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Too Much to Ask?

The recent failure of the Chester Board of Selectmen and Library Board of Trustees to come up with a workable, affordable plan for the library's future is embarrassing testimony to the ineffectiveness of selectmen and trustees in communicating, planning, and showing common sense and leadership.

How many more years will physically challenged residents wait for public library access? How many children will grow up without the benefit of exposure to books, periodicals, and music at a well-designed and -equipped facility? How many more years will some Chester residents make library homeport in Deep River, Essex, or Haddam?

I'm pro-public libraries. I believe libraries are essential and should serve a range of community needs. No one can realistically argue the current building-while architecturally and historically of interest-well serves Chester's library needs. Yet, what to do about it?

Perhaps the selectmen and trustees need training in communications, planning, and other aspects of library development to avoid another exercise in futility. These wasteful, costly missteps for a decade or more have eroded community interest and support. At the same time, the town needs to employ common sense and budget reality.

As someone who attended the trustees' planning meetings, one area of concern for me was the absence of Selectman Larry Sypher, who I believe was the Board of Selectmen's representative to the library planning process. Further, to see

First Selectman Ed Meehan quoted in the Feb. 13 story "Library Trustees Reconsider Expansion Concept Again" as "speaking as an individual here, not for the selectmen" makes me wonder: What exactly is Mr. Meehan doing as first selectman regarding this issue for his more than $50,000-a-year salary?

Is it too much to ask for genuine leadership on the library issue? Let's try for effective communication, effective planning, and a dose of common sense.

Joe CohenChester