The Board of Finance turned its focus to Wilton Library Tuesday night, Nov. 12, raising questions about its financial disclosures, with some members implying it could be operating out of taxpayers’ reach and interests.
Last month, Vice Chair Stewart Koenigsberg broached questions about the library’s programming during a budget discussion with First Selectman Toni Boucher, calling its programming “very provocative and very edgy,” though he offered no specifics.
His comments came on the heels of a controversy over the appointment and subsequent removal of the library’s first Writer in Residence.
“With all the stuff that’s going on there, a lot of it just seems to be very provocative and very edgy,” Koenigsberg said of the library at the Board’s October meeting, asking rhetorically if this was what Wilton taxpayers wanted to be spending money on.
“Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with what they’re doing … it may not be in line with what the taxpayers want,” he said, without clarifying further details.
Koenigsberg did not respond to email inquiries from GMW asking him to explain his comments.
Though Boucher said last month that she had already had discussions with the library earlier in the year about providing quarterly financial reports, which it had consented to, BOF member Rudy Escalante set out to get legal and financial material from the library on his own after the October BOF meeting.
“I tried to find out a little bit about it, so I asked for their bylaws, I asked for a little bit about their budget, and they kind of ignored me and set up meetings and [then] canceled them,” he told the BOF during Tuesday’s discussion on budget guidance. “I finally had to ask [BOF Chair] Matt [Raimondi] to formally request, as the head of the Board of Finance, and we finally got the bylaws that way. But their cooperation in terms of being open with us about how they’re spending their money and what they’re doing really was disappointing.”
Asked by GMW after the meeting what had motivated him to try to take a closer look at the library’s financial picture at this time, Escalante said, “As a member of the BOF, my focus is the financial health of the town. The library represents a significant percentage of the BOS budget. I feel I have an obligation to understand how that money is being spent.”
Each year the town provides the library with a grant equaling roughly 75% of its overall budget, which is around $4 million. Operating as a separate nonprofit, the library is organized with a board of trustees, one-quarter of whom are appointed by the Board of Selectmen.
Escalante requested that Raimondi ask Boucher to have someone look at the library’s finances “and begin feeding back to us — What are we doing with all this money that we’re sending them every year?”
He also suggested that a member of the BOF should be serving on the library board, something other members seemed to broadly favor.
“We’re supposed to have people on the board of the library … They’re supposed to be making reports, these people who are the Board of Selectmen representatives,” Escalante said. “I have not seen any. It’s hard to get any piece of paper out of the town, out of the library.”
“The oversight we have … is just zero, so I think from a governance perspective we need to understand what they’re doing,” he said.
Raimondi, who said he had had a good meeting with Boucher and library officials earlier this month, said he would make inquiries.
Koenigsberg also went further into his concerns about the library at Tuesday’s meeting, again without specific details.
“There are obviously things that have raised eyebrows in terms of where they’re spending money … When I look at just high-level sets of numbers and maybe policy, it looks like some of the increases were things that perhaps were new, perhaps were not necessary, and when we think about other spending priorities, where can we best spend the taxpayer’s money … I think we have to look hard at every dollar we spend and every place that we spend it,” he said.
“I think for years we really kind of left it up to the Board of Selectmen … I think what has happened more recently with events at the library, it’s gotten more notoriety — more so for things it’s done wrong, in the view of some, than it’s done right — and because of that it’s now got a much more interested set of people from the town asking what is going on at the library,” he said.
Raimondi spoke in general support of having a BOF member on the library board.
“What I will do is I’ll talk to Toni … I can see some pros and some cons,” he said but noted it was reasonable.
“It might be better to wait for budget season when they’re formulating their budget,” he said.
While she did not respond directly to either Koenigsberg’s comments about programming, or Escalante’s claims, Wilton Library’s Executive Director Caroline Mandler gave a positive summary.
“As Matt Raimondi stated, the library has provided all of the information that the Board of Finance has requested at this point,” she said. “Additionally, we agree that our meeting with him and First Selectman Toni Boucher was productive and helpful, and we look forward to future discussions.”
