Board must fix dysfunction

Every person who was in the room Friday night cares about the Dunkirk Public Library.
But sometimes, that’s not enough.
More important than caring is knowing what your role is, and it’s apparent that some members of the library’s board of trustees don’t understand their function.
It’s the job of the library trustees to establish policy, develop goals, build a budget, and annually evaluate the performance of employees.
And it’s a job that should done collectively, as a group, not as individuals acting on their own.
But inevitably, it seems, there are folks who can’t resist micromanaging.
They may sit silently at board meetings, but they’re always ready to look over the staff’s shoulders, and they’re quick to develop their own set of recommendations or complaints.
None of this is unique to the Dunkirk Public Library.
It happens to non-profits, to local government, to PTOs, and to churches.
Chances are, if you reflect a bit, you’ll recall witnessing the same phenomenon somewhere along the line.
But when that board dysfunction forces good people to walk away from jobs they like and an institution they care about, it is — as one citizen put it Friday — sad. In this case, it’s even sadder because the library and The Glass Museum are cornerstones to a plan for improving downtown Dunkirk.
And it’s going to take awhile to get through this rocky patch.
Dunkirk’s fortunate to have Gay Ann Rife, who led the library for several years, be willing to step into the breach for the short-term. But Mrs. Rife made it abundantly clear Friday that she has been enjoying retirement and isn’t interested in a long-term commitment.
Ask yourself this: Given the board’s relationship with the previous library director and the recent resignations of the interim director, the museum curator, and the only other staff member, would you be interested in interviewing for the job?
Probably not.
Until the board does some serious soul-searching and begins acting like a board, not a collection of bosses, it’s going to be difficult to move forward. — J.R.

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