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Enoch Pratt Library Governance under FireThe director of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library was in Annapolis February 21 to defend its governance system, which has come under scrutiny since the library announced the closing of five branches in March 2001. Carla D. Hayden told the Maryland Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee that the closings were a “fiscal problem,” not a “governance problem,” the Baltimore Sun reported February 24. Proposed state legislation will soon force the library to defend its trustee structure further. Hayden said she opposes Senate Bill 571, introduced by Sen. Ralph M. Hughes (D-Baltimore), that would require each trustee to reside in the city of Baltimore, establish term limits, and be jointly appointed by the mayor, city council, and other elected officials. But she supports Senate Bill 155, sponsored by Sen. George W. Della (D-Baltimore), that requires the library to have one central branch and at least 21 others in various communities. The situation is further complicated by a pending lawsuit brought in August 2001 by a community activist group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), that contested the validity of the branch closings and the self-selection of trustees by the library board. The suit is scheduled for trial in Baltimore Circuit Court in March. Posted March 3, 2003. |
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