Koenigsberg’s criticism extended to an indirect threat to cut library funding based on what he implied was its noncompliance in providing information.
“While the Board of Finance can’t compel them to do anything,” Koenigsberg said, “the Board of Finance does have the authority to cut … to have an override of any number,” he said.
“So it would behoove them to provide the information when we ask for it and we’re not asking for anything that any other government-funded institution is not providing to us,” he said.
“Whatever we’re asking for, they should understand that if they don’t provide it to us, you know, in the corporate world we generally would zero out their budget,” he said, “if people simply refuse to comply with a reasonable request for reasonable data to an organization that has responsibility to the taxpayers to review that information, so they’re putting us in a very bad place.”
“If they’re not being responsive … that’s unfair,” Koenigsberg said. “That shouldn’t be done and that shouldn’t be the way anybody thinks.”
BOF member Timothy Birch spoke in favor of having a financier serving on the library’s board.
“It is a fairly significant percentage of that budget and we have line-item authority over the Board of Selectmen budget,” he said, “so I think we really should be digging in a little bit on this and making sure we understand.”
“I’m not advocating defunding the library, and I don’t want anyone to misinterpret what I’m saying,” Birch said, “but I do think we have a fiduciary responsibility to dig in a little bit and understand the funding mechanism, how it’s spent, and how their donations work, just so we can report back to the town about this expenditure.”
While he didn’t comment directly on Koenigsberg’s remarks or Escalante’s inquiries, Raimondi later defended the board’s discussion and focus in an email to GMW.
“Our primary role is to ensure transparency and accountability in the allocation and use of town funds,” he said.
“Historically, the library’s budget hasn’t received as much focus from the Board of Finance, but given the significant funding involved, a closer review is warranted — something recent resident feedback has also highlighted,” he said.
“The comments by members of the Board of Finance are solely about fulfilling our oversight responsibilities as mandated by the charter … Our aim is purely to understand all components of the budgets we recommend to Wilton’s residents at the Annual Town Meeting,” Raimondi said.
“We all recognize the library’s valuable role in the community,” he said, “and our focus is strictly on exercising our financial oversight, as we do for all town-supported entities.”
Can someone explain to me what they mean when they say “provocative and edgy?”
I too am looking forward to the expanded response from Mr. Koenigsberg.
If provocative and edgy means having books, displays, and events that celebrate the diversity of the world and our community, and allows our kids to use books as windows and mirrors to better understand themselves and others – then thank you to the library for this work. I want to express my strong support for the Wilton Town Library. The library is a vital community resource.
As a multicultural family, we feel welcomed and represented at the library. With two young children, we visit the library frequently, sometimes multiple times a week. We are impressed by the diversity of the books and appreciate that our children can see themselves and their family’s stories reflected in both the children’s library and adult collections. We would love to see even more representation of biracial families, more books in Spanish, and expanded multicultural programming. The library’s inclusive programming, options, and approach benefit my family and many others in Wilton.
We wholeheartedly support the library’s recent efforts to be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. We hope that all municipal institutions will follow suit.
The comments about the inclusive programming being edgy and provocative and the suggestion that the BOF should have oversight on appointing additional library trustees made during several recent Board of Finance meetings are deeply concerning. The library already has several mechanisms for oversight, accountability, and reporting obligations – that appear to be working.
In response to a rhetorical question made during the a recent BOF meeting about “is this what our community wants?” From our perspective, yes, our family fully support the library’s approach to diversity and inclusivity that recognizes the realities of our town, our country, and the world.
Thank you for your thoughtful response – very well stated.
As a public-serving and public-facing institution, the Library, like our schools, represents a statement of Wilton‘s values and aspirations for its citizens. As the cultural and intellectual center of Wilton, WLA does a fantastic job, fulfilling its mission of enrichment, connecting, and inspiring the community.
