of the meeting which was to discuss the performance of a certain staff member (believed to be Library Director Susan O'Neal).

Board members Tony Fiore and Cynthia Wilson were absent, as were Susan O'Neal and Wendy Latona.
Reporters from the  Independent and Asbury Park Press were there and will more than likely have additional information on the meeting later this week.

Which leaves me to ask, what were these clowns hoping to achieve last night that couldn't have been done at a normal meeting?

The extra $156,000 in library reserves, where it came from, who knew and when

by Linda Baum
Sept. 9, 2013

There is a special meeting of the Middletown Library board this Wednesday, September 11 at 6 pm. The board will go into executive session soon after the public meeting opens. Another public session will follow later that evening, and board action is expected. I encourage residents to attend.

If you’ve been following library news over the last couple of years, you know a lot has gone on, much of it following the installation of an almost entirely new board last year.

On March 1st of this year, the library’s Bayshore, Lincroft and Navesink branches closed following a truly dedicated public effort to keep them open, even for a short while. It came down to money, where about $300K was needed annually to operate all three, not counting renovation or major repairs. Given what was known at the time about available funding, the trustees made the decision to close.

Then in May, an extra $156K materialized. The additional reserve stems from the Township’s 2011 audit, which resulted in the discovery of an error made by auditors earlier in the year. We are not told what the error was, but it suffices to say that this occurrence is out of the ordinary.

Edmunds, the accounting software Middletown uses, is updated by department to reflect the audit results. The Edmunds system should have shown an increase in library reserves of $156K sometime in the last quarter of 2012 – should have, but didn’t. Edmunds system reports dated as recently as April 30th don’t show the extra money. Suddenly, in May it was there.

An important point is that library employees only view what’s on the Edmunds system for the revenue information they need and print what’s there. The Township’s finance department bears full responsibility for the accuracy of what’s listed.

Regardless, Township Committeeman and new library board member Tony Fiore wasted no time pointing a finger at the library’s director. And of course Fiore has made sure to go on record now, after never having voiced an opinion before, that he wouldn’t have approved of the closing of the branches if he’d known. His remarks are disingenuous considering it’s well known that the Township needed those buildings for office space. (The former Bayshore branch now houses the Township offices formerly located at Croyden Hall, and the Lincroft branch will be the new location for the Crossroads Program.)

Other members of our Township Committee have done a good job staying out of this, or appearing to, including current mayor Gerry Scharfenberger and former library trustee Kevin Settembrino, who are up for re-election this year.

While we can only wonder if any member of the Township Committee or library board knew last fall about the extra money, there are two things we do know with certainty:

One, we know that the Edmunds system was first updated to reflect the additional $156K reserve on or about May 1st of this year. We know that because the library has printouts of the Edmunds system report that shows reserve levels in late April and again in early May of this year. See them here. The reports clearly show that the jump occurred on or about the beginning of May 2013. The $209K reserve shown on the May report is the sum of the $156K and a reserve of $53K that the library knew about but that the Township had not yet released for the library’s use.

Further, the library has printouts of the same report for each month dating back to the fall of 2012, and none shows the additional monies.

Two, we know that the Edmunds system has long been the agreed-upon protocol for communication between the Township and the Library. We know that because our Township CFO, Nick Trasente, stated it with crystal clarity in his May 10th memo to Committeeman Fiore. In an excerpt from that memo, Mr. Trasente states, “Each year, after verification of these balances and obtaining adjustments from our auditors, we make this balance available to the library director through Edmunds…” He then goes on to acknowledge the diligence of the library director in monitoring system updates, pretty much confirming the finance department’s failure to make the update timely. You can read Trasente’s May 10th memo here.

Given the damning nature of Trasente’s memo for the Township – the memo is a smoking gun – it’s not surprising that Committeeman Fiore wants to downplay it now. At the August 21st board meeting, he didn’t want to talk about the Edmunds system at all.

