Board President Glenn Ballantyne resigned April 29, nearly a month after he and the other trustees dismissed Executive Director Richard Lee, who had questioned the library’s contract with Ballantyne, who also was serving as a paid fundraiser for the library. The remaining four trustees offered their resignations at a May 5 meeting of the city council and county commissioners. The officials had previously announced their intention to remove the trustees had they not quit voluntarily.
Pueblo District Attorney Gus Sandstrom issued a report May 2 stating that Ballantyne could have been prosecuted for being paid by the library through a friend, but the statute of limitations had expired. Most of the $290,000 the library paid pharmaceutical salesman Robert Baulesh for marketing work actually went to Ballantyne, the Pueblo Chieftain reported May 3. Sandstrom said that Ballantyne’s direct work for the library did not violate conflict-of-interest laws, although it did result in “bad publicity.”
The four board members will continue to serve until replacements are chosen, the Chieftain said. City and county officials plan to begin choosing their replacements as soon as possible, and they agreed that the new board should be instructed to conduct a national search for a new director.
Posted May 12, 2003.