Having served as both a board member and officer of WLA, I have witnessed the staff and many volunteers that make this institution great. Managed with in incredible professionalism and integrity, the staff, whose incomes are supported by the town, work diligently to stretch every dollar available to serve a diverse and inquisitive population creatively and economically. In addition, the Board of Trustees brings a tremendous pool of knowledge and experience to oversee management and programming that inspires, informs, and sometimes challenges us to seek our better nature
Posted and available for examination on the LIbrary website is the IRS form 990, disclosing all of the libraries financial dealings. The Treasurer and Director report quarterly to the Board of Selectmen with updates as to programming and finances, and is available for questioning by ancillary board members as well as the public in these forums. Few other private institutions are so open about their financial workings.
My family will enthusiastically support the Library’s Annual appeal, and I know that the Wilton community will join us upholding this fantastic institution. Wilton Library illustrates the best of our community.
Hello Julie,
In my 35 years living in Wilton, I have always loved the Wilton Library.
Your suggestion that anyone who doesn’t want to pay higher taxes to pay for wasteful, provocative and unpopular spending at the library must hate books and all people is frankly, ridiculous.
You conflate all the good qualities of our library and our community with those that have been broadly criticized, and which have no place in our community, and certainly should not be supported with public tax dollars.
Behavior that is intended to provoke is, by definition, provocative. The Board members of town government have received thousands of letters (which also explains why I might have missed one from Good Morning Wilton) criticizing the new, costly “writer in residence” program which turned out to be quite provocative. That new program was a financial choice, which, given other more impactful competing needs at the schools, town and infrastructure, was a very poor allocation of funds. That is my view even before the thousands of letters asking why the Town of Wilton is supporting bigots and bigotry. I am quite certain that the overwhelming majority of the great people who I have been blessed to call my neighbors in Wilton don’t support bigotry. In the thousands of letters recently received by the Boards of the town, criticizing the provocative “writer in residence”, none that I read advocated against multiculturalism, LGBTQ+ rights, or for hatred of books, as you suggest, only extreme disdain for bigotry.
You are not on the side of right by implying that the bad should be accepted with the good. I couldn’t disagree more. Simply stated; keep the good, eliminate the bad. Bigotry is bad. Creating divisiveness in order to be provocative is bad. Wasting taxpayer money on additive and unnecessary programs is bad. Keep supporting our multicultural and LGBTQ+ friends and relatives and neighbors, but let’s not resort to platitudes about unrelated topics to suggest that we all should simply disregard and support bad practices and behaviors, and encourage divisiveness.
Stewart Koenigsberg
Hi Stewart,
Other than the Writer-in-Residence program which was certainly fraught with controversy, are there any other examples in the past of what would be considered “wasteful, provocative and unpopular spending by the library”? Citing concrete examples might give me a better idea of what is driving this idea. Thank you very much.
I don’t see the program “Writer in residence” provocative or edgy and I’m sure many will agree with me. I think it’s a great program that should be continued as it DOES reflect the diversity of our community and contributes to multiculturalism. I also believe that we all need to respect the diversity of opinions. It is actually a bigotry not to. In this particular context, the definition of good and bad is a matter of opinion and not a universal undebatable truth. Hence, respecting the diversity of opinions is what we all stand for and teach our kids to do. Imposing the opinion of one or few totally goes against that. Just an illustration of my point, soon we will have a president who’s not pro-choice, anti-LGBTQ+, and doesn’t believe much in climate change and will probably think that any programs related to these issues are provocative, edgy and simply bad as well as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
I could not agree more. The library has been a place for people to connect, work and study for years. Even a cursory glance at past and upcoming events shows a diversity of activities and for adults, families, teens, and children. Programming has always included speakers, music, art displays, and more. Diversity should be something we value, not seek to squash. These are the traits we should be encouraging in our community and modeling for our children. As noted earlier, there is a board – an active board – that helps govern the organization.
