Gail Borden shies away from releasing board packets

The Gail Borden Public Library board has decided to provide a little more information to the public about its meetings but not full board agenda packets, the latter a practice common among suburban libraries.

The board voted 6-1 earlier this week to "beef up" its agendas with some description of items up for discussion by the board. The vote came after a proposal by Trustee Penny Wegman to release to the public the informational packets prepared by staff members and given to board members before meetings. Trustees decided to forego that and instead "enhance" the public agendas.

Trustee Herb Gross said the board weighed several considerations, some of them about possible increased costs, such as the need for an attorney to review board packets before they are made public.

Another concern is that board packets comprise draft, not final, documents, Library Executive Director Carol Medal said. "Things can change after a draft. If it's pushed out there too soon, you have to realize the information that is out there might not be correct."

Trustee Patricia Harkin, who cast the "no" vote, said she believes "enhanced descriptions of items would raise more questions in voters' minds than they answered."

But more transparency would elicit more participation from constituents, Wegman said. "We're spending a lot of taxpayer money, and the taxpayers should see and voice how they feel about that - and what's going on," she said.

Board President Jean Bednar said the library likely will increase, over time, the amount of information it makes available to the public, after weighing the issue further. "I think we all agreed this is a good first step to take, just because we're not sure what effect this will have on everybody involved," she said.

The city of Elgin and Elgin Area School District U-46 make board packets publicly available, but many suburban libraries, including Arlington Heights, Naperville, Aurora and Schaumburg, don't do that. Two exceptions are the Park Ridge Public Library and the Niles Public Library District.

"We have a board that really feels we need to be as transparent to the community as we possibly can," said Park Ridge Library Director Janet Van De Carr. "They feel that the more the community knows and understands about our library operations, the better it is for the library and the community."

Greg Pritz, business manager for the Niles library, agreed. "At the end of the day, virtually everything that's out there has to be supplied in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, so why not just do it as a matter of course?" he said.

As a result of Tuesday's board discussion, the Gail Borden library now is posting approved bills, plus monthly revenue and expenses, board reports and more within board agendas after meetings, Medal said. For example, the board is expected to discuss in September the budget and appropriations ordinance, which will be posted online afterward, she said.

"We're definitely doing more than we were two years ago, and more than we did in June," Medal said. "I would anticipate that more changes will be coming down the pike, but it's a step-by-step process."