This is the statement of Board President, Patricia Samarco, in response to the public discussion at the Dunham Public Library Board meeting on August 4, 2010.

Address by

Dunham Public Library Board President, Patricia Samarco

Dunham Public Library Board Meeting: 4 August, 2010

Thank you all very much for coming and voicing your thoughts and concerns. We appreciate your attendance at our Board meeting. Dunham Public Library is blessed with many talented and helpful volunteers. We have volunteers who assist with children’s programs, facilitate poetry readings and film discussions, assist in the maintenance of our building grounds, provide staff development activities, shelve books and do many other necessary tasks. However, our Friends of the Library hold a special place in our volunteer pantheon. According to their own bylaws, they exist to stimulate community interest in the services available in the library, and, to support library needs by engaging in appropriate programs and fund raising activities. According to the Friends of Libraries Sourcebook, a primary goal of Library Friends is ‘to promote the library program to the public and serve as advocates for library issues.’

Our Friends have traditionally held very successful semi-annual book sales and we continue to be grateful for their commitment. Nevertheless, they operate under the umbrella of the Library Board of Trustees as do all of our other volunteers. Furthermore, we have been advised by our financial advisers that there are over-riding financial issues which must be addressed in relationship to the Friends.

Firstly about the book sales. They are most assuredly a testament to the hard work and commitment of the Library Friends. Membership in the Friends allows admittance to the sale on preview night. It is a fact that many first night attendees are used book sellers who pay $.50 or $1.00 a book and carry home carloads for re-sale. These retailers come from as far away as Buffalo and Rochester for this. They will take these donated books and resell them for much, much more. Our enlisting the assistance of a specialist intermediary who is willing to provide assistance with selling our donated books for more than $.50 or $1.00 is definitely worth it. This person is providing the same service at Utica Public Library and comes highly recommended by the Library Director there. As a Board, we have been tasked with finding alternative streams of revenue and this is just one way to try and tap another source.

This is all for the benefit of the Library. There is no separate them or us; at the end of the day, we, the Library Board of Trustees and the Friends of the Library as well are volunteers who wish to do our best for the benefit of the community.

Dunham Public Library was granted 501(c)3 status, i.e., not-for-profit status in 1947. This is an Internal Revenue designation which allows people who give gifts or donations to the library to take a tax deduction for their gift. Annually, the library fills out the appropriate IRS tax 990 form for submission to the IRS. Also annually, the library fills out and submits the Annual Update Document (AUD) to the New York State Comptroller. Recently there have been significant changes in both of these documents, but especially the IRS 990. Policies are inspected and questioned. For instance, the 990 now asks for, and the auditor inspects, policies for Board and staff conflict of interest, document retention and whistle blowing. The Library Board and the Director have been working very hard to ensure that these policies are in place.

Furthermore, there is increasing demand for financial scrutiny and accountability. Significant internal financial controls and transparency must be in place. We have been working very hard to bring these up to par and truly our accounting books are open to all and available for even the most detailed examination. We have a full and complete annual audit which is reviewed in detail by the Board. Our auditors are Barone, Howard and Co. We also have an Audit and Finance Committee which oversees the Request for Proposal (RFP) for an auditor and reviews the audit itself and the monthly financial reports. The Audit Committee works with library management and reports to the Board of Trustees. The Board Treasurer and the Library Director serve ex officio on this committee.

It was discovered that the Friends of Dunham Public Library have been functioning under the designated 501(c)3 status of the Library itself. It does not have its own 501(c)3 not-for-profit designation. It cannot provide a tax deductible receipt for contributions. Only the Library can legally do this. Effectively, as the Memorandum of Understanding states, the Friends of the Library is an agent of the library and acting on the Library’s and the Library Board’s behalf. And yet they collect money and maintain financial accounts outside of the Library’s audit trail and inspection. They collect donations outside of the oversight of the Library. This cannot continue. This Memo is an attempt to define and articulate the relationships between the Friends of the Library and the Library Board of Trustees.

We sincerely hope and pray that this dissension will diminish and that the Friends and we, the Board of Trustees, will join together with the Library management and staff to further this community gem which is our Library.