From the town website: “The Board of Finance exercises oversight of the Town of Wilton’s finances. The primary function of the Board of Finance is to recommend a budget and a mill rate to the Annual Town Meeting. The Board also has the power to designate the external auditor and to approve supplemental appropriations upon the request of the Board of Selectmen or the Board of Education. The Board reviews bonding proposals prior to consideration by the Annual Town Meeting and the Connecticut General Statutes grant certain powers to the Board, such as approving investments of Town funds.”
To suggest that the Board of Finance should now wade in evaluating programming with what appears to be explicit threats about funding appears to be a massive overreach and not at all consistent with its mandate.
First, there are many statements and guesses people make about each other because they don’t know each other, and don’t understand the whole picture. Please allow me to respond to many fair questions and some erroneous statements.
I appreciated Ken Hoffman’s statement about his background, and I respect you too Ken, but I will explain why I believe that some of your statements and conclusions are incorrect. My background is that I was asked to volunteer to join the Board of Finance because of my background experiences as a CFO, CEO, Chief Investment Officer, and private equity investor. My experience also includes very significant budgeting experience as a GE Company Officer, including when I was the global head of GE Capital’s Financial Planning, Budgeting and Strategic Planning, overseeing hundreds of budgets and setting expense and revenue targets for 23 individual operating divisions and half a trillion dollars in assets. Earlier in my career I worked at a global consulting and accounting firm where some of my work included not-for-profit and municipal entities, and I have also served on the Board of Directors of numerous public and private companies.
Regarding my usage of the terms “provocative and edgy”, please read Joshua Kesselman’s thoughtful response above. Those are the choices that I was referring to when I asked Toni Boucher in the meeting as to whether she felt taxpayers wanted those programs.
Joshua, you have my deepest gratitude and respect for your response and your articles. I hope that all good people who take the time to read this article and responses reads your articles. Respectful behaviors are the basis for civilized societies.
As far as my beliefs, I abhor racism, bigotry, and anti-LBGT+ speech and behavior. I am pro-choice. I am a fiscal conservative with moderate to liberal social views.
Regarding financial oversight and approval of the budgets of all town funded enterprises, ultimately the Board of Finance (“BOF”) does have a say on all, including the 75% of its funding that is received by the library. The library’s budget is set/approved by the Board of Selectmen, and it has historically been part of their budget. In the past, I would say that we deferred to the Board of Selectman in allocating budget capacity to the library, and the BOF left it up to Lynne Vanderslice followed by Toni Boucher and their boards to guide the library’s budgets.
The worst thing about being on the BOF is wanting to support all of the good funding needs and requests in town while living with the reality that taxpayers don’t want their taxes to increase significantly. I personally respect and greatly admire all of our town boards, town BOE and BOS leaders and their teams and employees for so many reasons but I would highlight all of the personal sacrifices that they make and their efforts to balance taxpayer wants, needs and pocketbooks. When I walk around Wilton Town Hall in the winter time and see our hard working town employees wearing coats and hats in their office work areas because the BOS funding priorities, even with an 11% average homeowner tax increase last year, was not enough to fund renovations to immediately improve their work conditions, I feel awful about the tradeoffs. When I sat through the presentation by members of Wilton’s high school clubs bemoaning their lacking funding, I felt terrible about the tradeoffs. When I witnessed the debates about whether to eliminate some language teachers to make room for other languages at the high school, I felt terrible about those tradeoffs. (especially because I love studying languages and etymology). When I read some of the comments, many that I agree with, that all of the programs at our beloved library in existence or newly added like the new writer in residence program should be funded, I feel terrible about the tradeoffs. When we consider the $200 million+ of requested capital funding needs, and read letters from concerned tax payers wondering if they will be able to afford to stay in their Wilton homes, I feel terrible about the tradeoffs. But they are all tradeoffs, including new spending at the library, so, we all need to be humble enough to realize that each of us is part of a community, and your beloved funding need is in competition with others and requires funding by other tax payer who may not need or want or support what you want.