Here is a link to the video from the August 21st library board meeting: http://youtu.be/8WBYbllBM5E



See time stamp 1:36:00 on the video to see library director Susan O’Neal discuss the reserve issue. She provides a good summary and chronology of events.

The library trustees are now well aware of the sudden appearance of the reserves in the Edmunds system in May. They should also be aware that the delay in updating the Edmunds system for the reserves is not an isolated problem. Rather, it’s a symptom of the ongoing difficulty the Township is having managing administrative functions, including keeping its accounting system current. Among other issues, the Edmunds system is many months behind on reflecting library bill payments made by the Township. To be clear, while checks may have been cut from the library’s municipal appropriation for vouchers submitted by the library, the Edmunds system does not show the payments until months later. Library trustee Larry Nelsen alluded to this at the August 21st meeting (see time stamp 1:56:30 on the video). Further, Ms. O’Neal has said often that she needs to remind the CFO and his assistant to move year-end reserves into a spending account for the library’s use and that frequent follow-up is required.

These are the facts to the best of my understanding. I welcome input from the Township’s CFO, and I would like the library trustees to address the specific issue of when the Edmunds system update should have been done in line with established protocol. They should also question why the CFO, who must have known that the accounting system was nowhere near up to date, wouldn’t communicate knowledge of a substantial sum of money when he had ample opportunity to do so.

Special Library Board Meeting Scheduled for Sept. 11th

A special meeting of the Middletown Library Board of Trustees has been called for Wednesday night at 6pm in the Community Room of the main library located on New Monmouth Rd. As you can see from the note below issued by Board President Brock Siebert, someone's head may be about to roll!

This is purely speculation on my part, I have no information to confirm my suspicions however, I would think that the staff person in question just my be Library Director Susan O'Neal. Tony Fiore and his hand picked Board of Trustees have been gunning for her for a long time now and they just might be ready to make their move after last month's meeting which can be viewed ... HERE.

I hope i'm wrong and if I didn't have to go to work Wednesday night, I would be at the library to show my support for whoever this mysterious staff member may be. I hope that some of the readers here could show up in my place instead to show support.

The raiding of library funds and the systematic dismantling of the former library board and the defamation of certain members thereof and its Library Director, who only wished to protect the library's best interests and mission over the past 2 years, is a travesty. Middletown is better than this, unfortunately members of Middletown's Township Committee aren't.

In Defense of Library Director Susan O’Neal’s Library Advocacy

Last Wednesday, July 17 there was a small group of 9 or so attendees at the meeting of the Middletown Library Board.   During public comments at the start of the meeting (time: 8:34), Middletown resident Elizabeth Mitchell spoke eloquently in support of Library Director Susan O’Neal’s advocacy for the library.

Ms. Mitchell addressed a number of the unreasonable criticisms in the news of late and provided clear thinking in their place. She spoke without any script and received ample applause from the small group of public attendees. Here's what she had to say:

"My name is Elizabeth Mitchell. I have lived in this township of Middletown since 1967. I was employed as an adjunct instructor at Monmouth University and for about 40 years as an English instructor at Ocean County College.

I am deeply concerned about the issues of FREE SPEECH which I have spoken on publicly and sometimes in very controversial situations throughout my career.

I have a high opinion of the library and the way that it has been run during my nearly entirely adult life in this township.

I do not like the tone of the kind of commentary that is coming from a certain Committeeman and it does not seem to be being responded to by the Trustees of the library. I guess in terms of the agenda what I would be speaking to is your mission statement and it seems extremely startling to me that anyone would expect the head of the library to be passive or to be unconcerned about issues that affect the funding of the library.

What would you think of a football coach whose team, let’s say it was a high school coach whose team fumbled and lost and did not go through proper training processes season after season and the coach said, “Well I’m an impartial person. I’m just you know in favor of athletics and I pride myself on my detachment from the whole concern.

I think that any public librarian much less the head of the library should receive a

HERO MEDAL for standing up for public funding for the library, for wanting open public records when it comes to shutting down branch libraries, who would communicate with people who might be concerned about the fate of the library.

