Photo by Tom Rivers – Betty Sue Miller, interim director at Hoag Library, is pictured during a February meeting of the Board of Trustees.

ALBION – In her four months on the job as interim director at Hoag Library, Betty Sue Miller has been tasked with reorganizing some of the library’s layout, removing valuables and other items from the former Swan Library, and rebuilding some strained relationships among library staff and patrons.

Miller has met those objectives, Library President Kevin Doherty said. Two staff members, Cheryl Mowatt and Dee Robinson, both voiced support for Miller at Monday’s annual meeting for the library.

“Betty Sue Miller is just what the doctor ordered,” said Mowatt, a reference librarian at Hoag.

Miller, an Albion resident, was hired as interim director in January after the board parted ways with the previous director. Miller was hired with the intention it would be a short-term assignment, providing time for the board to prepare for another search.

But Doherty said Miller, a retired teacher and school library director in Holley, has done so well that the board isn’t pushing for her replacement.

“We are in no rush to start a search process,” Doherty said. “She is the right person at the right time.”

It’s been a busy four months with library staff and volunteers cleaning out the former Swan Library. That building is being sold to Chad Fabry of Holley for $53,000. A final closing date hasn’t been scheduled yet as lawyers work on the closing documents.

Some of the furniture pieces, paintings and other prized artifacts from Swan have either been moved to the Hoag or long-term storage.

Miller and staff also reorganized the adult section in the Hoag Library to better utilize space, and a future reorganization of the children’s library is being planned.

Miller also is working with the state on a NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) grant for solar panels on the roof of the new library and she worked on a $2,500 grant through the Orleans County Youth Bureau for the library’s summer reading program.

She has added to the collection of library books and other materials and begun weeding the collection based on circulation reports.

“It’s been a fabulous four months and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it,” she said.

Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Orleans County Courthouse looms large and high in the sky on the Albion landscape.

This photo was taken this evening at dusk on Platt Street in the parking lot across from Dunkin’ Donuts.

I try to look for different angles and views of some of our more prominent buildings. I hadn’t taken a picture of the Courthouse from this spot before.

The courthouse was built in 1858 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Hoag Library is pictured this evening after the library on South Main Street closed after 8 p.m.

ALBION – Hoag Library has received most of the $1.3 million in pledges and gifts promised for a new library, but $51,000 remains in outstanding pledges, Library President Kevin Doherty said at the annual meeting on Monday.

Doherty was asked by some community members for that information. There were 502 people who made pledges or one-time gifts for the new 14,600-square-foot Hoag Library, which opened in July 2012.

The library had 195 people make pledges and 127 have been paid in full, Doherty said. Some people asked to stagger the payments over five years. Doherty said 20 donors are in arrears, having missed pledge payments.

Overall, about 96 percent of the pledges and gifts have been received. The $1.3 million in the capitol campaign exceeded the goal by about $300,000.

The library owes $1,742,000 on the mortgage for the building, and pays about $11,000 a month towards than loan, Doherty said.

The library board is considering wrapping the mortgage with the expense for a solar project for the roof of the building in a revised long-term, low-interest loan. A state grant is covering some of the costs for the solar project, and other incentives should reduce the library’s cost for that project, Doherty said. The solar project is still being finalized. The library is working with Arista Power on the solar initiative, which could be about $225,000.

The library presented its proposed $698,601 budget for 2015 during the annual meeting. Local property taxes would cover $680,411 of the budget, a 1.6 percent increase from the $669,860 in 2014. The library budget will be voted on May 19 from noon to 8 p.m. as part of the school budget vote at the elementary school.

The library typically elects trustees during the annual meeting. Dele Theodorakos opted against re-election. One community member, former library employee Grace Kent, submitted petitions signed by at least 25 people to be on the ballot. But Doherty said Kent withdrew from the election.

The board decided not to have the vacant position filled during the election because no one else submitted petitions.

Gerard Morrisey said the board should have allowed write-in ballots so the trustee could have been elected by residents and not filled by a board appointment. Doherty said the board intends to fill the position at its May 13 meeting.

Doherty said the board didn’t make provisions for a write-in ballot, and preferred the process of candidates submitting petitions to be on the ballot.

“The public should have a say,” Morrisey said.