First there were seven. Then there were nine. Now there are eight members of the Middletown Township Public Library Board of Trustees.

That is because just after township officials upped the number of trustee appointees to nine, rather than seven, at the start of 2012, one trustee has resigned.

Board Treasurer Sherry Miloscia notified Susan O’Neal, library director, that she was going to resign the day after the last board meeting, making the effective resignation date Jan. 20.

O’Neal wrote in a note to Mayor Tony Fiore saying that she had not officially notified him until recently because she was hoping to convince Miloscia to stay on for a couple of months “because she has experience in energy conservation and solar that are currently matters before the board.”

However, Miloscia reconsidered and ultimately decided that she wished to have her original intent of a Jan. 20 resignation become official to township representatives.

Fiore said Miloscia gave no reason for her resignation; and, he had no knowledge of whether or not it had anything to do with the situation at hand involving the mayor asking for the resignation of Board President Randall Gabrielan.

Miloscia, as library treasurer, signed off on some of the disputed vouchers for Gabrielan’s book sales to the library.

The voucher issue first arose at the last board meeting, after which Miloscia reportedly told O’Neal of her intent to resign.

The board terms are five years and staggering, with the exception of the mayor’s and superintendent’s designees. Those are one-year terms, at the end of which officials have the choice of either reinstating their designees or appointing new ones.

Miloscia was in the final year of her five-year term, set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012. The Township Committee is now tasked with finding someone to fill her unexpired term. At the end of that term (in December), the committee has the choice of either re-appointing the person who ends up filling Miloscia’s unexpired term to fill the new full five-year term or appointing someone else.

Miloscia’s seat is still open. The Township Committee is expected to vote on an appointment soon.