Library Board Still Opposed To Pick Up

Despite recommendations from the Township Committee and the Board of Education, the Library Board of Trustees discussed its dissatisfaction with the library parking lot being used as a pick up point for high school students at its meeting Monday.

"I disagree respectfully with the chief," board trustee Howard Chesler said, referring to comments made by Montville Police Chief Richard Cook at the township's joint meeting on Oct. 6 . "It's still a problem."

Chesler said that he, like Cook, sat in the library's parking lot and observed the activity in the early afternoon around when school is let out.

"I came up and sat in a parked spot and watched," he said. "Approximately 20 parents picking up kids, walking in with kids. In my opinion there is still a problem."

Board member David Dallia said that, should the library permit parents to use the lot as a collection point for students in the afternoon, activity in the lot will jump significantly.

"If dropping off is allowed, everyone is going to avail themselves of that option," he said. "If the chief sees the activity on a day when people aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, it will only be a tenth of how it will look on a day its allowed."

Chesler pointed to icy conditions in the winter creating an additional problem, saying that brakes could slide and that "even a foot" could mean the difference between injury and safety.

Board president Peter King said that he supports objections to the policy, saying "If our objections are not as valid as the experts think, so be it."

Allan Kleiman, the library's interim director, said that he would be in favor of a trail period, pointing out that, because the library property is owned by the township, the liability for any incident could fall on the township.

"The library is owned by the town," he said. "If the town decides this is what's going to happen, that's it. As a board, we can constructively say we have concerns, and that's all we can do."

Township mayor and committee liaison to the library board Jim Sandham said that the township committee would take any objections to the policy under consideration, possibly bringing the police chief back to the property to observe traffic on a specific date.

"If the library board has a concern, the township is not going to turn a deaf ear," he said.