When I read the thousands of emails questioning the choices made by our library in the writer in residence program, yes, I agree, that turned out to be something that made many people angry, mostly for the reasons that Josh Kesselman highlighted, but I also question why this new spending initiative was considered superior in relation to other town spending needs….we don’t have funds to keep Town Hall employees warm, or Wilton High School fully funded in some basic areas, or complete needed repairs and capital expenditures, but we do have funds for the new position of writer-in-residence…is that the right tradeoff? My view is a resounding no. The library has the luxury of funding specific programs from other non taxpayer funds, but ultimately 75% of ongoing expenditures come from taxpayers. On average every household sends ~$500 annually to the library in taxpayer funds. For my share, I would prefer to honor the BOS’s request for more firefighters who are understaffed due to significant increases in EMS calls. When someone in town has a heart attack and needs timely emergency help, with all due respect, I don’t think that the writer in residence will be very helpful. As much as I love the library and want to see even more programs, we also need to fund other critical priorities.
Ken you question whether this single controversial incident is driving a bad decision to further evaluate the Library’s allocation of town funds. I agree that this incident is a significant but not the only factor in the call to increase review, but disagree with your conclusion. The library is not off limits because we all love the library and its diverse programming and resources. We also love our schools and teachers and police officers and firefighters and town employees, facilities staff and facilities as well. We need to fund increasing health costs, and we need to keep our promises to fund retirement plans, and those are unconditional and not discretionary. It is not off limits to consider all town spending, including the library.
Now, maybe I might know just a little about reviewing financial statements. Ken, you suggest that you reviewed the library’s available IRS tax form 990 and found all the data that you needed. I strongly disagree. Those forms are filed on a significant lag and only include a very limited 20 lines of highly summarized expense data. That form is designed to collect information about a not for profit’s purpose, balance sheet and conflicts of interest, which are mostly irrelevant to expense budgets. I know that your comment is well meaning with the intent of supporting the library, but I doubt that anyone can reach an informed conclusion regarding a 2025-26 budget using the latest available IRS form 990 dated 2022. Please see the BOE and BOS budget materials on the town web site from last year to get a sense for the difference in data. I would also be happy to meet with you to go through the IRS form 990 compared to those other materials.
According to the Good Morning Wilton article, several requests were made for data. Those requests were made by my colleagues, which went unanswered, and meetings were scheduled and cancelled. My colleagues expressed their frustrations, some of which was captured in the article. I was not involved in those requests or meetings, and I assume that there will be cooperation going forward. While the library is much loved, and and is a non governmental entity, it does receive significant town funding and therefore that funding is subject to the jurisdiction of town government. I assume that some of the initial communication issues were related to questioning the role of the BOF in its oversight role. There should be no confusion.
Patrick Brown, I am completely open and delight in education, so please respond to me here or to my town email as to what things I am not fully informed about, as you stated (stewart.koenigsberg@wiltonct.org). As far as bullying, I don’t know what to say other than what I stated before, tradeoffs are not easy, but there is little value in bullying in a volunteer role on fiscal matters. On the matter of dealing with bigots, the bullies are usually the bigots.
Farah Masani, I personally appreciate and applaud your volunteer activities in town, and your work with the town’s LGBT+ community. Regarding your comments, 1. The town also appoints the CFO of the town and all its employees, but that doesn’t mean that budget materials would ever be denied. Every one of the town personnel involved work extremely hard to produce data that is transparent and detailed for the purpose of openness to taxpayers and checks and balances within town government. 2. True, and as I said above, we have deferred to the BOS on the library budget for that reason in the past. The town spending though now exceeds three million dollars annually, greater than 10% of the BOS budget. I know that you have a critical role in your career and likely would not simply disregard 10% of your annual spending. 3., 4. The data typically requested for budgeting purposes is different than IRS form 990s and other highly summarized historical information which also reflect a different time period than forecasted. As I wrote above, I’m sure that this can all be worked out, in terms of data.
