At the selectmen’s meeting this week, long-time library supporter Deborah Bornheimer accused Town Manager Rocco Longo of taking “illegal action” by not distributing state aid money to pay for library staff tuition reimbursement, and she said she was prepared to sue the town to see this matter settled. Selectmen responded by calling for a meeting between town and library officials.

At issue is a difference of opinion as to whether library employees, who are covered for salaries and benefits by the town’s personnel plan, can be given extra funds in the form of the state library grant for tuition reimbursement. Bornheimer,a member of the Duxbury Free Library Inc. and the state Board of Library Commissioners, feels the personnel plan does not preclude the library staff from accepting this money, while town counsel Robert Troy has issued an opinion that personnel plan employees cannot accept additional compensation.

The personnel plan was changed at Town Meeting 1999 to include a new section on tuition reimbursement for all full-time employees covered by the plan. An amendment to the plan sponsored by the library trustees that would have allowed town employees to receive additional reimbursements if they were not subject to an appropriation of town money failed on town meeting floor. The trustees had wanted library staff to receive a larger tuition reimbursement in order to pay for masters degrees in library science. The additional money would have come from the library’s annual state aid, which totals about $19,000, according to Bornheimer.

Bornheimer called the personnel plan “a dog” and “a disgraceful specimen of the English language” that said nothing about prohibiting acceptance of scholarships or grant money, but was a guideline only.

“The money in the state aid grant has nothing to do with the personnel plan,” said Bornheimer.

She also blasted Troy’s legal opinion, saying it contained legal mistakes, misconstructions and distortions of the personnel bylaw.

Bornheimer said that by not paying two invoices for tuition reimbursement submitted in October 2000 by two library employees, Longo was trying to control the library staff, which was not part of his job description.

“This is part of a pattern of you attempting to assert power that you don’t control,” Bornheimer told Longo, adding that it “causes a tremendous problem with morale at the library.”

“I’m going to go to the wall for adequate benefits for the library,” said Bornheimer, who added she was willing to sue the town to enforce the provisions of the library state aid act.

Longo did not respond to Bornheimer’s accusations. Selectmen chairman Margaret Kearney said the selectmen wanted what was best for all town employees.

“I find it difficult to sit here and be chastised as we have, because we, too, want what’s right for our town employees,” she said. “There are two sides to every story...I do agree this has gone on too long.”

She called for a meeting to take place as soon as possible with the selectmen, Bornheimer, Longo, the personnel board, the library trustees, and members of the Duxbury Free Library Incorporated, a board of private trustees that oversees the building’s endowment.

“I think there’s room for some good discussion,” said Kearney.

Selectman Andre Martecchini didn’t believe the town and Longo were doing anything illegal. “I believe we are correct in our interpretation,” he said. “We strive to do what we can with very limited means for our employees.”