Officials Ticked at Library Director

Borough commissioners expressed angst this week about an interview borough library director Susan Briant gave to the Haddonfield Sun.

Briant told the Sun that:"You’ll gain some space inside when you renovate, but it’s not enough to capture everything that we had hoped for in the past building studies." The article was published on March 20. She was commenting on the commissoner's decision last November to make renovations at the existing instead of building a new one.

"It wasn't the best story, or the most accurate information," Commissioner Ed Borden said during a meeting Monday.

"Should that be passed through us first?" Commissioner Tish Colombi, the mayor, asked.

"Any borough officials should run these kinds of comments through the administrator first," Commissioner Jeff Kasko added.

A call to Briant Wednesday for comment was not immediately returned. She is not a borough employee. The library is an independent entity.

The commissioners, the borough's three highest elected officials, recently chose to upgrade the existing library with a nearly $2 million renovation to comply with federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. The library's board of directors and other friends of the library had actively campaigned for a new library to replace the small, aging building at the corner of Haddon Avenue and Tanner Street.

The ADA-plus option the commissioners settled on will extend the rear of the library to add a wider stairwell, an elevator and a handicapped-accessible bathroom.

The library board of trustees pitched four concepts for the construction of a new library to the commissioners over the summer. The total costs for the projects ranged from $6.1 million to $8.5 million. The public funding ranged from $3.6 million to $5.9 million. Three of the four concepts could have been located in a borough-owned lot on Clement Street. The fourth concept, one favored by the library board, could have been located on private land at the corner of Wilkins and Allen avenues.

"Three of the concepts envision a traditional approach: The borough would award a contract for the construction of a building that houses a public library," a previous statement from the library board said.

"The fourth concept envisions a public/private partnership under which an independent entity would facilitate the construction—on private property and by a private developer—of a multi-use building that includes not only a modern public library but also some other highly desirable community facilities. All four concepts call for financial contributions from private sources."

The ADA-plus option costs substantially less. Briant, who attended the meeting with commissioners, questioned the decision then.

"I've seen a lot of towns waste a lot of money by rebuilding a first, second and third time and that's about what's going to happen here," Briant said. "I realize the economy is extremely difficult, but unfortunately the library is never the priority. This really isn't going to address what a town like Haddonfield needs."

Briant's comments were published by Haddonfield Patch in November. There was no indication the commissioners had any problem with her comments then.