Middletown Library Board Announces Logo Contest

The Middletown Township Public Library is approaching its 100th Anniversary.  As part of that celebration the Board of Trustees and Director Kim Rinaldi have are asking Township student artists to participate in a logo contest.

The contest is open to all Middletown students in grades 6 -12. Students are asked to design a new logo that symbolizes the mission of the Middletown Public Library and articulates the true identity of the library as a community center offering opportunities for both education and entertainment. Deadline for submissions will be November 30, 2017. Submissions will be judged by the Library Board of Trustees and one winner will be announced at the December 13, 2017 meeting of the Library Board of Trustees. The winner will receive a $250 prize and community-wide recognition. The new logo will be used on the library’s website, letterhead, flyers, and other library documents.

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Middletown Library Will Consider Part Time Executive Director

Susan O’Neal. Photo courtesy of Middletown Patch.

The Middletown Library Board of Trustees will consider hiring a part time executive director to replace Susan O’Neal.

O’Neal submitted her resignation to the board last evening as part of a negotiated termination. Board President Brock Siebert declined to comment on O’Neal resignation, citing a confidentiality agreement.   The termination won’t be official until approved by the Middletown Township Committee.  Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger also declined to comment.

O’Neal’s salary is $119,816, according to Data Universe.

O’Neal’s continued employment became untenable when her emails with Linda Baum, a Democratic candidate for Township Committee revealed that she was colluding with the Middletown Democratic Party to undermine the authority of the Board of Trustees.    The emails were released as a result of an Open Public Records Act request on the part of Committeeman Tony Fiore.  Fiore became suspicious that O’Neal and Baum were colluding when Baum shared confidential information she should not have been privy to at a public meeting.  Baum unsuccessfully sued to block the release of the emails.

Brock said the board’s personnel committee will meet next week to discuss a search for O’Neal’s replacement.  Hiring a part time executive director is one option he wants to committee to consider.

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Middletown Library Director and Democratic Committee Candidate Worked Together To Undermine Oversight, Raise Funds For Democratic Campaign

State Senator Barbara Buono and Linda Baum, Democratic candidate for Middletown Township Committee, 8/25/12 facebook photo

Middletown Library Director Susan O’Neal submitted incomplete and haphazardly organized emails between herself and Linda Baum, a past and present Democratic candidate for Middletown Township Committee, in response to Judge Lawrence M. Lawson’s ruling last week that the emails are government documents subject to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.

MMM received the 298 pages of emails which include numerous duplicates, many truncated pages that cannot be fully read and omit relevant attachments, late this morning from Middletown Township via OPRA request.  The emails can be viewed via Scribd at the end of this post.

The emails reveal a ongoing endeavor between O’Neal and Baum to undermine the oversight of the library by its Board of Trustees and the Township Committee.  Additionally, Baum and O’Neal planned to use the library to forward the political objectives, including political fundraising, of Baum and the Middletown Democrats.  Middletown Democratic Chairman Don Watson was copied on several of the emails.

In his ruling dated July 1 denying Baum’s motion to thwart the release of the emails requested by Middletown Clerk Heidi Brunt on behalf of Township Committeeman and Library Trustee Tony Fiore, Lawson wrote that Baum argued the emails have “absolutely nothing to do with the official business of the library” and do not relate to public operations.

Lawson wrote that “Baum argues that she has no relationship with the Library, nor is she an agent of the library in any respect.”

The emails reveal otherwise.

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Emails Between Middletown Library Director and Democratic Candidate Will Be Released

Linda Baum trying to convince voters to support her last summer. facebook photo

Linda Baum, a past and present Democratic candidate for Middletown Township Committee, presents herself as an advocate of open government and transparency. She even wrote an article on her campaign website about how citizens can made Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests.

Yet, when it comes to her own email correspondence with Middletown Library Director Susan O’Neal, Baum is far from open and transparent. She sued the Library Board of Trustees and Township Clerk Heidi Brunt to prevent her emails from being released under an OPRA request made by Brunt on behalf of Township Committeeman Tony Fiore. Fiore is the Township Committee’s representative on the Library Board.

Judge Lawrence M. Lawson ruled on Monday that Baum’s emails with O’Neal are government records and must be released per the OPRA request. Lawson’s decision can be viewed here.

Baum argued that the emails were private, had nothing to do with Library operations, and could be used against her politically.

Fiore asked Brunt to file OPRA requests for the emails that O’Neal exchanged with Baum and Melanie Elmiger from January 2012 and May 15, 2013 when it became apparent that Baum and Elmiger had information about Library business that had only been discussed in executive sessions and was not yet public.

“I look forward to seeing the emails that Linda Baum attempted to illegally block from the public,” Fiore said, “It is a shame that her frivolous lawsuit will cost the taxpayers of Middletown and the Middletown Public Library thousands of dollars that could have been used for other purposes.”

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