Glen Ridge Library Board Deals With Flooded Elevator, Staff Turnover as Borough Funding Rises 10%

The Glen Ridge Public Library Board of Trustees, meeting May 13, 2026, addressed water damage that flooded the elevator shaft after snowmelt runoff pooled inside it earlier in the year. The April bills, totaling $93,617 and approved by the Board, included $1,600 to repair the elevator, which has since been waterproofed, and Borough public works crews are now checking it every month to prevent a repeat. A separate $851.50 payment to Morris County Elevator addressed water intrusion in the elevator pit, on top of the equipment's regular $711 quarterly service charge.

Staffing is also in flux: two long-term part-time employees have resigned to take full-time jobs elsewhere. Library Director Tina Marie Doody said one recently hired substitute will step into the part-time children's position, while the second opening will be posted, with a goal of filling it by the end of June. Separately, a keypad lock alarm on the Children's Room door leading to the Borough was accidentally shorted by contractor Sander Mechanical during other work, and repairs are on hold until a new power supply arrives, since the existing unit's location couldn't be pinpointed.

On funding, the library's Borough appropriation rose 10%, a result of a formula tied to property values that have climbed 78% since 2019; the school budget, by contrast, stayed flat. The library's 2025 audit turned up no major problems and confirmed earlier recommendations had been carried out, though the audit opinion remains "qualified" because the library records fixed assets at cost rather than tracking depreciation. Through April, actual spending was running under budget, at about 34.63% of the annual budget compared with roughly 36% a year earlier, thanks to lower part-time salary, maintenance, and materials costs.

The summer reading program will launch June 16, 2026, and for the first time patrons who only use the library's digital services -- about 26% of all patrons -- will be able to join through the Beanstack app and compete for prizes alongside those visiting in person. The Technology Committee also discussed adding self-checkout to the shared BCCLS library app so patrons could check out items without using a kiosk, and separately floated using artificial intelligence software to take notes at Board meetings, raising questions about privacy and whether AI-generated notes would count as official Board records; further research is planned before any policy change.

Other items included a presentation from Darlene Swistock of the BCCLS library consortium's Member Services team, who told the Board that shared membership saves libraries like Glen Ridge roughly $200,000 a year through a combined collection of more than 5 million items and daily deliveries across six routes. The Board also accepted a patron complaint raised at a Borough Council meeting about staff assistance and closing-time reminders; Doody responded that staff have varying capacity to help patrons and noted the library had incurred overtime costs once when this same patron stayed past closing. Trustees also noted a donation to the Friends of the Glen Ridge Library from a patron Doody had met with regarding the library's strategic plan, and the Friends group's scholarship program drew 12 applicants for its annual high school award. Board Trustee Ms. Clark-Bonnett offered condolences on behalf of the library for Jennifer Gonzaga, a longtime Linden Avenue Elementary School teacher who died unexpectedly.

What to watch

• The Personnel Committee meets June 1, 2026 to discuss a possible Chapman Fund disbursement, staff continuing-education support, and a revised performance evaluation form for the Library Director, with final discussion planned for executive session in December.
• The Board's June meeting has been moved to June 17, 2026, because Doody will be attending the IMLS conference.
• A decision on adding BCCLS app self-checkout is expected by September or October, and about $6,000 remains in an LCBA grant that must be spent before the end of 2026 to fund a mezzanine acoustic panel fix still being coordinated with vendors.