Library trustee Steve Monaghan took the board by surprise -- and earned the respect of the public -- when he asked for more information and questioned why other alternatives to closing branches were not workable. His comments clearly fell outside the range of what some other board members felt should be discussed publicly. It appeared decisions had been made by a small subset of the board, the finance committee members, who had not fully communicated with the other trustees.

Mr. Monaghan’s comments are worth watching and run ten minutes from time 1:33:00 to 1:43:00 on the video, just before a recess is taken to get him some of the records he asked for. During the recess, he clearly took some heat from trustees Siebert and Siwiec – see time 1:45:37 on the video.

It was a huge conspiracy! People analyzed the facts and came to an independent decision and even discussed it among themselves before the meeting! Shame shame. The majority of the board failed to accept a minority position - what is America coming to?

Linda Baum got it right that the finance committee had made up their minds before anyone even spoke. Steve Monaghan came out as an independent thinker and a friend of the people of Middletown. Shame on the Board of Trustees. They chose to have their legacy on this board to be the ones that closed the beloved library satellite branches. Did they even care what the public wanted?

Linda Baum is a partisan hack! It's amazing how she throws the GOP under the bus for appointments to the board that didn't vote her way, but gives no credit to that same GOP who appointed Monaghan!! how many people are part of Middletown Open Government anyway? Just one?

Belford Bob, please stop lowering the standards for this dialogue by throwing out insults. Your comments would be better received if they came with no mudslinging. I found Ms. Baum's comments to be intelligent and factual. Most agree that politics have played a big part in this library situation. All the public wants in an elected official or an appointed trustee are independent thinkers who do the right thing, regardless of whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc. Let them all be reminded of whom they serve.

If it's true that the Bayshore Branch will be used for Township office space then most likely it will be the Health Department that moves in there. I think it was ridiculous that the Health Dept was moved from Penelope Lane to Croyden in the first place - entirely too far from Town Hall - and now find it even more ridiculous that they'll be moving even farther away to Port Monmouth. Township offices should all be in the same general location. You drive down to Town Hall expecting to pay your dog license in the same place you pay your taxes and end up getting sent out on a gas-wasting drive down Leonardville Road. The Township offices are a joke compared to the facilities in other towns. Too bad they can't move into some of the vacant office space available in Middletown.

Based on the comments to the Patch - the board did earn the respect of the public in making a fiscally responsible decision about these small, obsolete library branches. I can't figure out the complaint here - is it that a group of the board got together before hand to discuss the issues? That a majority of them had decided what they wanted to do? That they failed to side with a minority opinion on the board? That the townwship wants to use some office space for municiple offices? There was a public hearing - but no one made a cogent, fiscally responsible argument to keep them open. The public does NOT want these burdens on the budget to remain open - I lived here all my life and don't think of those buildings as "beloved." It's over - all the politically motivated finger pointing is just baseless, rank name calling. WHAT? Who said all the municiple buildings need to be in one place? Do you want the place to look like Staten Island? And if what other towns do makes a difference - many only have ONE library branch (take Howell for example).

Who said all municipal buildings need to be in one place you ask? I would think that would be a matter of common sense. Middletown is playing a game of musical chairs with its offices - changing the locations of its departments so often makes it difficult to keep track of where they are. What does Staten Island have to do with it? Are you saying all THEIR municipalities have centrally located offices? I wouldn't know because I've never been there. I've lived in Middletown my whole life, too.

Linda,

So if a group in a committee has meetings and comes up with a recomendation to do something or change something, the members of that committee are not suppossed to support that decision? Then why did those people recomend those things to begin with.

What planet do you live on? As a resident, I am so glad you were NEVER elected or appointed to any boards, the town is SO much better off. You seem out of touch with the will of the public.

GJ: I don’t disagree with everything the current administration does, but I almost always object to their tactics, timing, and habit of shutting the public out of the process. Also, note that while a ‘yes’ vote meant branches would close, a ‘no’ vote didn’t necessarily mean they would stay open indefinitely, just that the proposed budget has been rejected. Keeping branches open and operating as is (current hours and all) or closing them altogether aren’t the only two options. Voting down the proposed budget would have allowed more time to discuss alternatives and perhaps come up with a workable solution. At a minimum, I think a greater attempt should have been made to keep the branches open through June to coincide with the school year because library resources were considered when the school curriculum was set. Since the Board of Education operates on a fiscal year budget beginning July 1 and may be forming next year’s budget now, perhaps additional alternatives may have been available as of July 1 through collaboration with the school board. I think school representatives felt it was appropriate to wait for the library board vote and final decision before weighing in on this issue, however the March 1 closing date doesn’t leave any time to react. And, oh yeah, one thing I think should be taught in our schools: the importance of open government.

There were open meetings, the public was permited to comment. The Board made a proper decision. If you think there was a violation of law - sue the Township, there is a process for that. There still has been no cogent, fiscally responsible argument to keep these outdated, branch facilites open. And if we're going to build a new municipal complex to house all municipal offices in one place (as suggested in these comments), we'd better start saving money where we can!

Conservative Mom, you seem to be misreading the by-laws of the Library Board, don't you? You quote: "Each Committee shall keep records of its meetings and give a written report to the Board at the first regular monthly meeting following the committee meeting. Action requested by a committee of the entire Board shall be submitted in writing and shall constitute a motion."

The proposed (and later approved) budget was submitted in writing. Now, to be sure, it didn't contain a detailed listing of every option they considered for all of the budget lines as you (and Mr. Monoghan) apparently desired, but follow the letter of the bylaws, it most certainly did.

The Library Board will have to figure out for itself how best for it's subcommittees to report suggestions to the full board, but this budget was passed by a solid majority.

Again, because it didn't go the way you wanted, you are raising a fuss about it, but they did their job as they saw fit, and I don't think you or anyone else can ask more of them than that.

I also want to second Gary's comments about the TC choosing the members of the Library Board. Can you really expect them to choose people who will work at counter purposes to the TC? Aside from the School Superintendent's designee, the TC and Mayor appoint all of them members of the Library Board by statute.

Just like the majority vote of the Library Board passed this budget, the majority vote of the TC appoints 7 of the 9 members of the Library Board.

Elections have consequences.