Mayor Galvin Names Replacements For Two Woburn Library Trustees

WOBURN, MA — Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin nominated two new candidates to the Public Library Board of Trustees Thursday. They would replace members serving expired three-year terms.

Laurence Rideout would replace Carol Seitz while Emily Lipsett would replace William Callahan on the board. The appointments require city council confirmation.

Seitz is the current Vice President of the Board and chaired its most recent meeting in the absence of President Jan Rabbitt, who Mayor Scott Galvin is attempting to remove from the Board.

The two appointments on the agenda for the Feb. 16 meeting of Woburn City Council. Patch has contacted Galvin, Seitz, Callahan and Rideout for comment and will update this story when we hear back.

Lipsett said she reached out to Galvin weeks ago, before recent events, to say she was interested in the library and even serving on the Board of Trustees if a vacancy became available. He told her Thursday that he was putting her name forward.

While six of the trustees serve lifetime terms — something else the mayor is trying to change — Seitz and Callahan have three-year terms, both of which have expired.

If Rabbitt is unsuccessful in fighting her removal, Seitz and Callahan's replacements would make four exits from the board in the last month, along with trustee Judith Kelley's resignation.

Rideout is the president of the Woburn Public Library Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising organization for the library. Lipsett, a high school teacher in Billerica and the wife of Woburn School Committee member Andrew Lipsett, said she has been an involved library patron for years, as a parent, teacher and reader.

"I'm really interested in the library as an institution and want to support what I think is an absolutely fantastic resource in our community," Lipsett said. "I'm excited to have an opportunity to in a practical way be part of the community and to help improve the situation at the library."

Lipsett said that if confirmed her number one goal would be to promote the hiring of new staff, particularly a children's library and teen librarian. She also hopes to help build a bridge between concerned members of the community and the trustees.

"I think my position on the board would represent a new voice and a new perspective," Lipsett said. "My role is to provide a new connection between the concerns of the community and the trustees and to help cordially and collectively work to make our library the best that it can be for the community."

Lipsett said she appreciates the work of previous trustees and looks forward to learning from them and working with current members.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.