Mayor, council act too late on library project
(Open letter to the mayor and council of Red Bank)

It was appalling and embarrassing to read the Hub story about our library renovation in the Oct. 18 edition. The bad news is your handling of this project is disgraceful. The good news (for you, at least) is, the voters don't seem to give a damn.

Everyone in town knows the library renovation project has taken much longer than originally planned. A reasonable person knows that sometimes this can't be helped.

But then, on Oct. 8, you decided to act.

"In addition," the Hub story writes, "the council appointed [Stanley] Sickles, who is . . . the borough construction official, to oversee the project and report back to the council." Councilman Murphy then adds, "I think we need some kind of direction when we do a project like this ... [t]here's really nobody over there leading up the project and checking on it."

Are you people making a new Beavis and Butthead movie with comments like that?

According to the town's CFO, this project is costing $1.648 million. Why would anyone with an IQ above zero think the best person to oversee such a project is the town librarian? Yet that, by your own admission, is exactly what has been happening.

Maybe you folks need to take $1.648 million more seriously. Or maybe, our borough construction official has too many other responsibilities with his multiple borough jobs. Whatever the case, I do know, when you are spending this much of our money, to quote Willie Loman, "attention must be paid." And Oct. 8, 2007, is much too late to start.

Eugene H. Goellner

Red Bank