Jeffrey Palma, I couldn’t agree more on some of what you say about supporting the excellent programs provided by the library, and diversity, and basic freedoms but I don’t support bigotry, hate speech nor do I support teaching children to hate, especially when funded by Wilton taxpayers and donors. The summary of all of the various boards responsibilities is at a very high level summary. Please join us at a budget meeting and feel free to express your views on any and all of the town’s budgets.
I am happy to respond directly to discuss, debate and share perspectives with anyone who has a question, comment or opinion.
Sorry for the lengthily response.
Who determined the programming is “provocative and edgy” and more specifically what is their definition of provocative and edgy? I think this may be a slippery slope. I think at the very least our community deserves an answer to these questions before a decision is made that impacts our community.
I’m curious as to how many of the “thousands of letters” sent to the board members of the town government were verified to be from Wilton residents.
As a Jewish Wilton resident and a person who did write letters to the library on two occasions in the past few months let me add some context from my perspective if it helps.
1) The library made a mistake with Ms. Gawad. Her public views should have been a warning before her selection but it slipped through the cracks. Her actions in Albany and then lack of a proper apology / understanding what she did wrong were not acceptable. The library did the right thing removing her as writer-in-residence and for that I am grateful.
2) A month later the library featured art from an artist who also expressed blatant unacceptable Anti-Israel views (Claiming Israel did October 7th to itself) online at time of selection but then hid them when the exhibit went live. In this case the art itself was in no way objectionable and the library chose to leave the art up. The library was respectful and did engage with me and followed up including what policy was to object.
3) The library has had and continues to have many wonderful programs that my family and this town enjoy. Like the amazing program from Voice of Hope last night.
Unfortunately we live in times where hate runs rampant and where many are not even aware of how targeted and trigger some of us are. I encourage you to read my oped from 2 weeks ago https://goodmorningwilton.com/letter-to-the-editor-one-wilton-jews-reflection-on-antisemitism-post-oct-7/.
I 100% understand the complaints of “provocative and edgy” and for those that dont I highly recommend 2 books: “Jews Don’t Count” and “We Need to Talk About Antisemitism”. Jews (and Israel the only Jewish state) are literally under attack worldwide including in the US .
All that said, I absolutely support and continue to support our library. I am relieved that they fixed the issue with Ms. Gawad.
As a member of several boards and commissions in Wilton and in my private life as a strategist and investor in the financial services world as well as a CEO and partner in these companies, I have learned the mistakes people can make when they are so inflamed by a single issue that they cannot take a breath and see the entire picture — even when it is right in front of them. While I do love the Wilton library including the facilities, the programming, and its dedication to the community, I am not writing to provide additional approbation. I am writing to state that I have reviewed the form 990 filing of the library, and if there is waste I neither see it nor can find it. Stuart, I have worked with you on town matters, and think your training and background make you well suited to review financial matters. I don’t always agree with your positions, but generally find you thoughtful and judicious in your decision making. But, in this case I believe you are wrong. Why? Because you are taking a single controversial incident and branding an entire organization and its board by using that issue to imply they are mismanaging a resource that brings delight and a sense of community to Wilton. If you are outraged, perhaps rightfully so, by the first appointment to the Writer in Residence Program at the library so be it. But, that does not justify you dangling a cudgel over the library and pontificating about zeroing out a budget as in the “corporate world.” The Wilton Library is not the corporate world. It is a beloved resource in town to which Wiltonians donate thousands of hours. In addition, you state many things without data to back them up. GMW quote you as having said “With all the stuff that’s going on there, a lot of it just seems to be very provocative and very edgy.” Really? Please let us know specifically what you mean by “a lot.” You stated the library is not forthcoming with their budget numbers. Really? Given their disclosures please let us know specifically what you mean by that. Until then, please go back to focusing on ways Wilton can improve its tax base, be more appealing to businesses as a vibrant location, and control expenses while still leaving what delights most Wilton residents about our town in place. That, not this, is what we elected you to do.
Perfect response, Kenneth. He’s spouting off about things he’s clearly not fully informed of, and trying to bully one of the best resources this town has. Thrilled to see no one on here supporting his position.
