Library Considering Tickets, Speed Bumps In Parking Lot

Library Board members agreed the parking lot should not be used as a pick up point in the afternoons, due to high congestion and possible accidents at their meeting last night, August 10.

Another widespread practice, student and faculty parking in the library lot during school hours, continues to be prohibited, and the library will take measures to make sure violators are ticketed, according to board member and chair of the Patron Services Committee Howard Chesler.

"Township policy permits police to ticket students and faculty," he said. He explained that library staff members will have special signs indicating their status in order to make violators easier to spot in the mornings.

Chesler described various changes the library is looking into, including speed bumps near the entrance way and by the stop sign in the middle of the parking lot.

"We're looking to make this place as safe and functional as possible," he said.

The parking lot discussion began during the public comments section of the meeting when Kathy Lindert, President of the high school's Parent-Teacher Council asked the board to allow student pick-up and drop-off in the parking lot due to congestion in the high school lot.

In a rare exception, the board allowed Lindert to speak again later in the meeting when Patron Services issues its committee report, in order to address the ongoing issue in further detail.

"So I am in 100 percent agreement and I will be more than willing to work with you,"

Lindert said to the board, suggesting the PTC help notify parents and get the word out regarding the policy against parking.

However, she said she doesn't see an issue with dropping off students in the morning given that the library is closed at the time and the parents are not interfering with library patrons or staff.

Interim director Allan Kleiman, who met with the police chief regarding the issue, said the police made it clear parents are only supposed to use the high school for pick up and drop off.

"I don't want to be a witness, on behalf of the library, when someone gets real hurt out there," he said. "In the afternoon…this is an accident waiting to happen…This lot is not big enough nor was it designed to be a drop off or pick up point."

The board largely agreed that drop off in the morning could be feasible since it does not pose the same liability as pick up in the afternoon.

The board also discussed over-crowding after school, another on-going issue at the library. According to Kleiman, not enough available seating and quiet space during the after-school hours was one of the main concerns patrons expressed in a recent library survey sent to Montville residents.

"The space issue… the noise issue, and the seating issue, that really is a wonderful opportunity for us to do something very positive," he said.

Kleiman said one option is to use the meeting rooms at the Pio Costa Auditorium to create either quiet space for adults, or a designated area for children.

The library is also looking into providing lap tops to meet the demand for more computers after school, he said.