Tucker, Gahan Share Vision for Library

Only two of six candidates were able to make it to a library trustees candidate forum on Monday night after two others were kept away for medical reasons, and another by a previous commitment. The sixth never responded to the invitation.

Barbara Tucker and Gary Gahan participated in a six-question forum that gave live viewers and viewers at home an opportunity to learn more about the candidates and their vision for the library.

Tucker, who currently holds one of the two seats up for grabs on April 10 is a six-year member of the trustees who says she wants to see the Merrimack Public Library be a destination in town.

“I'm currently running for re-election so that I can continue the vision that the Merrimack Public Library has established,” Tucker said. “... The town of Merrimack will be seeing many changes as the community grows along with a new access road to the airport on the north side and the outlet malls to the south. And as a community we need a place to come together and that place is the Merrimack Library.”

Gahan, who is making his first run at a trustees seat has held no elected office in Merrimack, but was a member of the Merrimack Rotary Club for 20 years after moving to town in 1984 and has experience serving on the finance committee at the Boys and Girls Club in Nashua.

Gahan said his background on the committee as well as his experience fundraising with the Rotary would serve him well as a trustee.

“I believe our library has moved into the 21^st century and hopefully we can continue to grow in the 21^st century,” Gahan said.

The format for the evening gave the pair opportunities to respond back and forth to six questions that were posed ahead of time by audience members.

The first question zeroed right in on the issue that came to the forefront between the library and Town Council when working on this year's budget.

“In light of this year's budget cuts, what changes would you implement to reduce the cost of support staff rather than reduce library hours?”

Tucker, who answered first and is in the unique position of any of the other candidates to be on the board now, said since the budgeting process, the board as well as library administration has been working to implement a plan that would allow the library to return hours to its schedule without increasing costs.

She said ultimately they'd like to return the library to a full 60-hour week, but that to do that it will take some realigning of staff duties and some cross training of current employees. She said they've also looked into the idea of adding self checkout stations that could help reduce the number of personnel needed at the desk.

“Hopefully with some of those changes we can open up more hours and use staff more efficiently as time goes on,” Tucker said.

Gahan said he would look first at resources and any realignments that could be made in addition to looking at the impact cutting hours has on the community. Is there a possibility that volunteers could be used to help supplement those functions. He'd also look at if there are places where expenses could be realigned such as with benefits.

Gahan said the important thing would be to consider whether there is “anything we can look to for cutting expenses without cutting services.”

The pair was also asked about their position on what they would keep and change from the library building plan devised back in 2006, how they would align the library with the evolving landscape as it pertains to the schools and the Internet, whether they thought the current library and or the new library was more important and and to describe the value of the library to the community

They were also asked about their vision for the library five years from now.

Each said their vision involved a new library. Gahan said he'd like to at the very least see a new library in process, while Tucker said she'd like to see it in use.

“I would hope in five years, a plan would be underway to have new building, because that building has limited capacity,” Gahan said. “Where that will be will have to be determined.”

Gahan said he'd like to see the library continuing its trend of staying on top of the latest technology and continuing to provide a place where kids can get excited about reading outside of school.

“Funding is always an issue,” Gahan said. “I would hope that somewhere in the community there is someone or some people who would be able to come forward with a significant amount of money that they would consider donating as a pledge to the taxpayers if the rest of it could be raised.”

He said he was confident this could be possible if the trustees worked to identify that person or those people.

Tucker said she'd like to see the library in a new building that is very open, modern and green so it could be saving money through energy efficiency.

She envisions the current resources: Books that are going nowhere but staying with the library, and whatever the technology du jour is in five year.

Tucker said the ideal space would include places for people to study, to plug in to use the Internet, a children's room with an outdoor garden that would for instance let the kids look for butterflies while reading books about them. It would have meeting spaces for adults and teens and space that could be rented out to pull back in some more income.

“I mean just a place for people to gather as a community,” Tucker said.

Though they couldn't be there, candidates Rick Barnes and Wendy Thomas both sent in short blurbs for moderator Dick Hinch to read.

Barnes, who had some sort of serious allergic reaction over the weekend was kept away by recovery from that. Barnes is an 11-year resident of town with his wife Shannon. They have two kids at Reeds Ferry Elementary School. Barnes served seven years on the budget committee, serves on town's ad hoc web site committee and has been part of the library's planning and marketing committee since 2010.

“My experience working in IT will be beneficial to the trustees as I can offer a unique contribution regarding advancing technology in the library,” Barnes said.

Barnes extended an invitation to those who want to speak with him to email rickcbarnes@comcast.net or call him at 424-5516. He has also filled out a candidate profile on merrimackvotes.org.

Wendy Thomas, who couldn't make the forum due to a prior commitment, has lived in the community for 19 years with her husband Marc Nozell and her six kids a dog, a rabbit and 35 backyard chickens. Thomas is a freelance writer for several local publications and writes a blog called Simple Thrift about raising children and chickens.

Thomas said her background as a journalist has taught her to be impartial and look at situations from different angles, a strength she believes she would bring to the board. 

Thomas said she also brings the passion of a parent for all children to be constantly exposed to adventures through reading.

She served two terms on a special ed advisory committee, appointed by Gov. John Lynch, as well as on the New Hampshire Challenge Board of Directors and as a member of the swim team board, serving a year as secretary.

The remaining candidates are Chip Underhill, who couldn't make the forum due to undergoing surgery earlier in the day and Anthony Richardson did not respond to the invitation from the Friends of the Library to attend the session.

The full forum was taped by Merrimack Community TV and will be available to watch in coming days on TV and online.