By:Jerry Burke
With voter turnout slightly higher than last year, voters picked Elmont over Valley Stream's Waldinger Memorial Library by a 2-to-1 margin last Thursday. Elmont received 145 votes to Waldinger's 70. Malverne received 18 votes, while 15 residents voted against having a contract at all. While absentee ballots had not yet been added to the tally as of Monday afternoon, officials said there were not enough of them to alter the preliminary results.
"We are very pleased that the voters of the East Franklin Square library district choose to retain us as their library," said Elmont Library Director Janice Schoen. "Every month in the past year, we have received more and more applications from the district, and look forward to having more sign up in the future."
In the North Valley Stream library district, the Elmont library was second to Waldinger by a 296-to-208 vote. Malverne received three votes, and four residents voted against all contracts.
"The vote really validates the fact that people in the area wanted library service," said Town Councilman James Darcy. Darcy supported the push to restore library service to the unserved community at the local level, while Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and assemblymen Tom Alfano and Bob Barra helped pass the legislation necessary for a vote.
Last year, both districts voted along the same lines for one-year contracts, which expire on Dec. 31. Darcy said the original contracts were limited to one year so that elected officials at the town and state levels could re-examine the district's boundaries.
Even though this year's vote approved two-year contracts, Darcy said he and the state legislators would over that time re-examine the possibility of splitting the North Valley Stream district, stating that there are indications that residents north of the Southern State Parkway prefer Elmont, while residents south of the parkway prefer the Waldinger library.
"We are committed to ensuring that residents continue to enjoy all of the educational, cultural and social benefits that go along with full library service," said Darcy, noting that the past year has seen a very positive response from those previously not served by a library.
The contract will cost East Franklin Square residents $190,135 per year, even though Waldinger's bid was roughly $11,000 less overall. North Valley Stream's contract with Waldinger will cost $325,825, roughly $73,000 less then Elmont's bid and $200,000 less than Malverne's.
Both successful bids will include the $10,000 cost of the special election.
With the vote settled, residents in both districts can apply for cards at their current libraries if they haven't already done so. With the cards, they can access their chosen library's entire collection and borrow from any library in the Nassau Library System, with minor limitations at some locations.
Currently, under New York state law, residents of districts not served by a library use state-mandated access cards that allow them limited use at local libraries. A previous arrangement had allowed unserved residents to purchase library cards, an arrangement ruled illegal by the New York State Board of Regents two years ago.
Results in all four referendums are subject to recanvass, absentee and affidavit ballots.
