The Woodstock Library trustees are thinking about next steps after the apparent narrow defeat at the November 3 polls of a $5.8-million bond issue. The library board heard from a range of people at their regular meeting on November 24. The comments of about 20 persons are included in this airing of views.
A new approach would be salutary, most agreed. The community remains deeply divided, and the various participants deeply suspicious of each other.
“How do we get to yes?” asked Sam Magarelli, a member of the Library Alliance, a group that favored a renovation instead of a new 12,500-square-foot building. “How do we get to a point where the whole town embraces the solution?”
Magarelli told the board it needed to come up with a way to pull everyone together. “It’s only going to get worse if we continue this headbanging,” he said. “Let’s come up with a proposal that the majority of people can embrace.”
After the ballots were counted, and the challenged ballots taken into account, the bond trailed by 11 votes, 2134-2123.
John Ludwig, a longtime opponent to the library board’s building plans, criticized the trustees for failing to foster a continuing dialogue. “Dialogue is not something you do and then it’s done. It’s ongoing in our lives every day,” Ludwig said. “What do I mean by dialogue? It’s no more complicated than this …. A person speaks while others listen, then another person speaks and then another. At some point, the first person responds to what he or she has heard, an exchange of ideas takes place, and everyone comes away with a better understanding of the subject. That’s dialogue.”
Ludwig noted that the three community meetings the board had hosted during the process, starting with a presentation by architect Stephen Tilly in 2018, either did not include opportunities for public comment or limited comment to three minutes per person.
After the meeting, board president Dorothea Marcus countered that the audience was given the opportunity to submit questions on index cards. It had been as a way to keep the meetings orderly and the comments civil, she said.
A way to come together
“I guess you could say I’ve had a ringside seat to all the goings-on for the past five years,” said Friends of the Library treasurer Erin Cadigan, who volunteers in numerous capacities. The same people keep speaking, she said. It’s time to hear from others. “I’ve heard Sam [Magarelli] and John [Ludwig] speak over and over again. Maybe they should take a back seat and let some other voices speak.”
Cadigan said she heard a lot of confusion when she was helping with the get-out-the-vote effort. “People mentioned all our trees being razed. People thought our library was historic. People thought there was a second plan waiting in the wings” if the bond failed.
Bob Berman, who admitted he hadn’t attended meetings, said his own family was split over the bond vote. It seemed to him like the board wasn’t open to hearing other ideas. “The building is disproportionate to the size of the town. That’s what I’m hearing,” he said. “I hope you’ll be open and hear both sides.”
Julie Szabo, who ran for the library board last year, said the building campaign won’t be successful unless the two halves of the divide come together. She expressed doubt anything could get done unless the library gets the majority of the people on the same page. “Covid is raging. The earth is on fire. This community needs to find a way to come together,” she said.
Anne Carlton referred to the studies, architect’s fees and legal costs paid to date. “I really feel very strongly it’s totally wrong to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars with full knowledge the public isn’t behind you,” she said.
Fighting for what’s right
Former building committee chair Jill Fisher reminded the board and the community that a master facilities plan had been undertaken four years ago. “It continues to provide a sound foundation for the decision to build a new library on the site. I encourage the board to stay the course and not be sidetracked by spurious arguments.”
Fisher defended Tilly’s plan’s flexibility, saying it had taken into account the staff’s recommendations. “The Woodstock community is pretty divided,” she said. “But the trustees must continue to fight for what you think is the right decision. I believe healing will come when you have that beautiful new facility and people walk in and say, Wow!”
Friends of the Library member Sheila Isenberg said the library bond vote, unlike president-elect Joe Biden’s victory, had been disheartening. “We have the same people saying the same things,” she said. It’s as if the last five or ten years didn’t exist …. All I can suggest is if you don’t like the library board and the trustees and the fabulous plan they came up with, vote them out,” Isenberg said. “Stop arguing, stop complaining, and stop kvetching. Do something.”
