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Saturday, Feb. 21, 1998 | 3:51 a.m.

Letter: Library District board wastes taxpayer dollars

After reading several of the SUN articles on the troubles at our Library District, I decided to go to several of the recent meetings. I highly recommend this to all taxpayers. In a town of bargain entertainment, this just might be the best bargain of all. The only problem is that you won't know whether to laugh or cry. From my observations, we should probably issue the four trustees who have been petitioned to resign big red noses and seltzer bottles.

Let us review their most recent brilliant move. They decided to go on a national search for an interim director. A temporary -- like for three or four months -- director. Spending our money, they flew a guy in from Ohio to interview for the job. There are several obvious problems with this. First: Would you hire some guy who wanted to quit his job and move out here for a three-month position? Second: Cost. Were they going to pay his moving expenses, or were they just going to put him up in a hotel on per diem for the three to six months? Oh well, what's $2,000 wasted on his free vacation. About 100 books at $20 a book if I had to guess.

But wait! It gets better. They decided not to hire this guy, who probably wouldn't have taken the position anyway. They decided to pay an outside firm $75,000 (3,750 books?) to come in and manage the district while they search for a permanent replacement. Do they mean to tell us that in this district of 500 employees there isn't one single person that they could have appointed to be interim director? Not one. And they can't understand why they are not loved by the employees.

These directors are clueless. These are the kind of decisions they make now that they are being watched. I shudder to think what brilliant moves they've made in the past. No wonder they didn't allow public comment on these last agenda items. Isn't that a violation of the open meeting laws?

Then there is the small matter of the $40,000 plus they've spent to hire another outside firm to survey the employees as to their discontent. I've got an opinion they can have for free: They don't know what they're doing. They're not qualified to be running a Taco Bell. Although I must admit I wish that's what they were doing.

If they truly cared about the Library District, they should resign and take their big egos with them.

Gerald Laetz