After listening to two and a half hours of resident comment on the defeat of the $20.8 million Great Neck Library referendum last week, library board members agreed Tuesday that future building renovation plans would not increase the size of the Main Branch.
“Speaking for myself, we are starting at zero,” said Board President Janet Esagoff. “I have no preconceived agenda. We are literally starting all over in many respects. I am willing to hear every option.”
Library trustees said they would form an advisory committee to study the best way to renovate and repair the Main Branch, which is more than 40 years old.
But after a lengthy discussion of who would be on the committee, how it would be run and what its purpose would be, the board tabled its formation until the next meeting.
Library officials called the special meeting of the board following the referendum’s defeat by nearly 70 percent of the vote last week. With more than 4,200 voters turning out, the plan lost 2,924-1,286.
If the bond was approved, the Main Branch would have been closed for up to two years in a renovation and expansion would have added 8,600-square feet to the Bayview Avenue facility. The project would have made the building accessible to patrons with disabilities, done away with the mezzanine, isolated computers, and expanded the children’s room, teen center, and audiovisual department.
A $13 million “Plan A” to just renovate the Main Branch, which had considered by the board before the board agreed on the “Plan D” put forth to voters, was listed on the board’s meeting agenda but never addressed.
Esagoff said that the purpose of the meeting was to garner comments from the public on the referendum vote and assure residents that the board was now ready to start over.
Norman Rutta, a member of the Great Neck Watchdog group, which opposed the referendum, said the board did not lead the public but rather “bullied” them in the run up to the election. He also charged that some members of the board were distracted by outside interests.
“Several trustees on this board have started other public service and political pursuits of office, or have other demands on your time, which is distracting you from your elected tasks as library trustees,” Rutta said. “If this describes you, this is the right time for you to step aside and allow others to serve and move this board beyond this failed referendum.”
Library Trustee Anna Kaplan is currently running for a seat representing the 4th District on the Town of North Hempstead after announcing earlier that she would not run for re-election to the board. Esagoff’s son, Sam, was recently arrested for his alleged part in a SAT cheating scandal at Great Neck North High School.
Other members of the public gave mixed reactions to the referendum result, with some in favor of downsizing the library and others stressing its importance.
“I’ve been a resident here all my life and my children have never stepped foot in this library,” Jeff Whitehorn said. “My kids did all their work from their home. I’ve got a little device that’s a computer that can do anything I want and I don’t need a library. Is it not possible that libraries are like the horse and buggy?”
Former teacher Pam Markshire disagreed, stating that she has taught numerous faculty and students how to use libraries for the last 25 years.
“The children come to this library for other things besides getting books,” Markshire said. “I think it’s a very valuable place. This is a resource that cannot be lost. Your Kindles are not going to replace the library. To say that the libraries are not needed, I totally disagree.”
Had the referendum vote been approved, the cost to homeowners with houses valued at a million would have been an extra $80 on their property taxes. Proponents for the library had stated before that a lot of residents believed it was not the right time for a tax increase.
Michael Zarin, former Great Neck School District trustee and former chief of finance for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said that now was the best time for a referendum bond.
“If everyone around the country believes we should cut back on our infrastructure, we are going to have a depression,” Zarin said. “There will never be a better time to finance a project in this country, interests rates are low. We really need infrastructure improvement to take us out of the situation we’re in.”
As residents continued discussing the reasons for the bond defeat, Great Neck resident Elizabeth Allen said she would be “delighted” if everyone stopped talking about yesterday and started talking about tomorrow.
“I think everyone in this room got the message of the referendum,” Allen said. “My question is now what? I’d love to have an action plan that includes perhaps presence of people who have suggested concrete ways in which the various interests can be respected. The real meaning of this meeting tonight I hope is to go forward. Let’s just do it and enough already.”
Following the public’s comment, library Trustee Marietta DiCamillo proposed that the board form an advisory building committee that included members of the public.
“I am willing to meet once a week, twice a week, to get the building renovated and repaired to the level that it needs to be,” DiCamillo stated.
“I really want to hear from those who rejected from the referendum more precisely what they want,” library Trustee Martin Sokol said. “That was the point to reject the referendum. Now what is it that those people want?”
Esagoff said she believed the committee should not be limited to a certain amount of people, and that all members of the public should have a voice. She also wanted a survey from the public on ideas for the library’s renovation before a committee was formed.
“We should form a committee that drafts a comprehensive survey to be distributed to the public,” Esagoff said.
Great Neck Library director Janet Marino said it would be a wise idea to have a sign-up sheet of who they are and what level of expertise they want to bring to the table, and gather public comments. A sign-up sheet was then provided for anyone who wished to sign up.
“I can compile all the public comments and forward them to the board and then we can decide on whether we want a committee,” Marino said. “If you tap into the expertise of the community you get fresh pairs of eyes of things that have not been looked at. It also extends to the community. It’s a ripple effect and I think it’s a powerful one, and I think it can work very effectively.”
Ralene Adler, a member of the Great Neck Library watchdog group, asked what level of boundaries would be put on the future committee when they discuss building plans, which prompted a debate among the board members, until DiCamillo put forth a resolution that limited the committee’s building plan to only include the original footprint of the building of 47,000 square feet.
The motion was passed with 4-1 and two abstentions. Trustee Varda Solomon voted against the proposal; Esagoff and Kaplan abstained.
Marino later gave an update on bids regarding the replacement of their cooling tower, and said the new estimates put the total price range between $350,000 and $400,000. She said she will have two other bids on the project to present at the next library board meeting.
The library’s air conditioning system failed in mid-June and library trustees voted to rent a unit from June 30 through Oct. 7.
The new cooling tower will be funded from the library budget. It had originally been slated to be part of the renovation and expansion project, but the library decided to move ahead with the work when the existing unit failed.
