By Marley Seaman
Tony Tarantino of Baldwin, the board¹s secretary, is seeking his third five-year term as a trustee. Ethell Smith, a librarian from Freeport, is his opponent.
Tarantino, a financial investigator, said he should be returned to office because of the improvements he and the rest of the board have made to the Baldwin library. The library held a grand re-opening last September, marking the end of construction that more than doubled its size.
³I¹m proud that the building has turned out as well as it has,² Tarantino said. ³I pretty much am proud of all the stuff we¹ve done.²
Tarantino said he was also pleased with the library¹s new community room ‹ large enough for 180 people ‹ and with its new use of technology.
³We have instituted a computer training class for adults and anyone who wants to take them,² he said. ³Since September, we¹ve had 2,052 people visit [the room].²
Smith, who began her library career in Baldwin a decade ago, said she is running to bring a new point of view to the board: that of a working librarian.
³I wear two different hats right now,² Smith said. ³I¹m a librarian, so I¹m aware of how things operate on the side of the reference desk. And I¹m a library patron, so I know how things look from the perspective of a patron. I can bring those two things together as an advocate on the board.²
Smith added that she wants to make sure the library has the newest computers and equipment, and work to increase state and federal aid to the facility.
³I think the board is doing a very good job, and I just want to keep the library moving in the right direction,² she said.
Tarantino said he would like to see that more community groups get involved with programming for children and young adults. He added that it was vital that Baldwin¹s English as a Second Language program continue.
³We have a very diverse community now,² he said. ³We have to service that part of the community.²
Library budget
The library¹s 2006-07 budget will also be up for approval on election night. The proposed budget totals a little more than $3.5 million, almost $190,000 higher than the previous year. Salaries, which comprise most of the budget, represented the largest portion of the increase at $130,000. The library plans to appoint a permanent director this year, as well as an assistant director and some part-time staff positions.
The most dramatic gains in the budget came in the form of building and grounds costs. Those expenses increased by more than 17 percent this year. Repairs, utilities and maintenance costs all went up by more than 10 percent. Tarantino said that energy prices and the changes to the library building have driven up those costs, and that the board was working to keep those costs down.
The only portion of the budget that decreased was the library materials portion, which dropped by $22,000.
Tarantino said that while the budget increases every year, the board has worked hard to keep those changes small.
³The percentage of increase has been getting less and less since we opened up the building, because we¹re living into the building now,² he said. ³We¹re seeing what has to be done.²
Contract still up in the air
The Baldwin library staff has worked without a contract since June of 2004, and recently, employees have stepped up the volume of their complaints. They say they are underpaid compared to their colleagues. According to a voluntary survey conducted by the Nassau County Library Association, an experienced librarian in Baldwin earns $12,000 less than the average libraries in Nassau County who responded to the survey.
More than 50 members of the Civil Service Employees Association picketed outside the library on April 2 to draw attention to the situation.
CSEA members and library representatives have called the board¹s previous offers unacceptable and implied that sex discrimination against the library¹s mostly female staff was to blame. Board members confirmed that another offer is currently on the table, but said they could not discuss the issue further.