Really don’t understand what the hullabaloo is all about.
Have the BOS and BOF forgotten?
1. The BOS appointed trustee for the library IS the treasurer of the of the library.
2. The library provides quarterly updates to the BOS.
3. The library financials are on the Town’s website.
4. The library’s annual report is on the library’s website.
Farah,
Let me try an explain the “hullabaloo” in a different context to see if it help you understand the other side.
You have been very active in supporting LGBTQ+ rights in our town which I applaud. What would you think if the Library had hired JK Rowling as the writer in residence? Would it bother you to have our town dollars spent in that way given her view on Trans issues? How about Bari Weiss? Or in a more extreme example Orson Scott Card of Enders Game fame?
Would any of the people who are all respected writers in their own right be triggering to you? This gets to one small fraction of the issue with Ms. Gawad as writer-in-residence and then to a lesser extent Ms. Faham as one of the exhibited artist.
Again I support the Library I am glad they did the right thing but I cannot emphasize enough how my eyes have been opened by the naked Anti-Israel and Antisemitic hate of the world and I will fight tooth and nail to keep all hate out of my town.
Josh, I think it’s important that you and others can bring up your views of library programming and decisions to the library through its board and officers as well as the press or other forums. However I, for one, didn’t elect the Board of Finance, to be an enforcement arm over actions the library takes or mistakes they have made or may make on programming. That’s the problem some of us see with Stuart’s rhetoric. The BOF is the wrong forum for this issue. The library board and officers is the correct forum. I, along with everyone in the town should expect that as a 501(c)(3) the library is transparent with its finances and governance (including its bylaws). If they have not been transparent, then it’s perfectly fine to demand additional transparency, but the BOF should not be used as a tool to enforce policy disagreements with the library over content and programming. And, it’s the BOS that should demand that transparency — if needed. I learned the world is often antisemitic at a young age when a five year old friend’s parents wouldn’t let them play at my house because they believed Jews are “dirty.” At the same age I also learned from my parents that libraries are sacred places, because one thing that no one can take away from us, as Jews, or any other community is knowledge. Let’s use our knowledge of antisemitism and other prejudices to defend our rights. Let’s not punish those who run institutions that try to illuminate ideas. If antisemitism is running amuck in Wilton let’s find positive and effective ways to stand firm. We don’t need the BOF to do that work for us.
Ken,
I do and did bring up my concern to the library board and I will say they were respectful and helpful. Which is why I still do support the Wilton Library and encourage others to do so.
As far as the Board of Finance they are elected to look over many budgets. I have not enjoyed every time they cut the school budget but it is in fact their job as I understand it to oversee how all the town money is spent.
The Library, the selectmen, the schools… They are the purse of the town. I currently do not think they should cut the library budget but it is within their right to ask how our town spends money and if it reflects how we want to invest our hard earned tax dollars.
I have also learned in the past few years that no institution is immune from institutional capture (by extreme groups and ideologies) including values places like libraries and universities. Luckily that is not the case with our library but that is not a fact I take for granted.