I think that’s a VOCATION and you’re very lucky if you have someone who regards a job as a vocation. Some businessmen are like that, I mean they really want to serve the public. They don’t look at it simply like a cash transfer concern. The best doctors, the best teachers, have a big investment in the concerns that they are employed in and that is certainly true for a library.

I think we’re all dealing with a kind of stereotype of librarians that is terribly outdated. I mean I look at this report that came out I guess in the email of the Asbury Park Press. It says “Susan O’Neal played more than just a passive role in the library imbroglios”. Well let’s hope that its more than just a passive role! 

If the head of the library is unconcerned about the fate of the library, you’ve got a huge, huge, problem, and you should be supporting her to the max.

Now I do not have any personal connection with Susan O’Neal. I belong to a discussion group that meets monthly to discuss major books and the discussions there are focused on the books. I do not know any of the other people who have been involved in the issues that you’ve been discussing. But I think behind all of it is a terribly important principle that has to do with apparently not expecting leadership from the people that you’ve hired to be leaders. I mean it just seems, it seems incredible.

I’d like to make an analogy and this has to do with the statement that Susan O’Neal approved the closing of the branch libraries and then backed off from that. If you have a prisoner and you lock the prisoner in a cell and you gave him a choice between water or food and they choose water then would you accuse them of deliberately starving themselves to death? Because it seems to me that that is the kind of irrational logic that’s going on here that somebody who has their budget cut is then criticized for making decisions with what can be accomplished with a diminished budget.

I think it’s time for a wake-up call; I am really alarmed at what you are letting happen here."

Well said.

To see what else happened during the July 17th meeting of  the Middletown Library Board you can watch the video below, its run time is a little more than an hour long. A lot happened at the meeting that should be of interest to many, so take the time and watch it.



(Thanks go to M.E. for transcribing Ms. Mitchell's comment.)

Baum: Email Lawsuit Sought "Right of Review" Prior to Release of Information

I am writing to provide some clarity regarding the lawsuit filed with respect to Twp Committeeman Tony Fiore's request for emails sent between myself and the library director on our personal email accounts.

 There seems to be limited understanding about the lawsuit, so let me clarify a few points. First, I filed the suit. Per my understanding of the process, we were applying for a TRO (temporary restraining order) which, if granted, would have prevented release of emails between private accounts temporarily. Certainly, not all correspondence between private email accounts, regardless of the subject matter, is public in nature, and therefore a privacy interest exists.

 Essentially, what we were seeking was a right of review in order to raise objection to the release of certain emails, or certatin parts of emails, or certain attachments which are non-public in nature. And in fact there was little I was objecting to based on review of my own records.

The judge did not grant the TRO, chose not to give me an opportunity for review, and ruled that emails with regard to library business (public business) could be released. So faith was put in the library's attorney, Armen McOmber, who represented himself (the library) as the records custodian and the right person to do the review. And he should have been diligent in complying with the law by making all appropriate redactions. However, it appears he didn't redact anything, including my phone number and personal work products. This clear failure demonstrates why a person with a privacy interest should have a legal right of review.

Certainly, had the situation been reversed -- had I requested Mr. Fiore's emails -- Fiore would have had that opportunity.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Linda Baum

APP: Judge's email ruling abets petty politics

In today's editorial section of the Asbury Park Press, the APP has chimed in on the petty politics that passes as governing these days in Middletown.

But before getting to the opinion piece, here's a little background info of my own to fill you in:

Middletown's former mayor, current Township Committeeman Tony Fiore, prior to having himself appointed to the Middletown Library's Board of Trustees last month, requested the township clerk to file a "blanket" OPRA request for 18 months worth of correspondences (both private and public) between library advocates Linda Baum and Melanie Elminger and library director Susan O'Neal. He was seeking information as to how members of the public could have "confidential" library information before that information was made "public" during library board meetings.

In response to this blanket email Ms. Baum, who is a candidate for Township Committee and a frequent contributor here, filed a temporary restraining order lawsuit against Fiore's request, seeking the "right of review" of any emails released to ensure that proper care was given while redacting personal information.