Rita Kaehler argued that the proposed building was too big for Woodstock. “It would be fine for any place in Westchester. But we are not in Westchester. It’s too big. The cost is too big to bear,” she said. “We are a gray population. We don’t have that many young people. The cost of this library as it is proposed is too expensive.”
“We do want to listen”
Tim Moore, who is on the capital campaign committee, said everyone had had the opportunity to see what the library project was all about. He said people were swayed by misinformation from opponents, including a postcard featuring a design from local architect Curry Rinzler. “It had a $3-million price tag. It wasn’t vetted. It was meant to embarrass the library plan and make it look like an extravagant project,” Moore said.
David Ekroth, who chairs the town’s Commission for Civic Design, said the current building, which is assembled from several additions over the decades and has nearly 40 rooflines, was not historic. He said elevating the building eight to ten inches to be above the floodplain could cost a million dollars. “It’s like a rusty old car. You don’t keep throwing money at it and hope it’s going to last for another ten to 20 years,” Ekroth said.
Trustee and capital campaign committee chair Jeff Collins said he was hesitant to speak because of the division within the community. “It’s scary, but that’s our job,” he said. “I have studied this. I am convinced we cannot renovate.”
Collins conceded that communications needed improvement. “We care, we do want to listen,” he said. “We do want to know what’s best for the town.”
Though trustee Caroline Jerome said she was ready to approach the issue with more openness she could not support a renovation. “I don’t think I will ever be convinced that the library is worth saving. That said, I think there’s a lot of what’s being said tonight that doesn’t necessarily pertain to renovation. And I’m open to that,” she said.
Building committee chair Howard Kagan said feasibility studies from 2007 and 2016 showed that renovation and new construction costs about the same. “A lot of the people who spoke up tonight expressed their opinion that the new library is too big and that it doesn’t meet the needs of Woodstock,” he said. “Your opinion should not govern what the library should be in Woodstock. As trustees — and the word ‘trust’ is in there — professionals have been retained to study the program that is required to build a new library for the 21st century.”
Kagan said renovation would involve a budget that would be unknown. “There would be a construction cost, but you do not know what the cost would be to renovate,” he said. “Once you start taking apart that building, you will find that you would have to rebuild probably all of it. It’s in very poor condition.”
There’s going to be change
Fiscal officer Liz Rosen was unsure the present building could be raised above the floodplain. The front would need changing because it is not ADA compliant. “Whatever you do, there is going to be change. There is not going to be change right now because there is no financing right now,” said Rosen. She suggested looking at alternatives.
“I’ve watched everything materialize, fall apart, materialize, fall apart,” vice president Barry Miller said. “We’ve gone through three building ideas. Each one has been shot down.” Miller said the board had hired a master planner to assess the options. The process had been open. “I think the problem is when you do something the other person doesn’t like, they stop listening.”
Trustee Selma Kaplan, who did not seek re-election and will complete her term in December, said she feels like deja vu. “I wonder if there are alternatives. I’d love to start thinking of alternatives. We have time to talk about that, because as Liz has so aptly pointed out, we have no money,” Kaplan said. “It just feels like here we go again.”
Trustee David Lewis agreed it was time for reflection. “The plan has been knocked off the rails for now.” He said. “It makes sense to consider other options now that we’re not moving, anyway.”
Trustee Bobby Bui said the board has tried to listen to input and will continue to do so. “Please don’t characterize us as people who are not thinking or thoughtful or listening,” he said.
Trustee Kevin Kraft suggested “a collective breath.” He advised reflection on what comes in to the board from the community. “I hope the community will get involved and give us your thoughts and ideas.”
President Marcus assured the session that the board was thinking outside the box and looking into ways of saving money. “The board was aware it was taking a risk to float a bond in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “We see ourselves as a library board for everyone in Woodstock, not just the people who voted yes. We are committed to coming up with the best solution for the future for everyone to the best of our ability.”
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