John Bottomley

I am absolutely against allowing a Town’s Select Board to take control of Public Library’s and turn Library Trustees into “advisors”. This is a blatent attempt to control more money in a town and to eliminate citizens genuinely interested in what a Library brings to Town citizens. A Library has a broad constituency from children thru seniors and it takes a genuinely interested overseers to insure that Library users are served properly. Select Boards in the end spend 75%-100% of their time dealing with Town finances. They do not have the time or inclination to examine the broad areas that a true and interested Library Board must bring to a public entity. Turning Library Trustees into “advisors” would turn genuine interest in Library issues to often into dollar and cents issues. Politics too will too Often control outcomes. Most certainly Citizen donations towards Librarys, are a very important component and would head downwards if not be eliminated. Volunteers and what they bring to a NH town are so important. This bill would send this into a downward spiral. Please vote to keep Library Boards independent of Select Boards..