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Residents press council to protect library hours; council reallocates and accepts new gifts to support services
Summary
Library trustees and residents urged the council to restore hours and avoid decertification; council approved reallocation in the library budget and accepted gifts from the Lopecke Family Trust and Bridgewater State University totaling roughly $235,816 to support passes, cultural events and the library's operations.
Library trustees and residents urged the council to preserve certified services and restore public hours during citizen comments. "I think so highly of our library and I don't want to see it be less than it is now," trustee Janet Dye said, requesting a resolution to restore library hours and avoid loss of certification and interlibrary loan participation.
Council later moved to accept a $125,816 gift from the Lopecke Family Trust designated for library museum passes and cultural programming and a $110,000 gift from Bridgewater State University, which town staff said would be expended according to stated purposes. Council also approved a transfer order reallocating existing fiscal-27 library budget funds into salary lines to support certification requirements; the motion passed without recorded opposition. Councilors asked staff to place supporting documents and one-page summaries into the public record for transparency.
Speakers included library trustees and residents advocating for continued certification and staff preservation of services; finance director Laurie explained the transfer reallocated existing, previously voted funds into appropriate salary lines to improve certification standing.
