Please read the following article and know that the Girard Public
Library Board of Trustees sent a letter of recommendation to the Mayor
for the appointment of Faith Paoni to the board. Faith and her family
have been long time library patrons and supporters and the board feels
that she will serve the position well. The actions of three of the
council are unfair to Faith as they have stated absolutely no reason
for finding her unqualified. You may desire to call one or all three
and let them know that you support Faith as the Mayor's appointee. The
Board of Trustees and Staff appreciate that Faith is willing to
volunteer her time to serve the Girard Public Library.By Andrew D.
Brosig | THE MORNING SUNFor the second meeting in a row, the Girard
City Council declined to take action Monday to fill a seat on the
Girard Public Library Board of Trustees.At the council's April 14
meeting, Mayor Maurice Harley informed the council he had received a
letter requesting he appoint Faith Paoni to serve on the Board of
Trustees of the library to fill a vacancy left by the impending
departure of current board member Carla Bryan. Bryan's term, her second
consecutive four-year term, expires today (Wednesday).A motion by
Daniel Smith to approve Harley's appointment of Paoni died for lack of
a second.Monday, Harley again asked for approval to appoint Paoni to
the library board. Smith again moved for her approval, a motion that,
again, died for lack of a second.Harley said he believes three members
of the city council are not acting in good faith in their failure to
approve the appointment of a qualified individual to the board."The
refusal of this council to approve the appointment to the library board
concerns me," Harley said during the meeting. "I don't know what we're
going to do at this point."Smith said he couldn't understand his fellow
council member's refusal to confirm the mayor's appointment."I was
shocked that I didn't get a second on my motion," Smith said. "I don't
understand why I couldn't get a second on it. I think (Paoni) would be
a wonderful asset to any of our boards. It's beyond me."After the
meeting, Harley said he had an alternate selection, Joyce Taylor, who
was equally qualified and had also agreed to serve. He didn't place her
name before the council for fear the same thing would happen.Harley
said he believes three members of the council — Richard Cussimanio,
Sandra Hallacy and Sharon Mattson — had taken issue in the past with a
similar situation regarding another appointment to the library board.
He thinks the three are seeking retribution for his refusal to appoint
the person they wanted at the time."I understand the statement they're
trying to make," Harley said. "Neither of us have wanted to
bend."Contacted by phone after the meeting, Hallacy and Mattson both
declined to comment on the situation."We have some things we need to
work out," Cussimanio said. "Hopefully, we'll get this worked out in
the near future."The Governing Body Handbook, published by the Kansas
League of Municipalities, is the guide book for city government. It
outlines what happens when a council declines to approve an appointment
and a mayor won't appoint someone else. According to the Handbook, the
current appointee — in this case, Bryan — stays in office.It creates a
conflict with state statute, however. Bryan has reached her two-term
limit mandated by state library guidelines. She can't serve another
term until she takes at least a year hiatus from the seven-member
Library Board.The Handbook further states the council members are
within their rights to not approve an appointment, if they don't
believe "the person is qualified, or if they believe he or she will not
be a good person for the particular office . . ."But, in the next
section, the Handbook calls upon council members to "act in good faith"
when ruling on mayoral appointments, particularly when withholding
approval. Confirmation should only be withheld for a good reason, the
Handbook states."It's the mayor's job to fill these positions and
appoint these boards," Smith said. "If the mayor sees fit to appoint
somebody to a board, I always thought I should be loyal and support
that."I can't imagine what the reason would be not to want her on any
of the boards. The thing that disturbs me, with so many other things
going on and the projects we have going, this certainly isn't something
to bicker over."The bottom line, Harley said, is it will be the Library
Board that's going to suffer because of what he said is the refusal of
three members of the city council to approve the appointment because of
an old disagreement."When they allow that to carry over into unrelated
appointments, I don't think they're fulfilling the duties they were
elected to fill," Harley said. "I think it's unfair to the library
board to not appoint a qualified individual to serve on that board."

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Posted By Library Director to GPL Newsflash at 4/29/2008 11:27:00 AM