Fundraising Considered for Montville Library Projects

After seeing success from its first-ever fundraiser, Montville Township Library Director Allan Kleiman asked the library's board of trustees to consider allowing the library to further fundraise in the future.

The money, Kleiman said, would be used to help fund special projects and programs outside of what is funded by the annual budget.

Kleiman brought the issue up at Monday's board meeting after noting the success of the book sale in which $900 was raised. Aside from the monetary gain, Kleiman said library employees who helped organize the sale were proud of the event.

"The staff was very excited and engaged," he said.

Kleiman said he wanted to have further discussions with the board's finance committee about other fundraisers the staff could organize.

"This will allow us to do some new projects that otherwise are not in the budget," he said.

But Board President Howard Chesler cautioned that the library first seek legal advice.

"There certainly may be some things we're restricted from doing," he said.

Board Trustee Dave Dalia questioned why the library would be interested in fundraising if every year, the library returns excess money that was not spent from that year's budget to the township to be used as taxpayer relief.

"Why would we fundraise to just sweep funds to the town?" he asked Kleiman.

But Kleiman said the library fundraisers would not only be about raising money. He called the fundraisers a "marketing opportunity" and said that people who had not visited the library previously were introduced to what it had to offer through the book sale.

"It's good PR for the library," he said.

The board also discussed setting up a scholarship fund to help local students with some of the money raised, an idea presented by trustee Tom Mazzacaro.