A Tear in the Community
What really happened that ended up with the Goodnow Library Board of Trustees severing their relationship with the Friends of the Goodnow Library on January 19, 2021?
Here are the facts: In February 2020, the Trustees asked the Friends to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “as the minimum requirement for the Friends to continue to have the support of the (Library) Director and Trustees”. The MoU was drafted by the Trustees without input from the Friends. It would have changed the Friends into a mere conduit for private money to flow to the Library, and drastically changed the way the Friends had operated for more than 30 years. It would have effectively given control over financial and administrative operation to the Trustees and the Library Director, and ended their status as a tax-exempt charity. The Friends declined to sign the MoU as drafted.
Mediation was proposed to attempt to reach common ground. A mediation session in March, 2020, was a helpful first step. Further mediation sessions were contemplated, but Covid-19 intervened.
In October the Trustees sent the same MoU to the Friends insisting that it be signed promptly “as the minimum requirement for the friends to continue to have the support of the Director and Trustees”. The Friends proposed resuming mediation, virtually. I know. I was the mediator. The Trustees refused to resume mediation, until after the Friends signed the MoU, something the Trustees knew the Friends could not do.
The Friends proposed a modified MoU, one that would not have destroyed their independence and their charitable status, however, the Trustees rejected it, without consulting the Friends.
The Trustees then used the Friends’ refusal to sign the Trustee-proposed MoU as a pretext for claiming the Friends were not cooperative, and then severed relations.
Until this recent action by the Trustees, most Sudbury residents were the beneficiaries of a working relationship among the Trustees, the Friends, and the Library. There is now a tear in the fabric of our community. Such tears are hard to heal, and I suspect many readers of this letter may feel similarly.
I urge the Trustees to reverse their decision and return to mediation, with me or someone else. With the benefits the Friends have provided in mind, and a full measure of accommodation brought to bear, the Town’s reputation as a unified community can be renewed.
Len Simon
Meadowbrook Circle
Sudbury, MA
What really happened that ended up with the Goodnow Library Board of Trustees severing their relationship with the Friends of the Goodnow Library on January 19, 2021?
Here are the facts: In February 2020, the Trustees asked the Friends to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “as the minimum requirement for the Friends to continue to have the support of the (Library) Director and Trustees”. The MoU was drafted by the Trustees without input from the Friends. It would have changed the Friends into a mere conduit for private money to flow to the Library, and drastically changed the way the Friends had operated for more than 30 years. It would have effectively given control over financial and administrative operation to the Trustees and the Library Director, and ended their status as a tax-exempt charity. The Friends declined to sign the MoU as drafted.
Mediation was proposed to attempt to reach common ground. A mediation session in March, 2020, was a helpful first step. Further mediation sessions were contemplated, but Covid-19 intervened.
In October the Trustees sent the same MoU to the Friends insisting that it be signed promptly “as the minimum requirement for the friends to continue to have the support of the Director and Trustees”. The Friends proposed resuming mediation, virtually. I know. I was the mediator. The Trustees refused to resume mediation, until after the Friends signed the MoU, something the Trustees knew the Friends could not do.
The Friends proposed a modified MoU, one that would not have destroyed their independence and their charitable status, however, the Trustees rejected it, without consulting the Friends.
The Trustees then used the Friends’ refusal to sign the Trustee-proposed MoU as a pretext for claiming the Friends were not cooperative, and then severed relations.
Until this recent action by the Trustees, most Sudbury residents were the beneficiaries of a working relationship among the Trustees, the Friends, and the Library. There is now a tear in the fabric of our community. Such tears are hard to heal, and I suspect many readers of this letter may feel similarly.
I urge the Trustees to reverse their decision and return to mediation, with me or someone else. With the benefits the Friends have provided in mind, and a full measure of accommodation brought to bear, the Town’s reputation as a unified community can be renewed.
Len Simon
Meadowbrook Circle
Sudbury, MA