Stanley M. Brown: Library closures for training day

The Camera alerted us to the library training day resulting in the Friday closing of all Boulder libraries. Without the paper’s investigative article, many of us would never have learned of such a foolish action by our city government.

Mr. Tallent, the Library Director, defended his training ,bonding and relaxation get-together in the same year the city considered closing a branch or reducing additional hours each week.  Fortunately, those cuts were avoided. That the Library Director was so insensitive to the likely negative reaction by the public is quite startling.  Is he really the best person for this job? And who is examining the relevance of his other expenditures?

While the Library Foundation paid for the catered lunch and keynote speaker that does not negate the ill-will created when government shows recklessness during a time of severe budget cuts in  public services and hardship for many of our citizens.  I’ll leave it to the Foundation to consider if this allocation might cause it to suffer lowered contributions in the future.

While I have no objection to anyone learning yoga, this should not be done during paid working hours.  Perhaps Mr. Tallent and other city officials should consider offering such wellness programs after hours to all employees.

I request the City insure that all department heads seriously re-examine their budgets and cut unessential expenditures or postpone those with minimal effect on services provided.  I also request the Camera continue its admiral job of investigating  how the Boulder government is spending our money and keep us apprised of further inappropriate expenditures.

Stanley M. Brown

Boulder