Archive: News

By 9pm library and school board officials were nervously gathered in the Lansing Middle School as election inspectors adjourned to count the vote.  Lansing voters had come out Tuesday for a second time to determine whether the town will have its own public library.  In May the proposition was voted down by only 32 votes.  With confusion and school district issues intertwined with the library vote library officials felt the close vote was unclear.  Tuesday night there were hugs and smiles when the results were announced.  The library had won with 686 taxpayers voting yes and 621 no.

"I think part of it was realizing the library would close," said Marlaine Darfler, Chairwoman of the volunteer library board that ushered the library through the seven years as a reading room of the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL).  "The library was going to be a gift that was going away.  The finality of it pushed the yes people to really come out and vote.  And the people who think it's not something they could put there taxes toward -- I don't think we could change their minds.  We just needed to take the people who are using the library, who have made it part of their life, to come out and vote yes."


Closing the library would have been an inevitable result of a no vote.  With dwindling contributors and volunteers, library officials were saying it was just a matter of how long they could hold out.  The yes vote assures Lansing that it will have its library for years to come.  Voters agreed to raise $105,000 in taxes by paying 15 cents per $1,000 of assesses property value.  That will be enough for operating expenses, a professional librarian, and growing the collection.

Additionally Landing Community Library Center (LCLC) will be eligible for county and state monies and independent grants that it could not get as a satellite of TCPL.  As a member of the Fingerlakes Library System it will not be subject to fees imposed by TCPL as of January 1.  Those fees were not charged to its satellite reading rooms until now, but with increasing financial woes the county library is scraping for funds.

Voters also elected a board of nine directors for the public library.  Dale Baker (623 votes), Barbara Barry (655), Marcie Bean (638), Andra Benson (667), Julia Berens (695), Deborah Wells Clinton (551), Marlaine Darfler (670), Ken Felch (599), and Bobbi Wasenko (631) will comprise the board of directors. Dawn Kleeschulte (474) was defeated.

Darfler says there is still a lot of work to get the new incarnation of the library on its feet.  "The next step is to get the Board of Trustees working," she says.  "Then we need to file the paperwork for a charter, hire a librarian.  There's a big learning curve, because there is a lot we have to figure out.  The basic thing is that we get that charter and become a public library."


LCLC's fundraising co-chair Donna Scott says that the library is for everyone.  "I am just thrilled that we won, because I think there are a lot of people in Lansing -- maybe even some of the no voters -- who will come around and appreciate this library and all that it has to offer," she said.  "I think that people who were worried about taxes will see that we're going to be really fiscally conservative and keep that budget as low as we can.  The budget cannot change without another vote."

The library has a proven record of fiscal conservatism.  Unlike many libraries it has operated in the black since its inception, and there is no mortgage or other debt for the refurbished building.  And library officials say they will still be raising money to keep the cost to the public at a minimum.  "We're going to have to pay the downtown library for all their services until we get our charter," Darfler says.  "That five dollars for each inter-library loan and other charges.  We figured if the patrons voted yes we'd better cover that bill for them, and we will do that.  So there are things we need money for.  We have to raise it, borrow it."

And while townspeople have stepped up to offer LCLC bridge loans until it gets its first tax money next October, Darfler says she hopes to be able to raise money for operations to minimize debt and keep the library in the black.  Officials also hope to get more grants for specific projects such as the recent Triad Foundation grant for a $20,000 library computer system and the John Ben Snow grant to upgrade security equipment.


"I am very happy that the vote passed," says Bobbi Wasenko, who has worked on LCLC publicity, and was elected to the new board of directors Tuesday.  "I think the Lansing Library is a tremendous asset to the community.  I am very happy to have been involved in the formative years of the library.  I think the library has a lot to offer the community in terms of programming for adults and children, and I am glad the community will continue to have this asset and access to library materials for years to come."

Darfler, who was also elected to the board, was thrilled with the vote, and pledged to continue being a part of it .  "I'll never leave this library," she said.  "It's my way to be in the community.  My kids are out of school now.  It's my way to be part of Lansing, so I don't plan to ever leave."

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