Board Chair Joel N. Stark said he was not aware of the boards of directors of other private corporations having public meetings, but promised to look into it. “It seems they have the best of both worlds,” Councilman Luis A. Aponte told the Journal. “They conduct themselves as a private company but they have the benefit of public funding.”
Although Stark and Library Director Dale Thompson emphasized that the makeup of the board is representative of the community, Aponte responded that the problem was that the trustees were insufficiently accountable. Council members also asked for a breakdown of the library’s budget, including branch expenditures and payments from the library endowment for administrative salaries.
PPL has come under increasing scrutiny after eliminating 21 staff positions and seven unionized custodians in July because of budget shortfalls, then replacing some of them with volunteers and less expensive temporary workers.
United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island filed a complaint of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the custodians, who would have to be reinstated if the library is found to have acted illegally.
Posted October 1, 2004.