Glen Ridge Library Board Funds Chiller Fix, Switches Copier Vendors After Burst Pipe

The Glen Ridge Public Library Board of Trustees voted 8-0, with Damein Phoenix absent, to spend $1,430 from the library's LCBA grant to winterize the building's chiller by draining its water and adding glycol, a step meant to prevent future pipe bursts. The move follows an incident in which Sander Mechanical repaired a burst water pipe at no charge to the library.

In other facilities spending, the board approved $3,500 from the same grant to replace 14 canned lights on the mezzanine level with new LED fixtures, based on an estimate from HC Electrical. Trustees also voted to end the library's copier lease with Wells Fargo and sign a new roughly $3,400-per-year, 63-month lease with a company called ADS, which will provide a new copier and service plan; the library chose this partly because it uses software staff are already familiar with. The board had also been offered the option of extending the Wells Fargo lease for 12 more months for $4,644, after which the library would have owned the copier outright, but went with the ADS deal instead. Separately, the March bills list, totaling $52,991, was approved 8-0; it included $35,095 in staff salaries, a $3,250 payment to Sander Mechanical for repairs to heating and cooling equipment, $475 to a plumbing company to pump water out of the elevator shaft after a water intrusion issue, and $8,445 spent on books and digital content.

Library Director Tina Marie Doody told the board that the LCBA grant is running low, with $11,300 already committed to a still-unfinalized acoustic project; any remaining costs beyond the grant's limits will have to come from the library's building fund before the grant funds expire at year's end. Doody also reported that New Jersey now requires each trustee individually, rather than the board as a whole, to complete two hours of continuing education annually, and said she will track compliance and send out calendar invitations for qualifying webinars. The board voted 8-0 to shorten and move the annual staff training day from November 5 to October 29, 2026, during which the library will close in the morning and reopen in the afternoon. The March 11, 2026 meeting minutes were approved with Bernice Clark-Bonnett and David Lefkovits abstaining; no reason was recorded.

Doody also explained that revised state Open Public Meetings Act rules will no longer require newspaper postings for meeting notices, but instead require notices to appear in a legal notices section of a website linked to the state library's site; the Borough has agreed to host the library's notice, with a revised public notice to be presented at a future meeting. Doody reported attending the Public Library Association's national conference in Minneapolis from March 31 to April 3, 2026, where more than 6,000 librarians gathered and Brian Stevenson delivered the keynote address; she was separately reimbursed for meals during the trip. The board voted 8-0 to approve the library's 2025 annual report after review by the Marketing Committee, which thanked staff member Cass Lauer for compiling event photos. Trustee Kastenmeier reported that the Friends of the Library's Arts & Eco Fair is scheduled for May 16, 2026, that four high school seniors have applied for the group's annual scholarship, and that the Friends elected a new treasurer. Doody also said the library is considering a movie series, a display of historic flags from its archives, and themed crafts as part of the Borough's 250th anniversary, with trustee Helen Beckert representing the library on that planning subcommittee. Trustee Marilyn Law asked board members to review a draft New Trustee Handbook and revisited an earlier proposal for a half-day trustee retreat, with Doody to check whether such a session would need to comply with public meetings law. The library also paid $176.97 to run background checks on three new hires, whose positions were not specified.

What to watch

• The Friends of the Library's scholarship application deadline is May 10, 2026, ahead of the Arts & Eco Fair on May 16, 2026.
• A revised public meeting notice format is expected to be presented at a future meeting.
• Trustees are being asked to review the draft New Trustee Handbook before the May meeting, and a possible trustee retreat remains under discussion.