At the June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Budget Workshops (videos here), Niles-Maine District Library’s department heads presented their proposed budgets for the next fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). As members of the community, we learned that days before these workshops, a copy of the Library’s proposed budget was marked up with lines drawn through many items. A FOIA request got us access to the marked-up budget document trustee Joe Makula and Board President Carolyn Drblik surprised department heads with before the budget workshops.
After many public commenters explained the impact of the proposed cuts to outreach programs for school children and senior citizens, it seemed like Board President Drblik might be reconsidering those cuts. If you don’t want to see the new board’s proposed cuts to hours of operation, purchasing of new books, loaning of technology, or any of the other cuts and notes on the document linked above, speak out now before the board’s upcoming votes.
Opportunities for action:
- Attend the meeting: 6/14/21 6:30 PM budget meeting at 6960 W. Oakton St. This is where trustees will discuss the budget for next year. Extreme cuts have been proposed by Carolyn Drblik and Joe Makula, and we assume that, as with every other action the new board has taken so far, that Olivia Hanusiak and Suzanne Schoenfeldt will go along with whatever they say.
- If you would like the trustees and community to hear your concerns, when you enter the Commons Meeting Room (arrive before 6:30) sign in not only on the attendance sheet but also on the list of people who would like to make a public comment.
- We’ve noticed that the library website’s information on how to submit a written public comment keeps disappearing and reappearing, so we can’t tell if they are considering removing the ability to submit public comments in writing. Usually if you send an email marked as a public comment by 5:30PM on the day of a meeting to slempke@nileslibrary.org, the comment will be read into the meeting (if there is time after the in-person comments have been spoken).
- Send an email to all of the trustees, and CC the library’s Executive Director and the Mayor of Niles.
- You can use our letter-writing tool here, sending the pre-drafted message or editing it as much as you’d like:
- Attend the meeting: 6/16/21 6:30 PM regular monthly board meeting at 6960 W. Oakton St.