Stories indexed with the term ‘library board elections’

On Sept. 28, the League of Women Voters hosted a combined forum for candidates for Ann Arbor District Library board.

Nancy Kaplan, Lyn Powrie Davidge and incumbent Carola Stearns are running for one two-year term. Vivienne Armentrout and incumbents Ed Surovell, Jan Barney Newman and Barbara Murphy are vying for three four-year terms. Five of the seven candidates attended the forum – Stearns and Davidge were out of town and unable to participate.

Terms for the three other current board members – Rebecca Head, Margaret Leary and Prue Rosenthal – expire in 2012.

The forum took place at Community Television Network studios and was recorded – it is available online through CTN’s video-on-demand service.

The hour-long event was moderated by Nancy Schewe, and questions covered a broad range of library-related topics, from the fate of the downtown building and thoughts on the next-door Library Lot, to issues of noise, security and technology. This report is presented in the order in which candidates responded. [Full Story]

Accomplishments of the Ann Arbor District Library – and challenges the system faces in the coming years – were among the topics discussed at an informational session on Wednesday evening for library board candidates who’ll be on the ballot in November.

Four of the seven candidates attended: incumbents Ed Surovell and Jan Barney Newman, as well as former Washtenaw County commissioner Vivienne Armentrout and Nancy Kaplan, who hosts a local talk show on community issues called Other Perspectives.

Kaplan, Lyn Powrie Davidge and incumbent Carola Stearns are running for one two-year term. Armentrout and incumbents Surovell, Newman and Barbara Murphy are vying for three four-year terms.

Terms for the three other current board members – Rebecca Head, Margaret Leary and Prue Rosenthal – expire in 2012.

The session on Wednesday was informal, following the format of a similar meeting held on July 27 for people interested in running. Head, the current board president, and AADL director Josie Parker were on hand to answer questions, as were associate directors Celeste Choate, Eli Neiburger and Ken Nieman. [Full Story]

Two potential candidates showed up Tuesday evening at an information session for the Nov. 2 Ann Arbor District Library board elections.

Lyn Davidge and Greg Andrade say they haven’t yet decided whether to run, but they’re considering it. Four seats will be on the Nov. 2 ballot: three four-year terms and one two-year term. The four board members whose terms expire at the end of 2010 – Jan Barney Newman, Barbara Murphy, Carola Stearns and Ed Surovell – haven’t yet declared their intent to seek re-election.

The filing deadline for the AADL board candidates is 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 10. The positions are nonpartisan. To file, candidates must turn in an affidavit of identity to the Washtenaw County clerk’s office, along with a $100 non-refundable filing fee or a minimum of 40 valid signatures. [More details on the filing process are available on the clerk's website.]

At Tuesday’s event, board officers Rebecca Head, Prue Rosenthal and Margaret Leary spoke about the roles and responsibilities of the job. Stearns also attended, as did AADL director Josie Parker, and two associate directors – Ken Nieman and Eli Neiburger. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor District Library board meeting (Dec. 21, 2009): At its last meeting of 2009, the library board voted to move its elections to November, in response to a similar decision last week by the Ann Arbor Public Schools board.

Library board members also discussed their hopes for a development next to the downtown library. The city solicited bids for development atop an underground parking structure being built just north of the library, on land stretching between Fourth and Fifth and Division. The library has a vested interest in that project – as board members noted on Monday, the development there will affect their decision about what to do with the downtown library building.

No representative from the library is on the city’s review committee that’s currently evaluating proposals for the site. But two members of that committee did attend Monday’s board meeting, and library director Josie Parker plans to meet with city officials to convey the board’s feedback.

Bottom line: A place that’s active and that attracts a diverse group of people around the clock would be best for the library. Also needed, board members said, is some master planning for that entire area, which includes the former YMCA lot and the AATA’s Blake Transit Center. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor District Library special board meeting (Dec. 1, 2009): During a special board meeting held on Tuesday, the Ann Arbor District Library board discussed the implications of possible changes to the school board’s election date.

Bottom line: If the school board moves its May election to November, the library board will be forced to do the same.

The school board is expected to make that decision at its Dec. 16 meeting. If the school board approves the change, the library board will need to act before the end of the year, too. To prepare for that possibility, the library board voted to hold a meeting on Monday, Dec. 21, with a public hearing scheduled on the topic of the election. If the school board votes not to move its election date, it’s likely that the library board will cancel the Dec. 21 meeting. [Full Story]