Hi Stuart. I am sorry if you took my comments to mean you needed to mention your credentials at GE by stating asset levels and positions. We all know and appreciate your training and background. The lesson of private equity and corporate investment is that no amount of due diligence and self-questioning is too much. Perhaps previous administrations in Wilton should have done their due diligence and been more forthcoming about the future budget shortfalls in the town due to deferred maintenance and our eroding commercial tax base so we wouldn’t find ourselves in the awful budget situation we face today. Or perhaps they knew what was happening and just buried or ignored the facts. I don’t have the verified information to determine which reason is correct. I do know that, to use your love of corporate examples, if the operating officers of a small to mid-sized corporation I had backed suddenly “found” over $100MM in deferred maintenance, I would fire them as part of the solution. Why is Wilton almost broke and unable to invest in the future. The answer is a lack of critical investment and poor planning decisions over the past decades. There was an untested presumption that the town residents didn’t want to invest in the future so Wilton would never change. Well, everything does change whether we want it to or not. And, with better foresight and management it can change for the better. With regard to the library, you don’t need every line in the library budget to know there is little to no waste. And, you don’t need to threaten the library with zeroing out their budget to get the answers you may require. Frankly, the math isn’t that hard. The library provides current accounting and reporting to the town in excess of the 990s. And, I have read the detail on the BOE budget as well. I am totally fine with the BOF looking at the minutia of the library budget if it is at the request and direction of the BOS who holds the management of the contractual obligation between the town and the library. I wasn’t objecting to that. I am not attacking your fiscal conservative/social liberal bonafides. And, I am not saying that the library should have spent an extra $30K on a writer in residence program in the face of the town budget shortfalls. I am saying that if your personal anger at the choice of programming is driving part of your decision making process, that the “incident” should play no role in your financial review of the library. It is up to you if you want to ask the BOS to consider the $30K a wasteful spend in consideration of the overall town budget. Sadly the current budgeting process will do little to fix the macro problems in the town. Unless we address things quickly and attract investment, our commercial buildings will not bring in new high-quality tenants, the lack of transportation infrastructure will continue to deter companies from moving into town, the over dependence on a single-family residential tax base vs. other sources of tax revenue will make it unbearable for homeowners to shoulder future burdens, and the ghost town qualities of our downtown center will continue to make retail and entertainment entrepreneurs think twice before they choose Wilton for their businesses. Yes, we are making some changes to our tax base, including multi-family housing, but the clarion call for improvements in amenities and infrastructure is also reaching deaf ears — frankly I worry that it may be too little too late. Oh wait, I forgot we do have infrastructure. We have a gazebo. It is rather remarkable that in the current fiscal environment that the schools and the library have done as well as they have. But, unless things change and change soon, that excellence may ebb as well. I have asked for a joint BOF, BOS, Planning and Zoning meeting to discuss what type of development is most likely to be financially accretive to the town. I am still waiting for that discussion and request to be acted on at a Planning and Zoning meeting. I understand we are going to take the issue up “soon.” This entire discussion has left me thinking that “I used to have a nickel and a dime, but now I don’t even have any time.” Best, Ken
Stripping a respected Muslim writer of her position, reputation, and safety, while also targeting other Muslim women artists connected to the library, is a troubling act of bigotry. Furthermore, using oppressive corporate tactics to influence library programming is a blatant abuse of power. In a predominantly white community, where prejudice permeates our school hallways and sidelines, Wilton Library stands as a sanctuary for diverse opinions, creative expression, learning, and understanding. Let’s work to preserve that environment.
Hi Jennifer,
While I 100% agree that bigotry against Muslims (and anyone) is bad that is not the situation that happened in the case of Ms. Gawad. In fact, that is an inversion of the true story. Ms. Gawad is Anti-Zionist (Antisemitic) writer who has an extreme view and was unwilling as a writer to be on a panel with a Jewish writer despite the panel’s topic having nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinians. She has been active in the NYU BDS movement which is a form of Israel delegitimating (a dog whistle for Antisemitism). I for one a grateful that she and the library have parted ways as she does not represent an inclusive vision of the future for all (Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Atheists…), but instead, an extreme in which Jews are not entitled to have a land of their own like all other peoples. I wish Ms. Gawad no ill will as a person but I do not support our town giving her hatred a platform.
For further reading I on the history of what happens I highly recommend:
https://goodmorningwilton.com/wilton-library-writer-in-residence-controversy-antisemitism/
https://www.wamc.org/news/2024-09-20/albany-book-festival-panel-scrapped-amid-apparent-disagreement-over-israel
For further detail on how this new breed of Antisemitism is scary to me please read:
https://goodmorningwilton.com/letter-to-the-editor-one-wilton-jews-reflection-on-antisemitism-post-oct-7/
Sadly, we live in time where the term and ideal of Zionist has been turned into a slur and where many people are projecting and incorrect American frame of reference to the sad situation is Israel and in Gaza.
Thanks, Josh