Patricia Lamb was given her walking papers after serving as director of the Rolling Hills Consolidated Library for two years.
She’s been deemed “controversial” for her opinions on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and the library that she’s leaving is also breaking away from it’s former system, the River Bluffs Regional Library System. The two factions refused to serve each others patrons without charge in a dispute over where to build a new library.
Patricia Lamb was given her walking papers after serving as director of the Rolling Hills Consolidated Library for two years.
She’s been deemed “controversial” for her opinions on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and the library that she’s leaving is also breaking away from it’s former system, the River Bluffs Regional Library System. The two factions refused to serve each others patrons without charge in a dispute over where to build a new library.”from the “St. Joseph News-Press —
The library debacle continued down a long and treacherous road as proposals met roadblocks and lofty plans met dead ends.
St. Joseph Public Library and the Rolling Hills Consolidated Library boards — former partners in the River Bluffs Regional Library system — passed contracts back and forth beginning in January and continued submitting proposals throughout the year. The topics ranged from reconciliation to dissolution. A contract has yet to be signed.
Dorothy Elliott, the regional systems director since 1989, was placed on unpaid leave in January and resigned in March. The St. Joseph Public board said they had lost confidence in her. She is now employed with the Kansas City Public Library.
Politicians stepped in to try their hand at solving the problems, but the problems remain.
In December, Tom Mann, presiding commissioner for Buchanan County, enlisted retired Circuit Court judge Frank Connett to mediate between the boards. Mediation ultimately failed.
Mayor David Jones jumped headfirst into the squabble in May and threatened to remove board members if a plan was not quickly reached. Mr. Jones has worked closely with the St. Joseph board and has come up with several failed compromises.
Rick Hartigan, Carlos Moya and George Pappas resigned as a result of the Mr. Jones’ ultimatums. However, Mr. Jones asked Mr. Moya to return to the board. Mr. Jones also appointed Sydney Breese, Winnie Watts, and Drew Brown to fill vacancies.
The districts officially split from the regional system in July when they began operating under separate budgets.
Things heated up again in October when Rolling Hills threatened to charge St. Joseph residents a user fee at the Belt Library if their demands weren’t met. However, Rolling Hills never followed through on the threat.
Presently, architects are working on plans for St. Joseph Public’s library at East Hills Shopping Center, which is being built independently of Rolling Hills. The Rolling Hills board — denied the donated land on Woodbine Road — have not disclosed where or if they will build an East Side facility.”
For those who can’t get enough of this story, here’s an opinion piece and a poem from Mark Sheehan on the subject, in his column entitled :
Watch article dates!
It should be noted that the story recorded here from the St. Joseph News Press is over 2 years old, possibly 3. Until this development with Mrs. Lamb at Rolling Hills, things had actually begun to settle down in this, the library director black hole of Missouri.