Last week Judge Larry Lawson denied her request stating that the emails in question were of public nature and therefore should be released without review of Ms. Baum, entrusting library board attorney Armen McOmber to properly redact information that was private in nature.

In the days since the release of the emails, Ms. Baum's privacy concerns have been validated. Mr. McOmber was not diligent in complying with the law by making appropriate redactions before the release of the emails. He failed to redact person information such as Ms. Baum's phone number and personal work products.

This clear failure demonstrates why a person with a privacy interest should have a legal right of review and why Ms. Baum's suit was not frivolous in nature.

Now here is what the APP had to say:

You expect local politicians now and then to engage in childish antics. What you don’t expect is for a judge to encourage such behavior. 

But that’s what happened last week when Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson ruled that emails between Middletown Library Director Susan O’Neal and Township Committee candidate Linda Baum are public records and should be released. 

Lawson should have refused the request, given the absence of any real public interest.
Middletown Committeeman Anthony Fiore turned to the courts to seek release of the emails and other written correspondence, including those regarding library business sent from O’Neal’s personal account, after he suspected library staff was giving information to the public before the library trustees were aware of it, in order to create “political theater.”
The emails may have been poor form on the part of Baum and O’Neal, but hardly an act so egregious that the court should get involved. There is no hint of illegality in the emails Fiore was seeking, and he seemed less motivated by principle than by politics. 

Fiore insisted, however, that his request was made in the public interest: “To me, (the emails were) undermining the board’s position, even though it didn’t have an opinion at the time,” he said. 

Really? How can an opinion be undermined before an opinion is even proffered?
Judge Lawson should have kept out of it. 

Baum said through her lawyer that she would not appeal. That’s good news. Somebody has to be the grown-up.

Monmouth County Library System in Trouble?

According to an article posted on NJ.Com, it looks like Monmouth County Freeholder John Curley wants to do to the Monmouth County Library system what Tony Fiore and the cronies here in Middletown have done to our library, which is to systematically disparage and cripple it to the point where a few individuals speak out and confront its leadership about the extravagant cost in tax dollars it takes to operate the library and then accusing its administrators of neglect and mismanagement of funds. All of which then leads to the threat of to defund the library, take its surpluses and get rid of (fire or lay-off) those that oppose them, all in the name of budgetary austerity.

From NJ.Com:

The Monmouth County Library system continues to modernize and expand, but the cost is alarming some residents and officials.

The Board of Chosen Freeholders approved a $13.6 million tax levy to help fund the libraries’ $19.2 million budget, but not without protest from one member.

“I am very much concerned over these expenditures and how the library needs to reign itself in,” Freeholder John Curley said.

Curley said the library was on the path to fiscal insolvency.

“There has to be a drastic overhaul of the library system,” Curley said. “It can’t sustain itself. In 2014 at this rate the library’s bankrupt. I hope this plan can be incorporated.”

Monmouth County Libraries Director Ken Sheinbaum demurred, arguing that the system is a paragon of how to do more with less.

"Our library is among NJ's large public library systems and by a substantial measure the most efficient," Sheinbaum said. "Based on the number of circulations that each full time employee is responsible for, our employees are doing twice as much work as some of our sister institutions, and that was before we had a cut. It presents an exciting challenge for us to see how long we can maintain services on the level... while at this point losing eight percent of our staff over the past eight months."

Though the library's budget has decreased around $650,000 from 2012 levels, the gap between the library’s budget and its tax levy has increased. That shortfall been filled over recent years by Monmouth County’s surplus funds – this year, almost $6 million will be spent keeping the library solvent.

Sheinbaum said the money will come out of the system's fund balance.

"It is a library surplus, the library operates on a dedicated tax," Sheinbaum said. "We don't rely on the county to make a contribution, we take that from our own reserve." ...Continue reading.

I suppose if you're a Middletown Library supporter and advocate the good news is the Middletown Library won't be changing hands anytime soon no matter how much Fiore wants to destroy it.