A Second Proposal
Dedication of Friends of the Library and Just Plain Friends
The defeat of their 2003 building proposal was devastating to members of the Library Board of Trustees. “It was gut-wrenching,” confessed new Halfmoon Trustee Debbie Curto. However, the Board leadership was not to be deterred. Then-Board President Vince Aceto believed the Board should try again, as former Board of Trustees member Cliff Bueno recalls to librarian Gail Winters in this clip.
Library Director Jo Piracci and interviewer John Scherer remember the courage and daring of the Trustees, as they put a similar proposal up for a vote only 12 months after the defeat of the first.
The Board analyzed possible reasons for the defeat. Limited parking and long lines for voting, as mentioned in "The Journey to Moe Road," had an impact on the first vote. Volunteer publicist Joe Conroy also believed the Board needed to be far more transparent in their decision-making process the second time around.
Undaunted, the Board decided to go ahead with a second proposal -- the very next year. Among the informational tools employed by the Board were a series of population density maps for the two towns, created by Marilyn Otto, a Board member who worked for MapInfo. These maps indicated the optimal area to situate a new building, based on where large percentages of the populations of Clifton Park and Halfmoon were located.
Public meetings, which were well-attended, were held in the evenings of the winter and spring of 2004. Board members spoke to the two Town Boards and to community groups, using a chart of the pros and cons to evaluate possible building sites. (Listen to Cliff Bueno describe the use of a decision matrix.) At certain points in the process, the Board approached a Citizen’s Advisory Committee of interested residents of the two towns for input on important decisions.
Kathy Adam Browne remembers the long, Friday afternoon meetings throughout the building process, and the time that the board members put in to make the best decisions.
Former Board of Trustees Treasurer Daphne Jordan tells librarian Tenaya Bannon about the dedication of the members of the Board.
Joe Conroy, formerly of GE, was a consultant for the Library during the period of the second proposal. Here he tells Library Director Alex Gutelius about the dedication of the Board members involved in this process.