Libraries Drafting a Plan to Merge

At a joint meeting Monday night both the Fanwood Memorial Library and Scotch Plains Public Library boards voted unanimously to start crafting a plan to merge.

If the two libraries do merge they will be one of only a handful of shared libraries in the state and the first example of two established libraries joining into one rather than a town without a library entering into a shared costs arrangement with a neighboring town with a library, said Dan Weiss, a member of Fanwood's library board.

The council voted that they would not attempt to put a referendum to merge the libraries on the 2010 ballot but several of the 14 board members representing the two towns spoke hopefully that the measure could be voted on in 2011.

"We may find we have to become one library just to continue providing basic services," said Jane Frost-Guzzo, a member of the Fanwood library board.

In February a consultant presented leaders from both towns with plans for a new, nearly 40,000 square foot facility that would be built off the Scotch Plains' library. Public concern about that project's $26 million price tag has all but doomed it for now, officials say.

However the two libraries still face bracing cuts in state aid and are increasingly desperate for ways to stretch money.

The two boards approved a resolution that would allow them to seek professional legal help answering questions about how a possible joint library could run, Scotch Plains library director Meg Kolaya said.

There are major operations questions including the handling of service contracts, pensions and the fact that currently jobs at the Scotch Plains library are civil service while jobs at the Fanwood library are not, she said.

"There are a lot of details to work out," she said. "It's like having two companies merge."

The boards voted to start a committee, including a representative for or a liason from the two town's city councils, that would seek to answer the nuts and bolts operating questions of how a shared library could run. Under state law a combined library would have to have in place a joint agreement that was approved by both towns' city councils before they could be put to the public, Kolaya said.

Board members said they believed the process would be too complicated to have in place by this November but could be by November 2011.

"We're deferring for this year but we're going to pursue it into 2011 by developing a more detailed plan," said Sheldon Ross, president of the Fanwood Library board of trustees.

Joe Duff, a Scotch Plains library board member, said answering questions about how a joint library would run is crucial to garnering public support.

"Now we truly have to define issues that the public wants answers to," he said. "You say you'll get savings, how much? You say you'll still be able to provide services, how?"

Nancy Eisenbarth, from Fanwood's board, said that while she holds out hope that in the future the two neighboring towns will see a new library building, the shorter term financial outlook is too dire not to merge.

"I really believe that we need to combine," she said. "I believe that one day we can have a new library, but I don't think this is the time."