Library Hero in New Jersey: Embattled librarian resigns
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS -- Embattled borough librarian Michele Reutty, under fire for refusing to give borough police circulation records without a subpoena this spring, has resigned. Embattled librarian resignsThursday, October 5, 2006
By MERRY FIRSCHEIN
STAFF WRITER
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS -- Embattled borough librarian Michele Reutty, under fire for refusing to give borough police circulation records without a subpoena this spring, has resigned.
She has accepted a job as director of the Oakland Public Library.
Reutty's resignation from her $65,000 position came abruptly Monday, when she left a letter in a manila envelope for library finance committee members before their evening meeting.
Reutty said in the letter she would resign immediately if the library Board of Trustees did not drop all charges against her and pay her legal fees. If they did so, she would stay through Oct. 31, the letter said. She gave the board just 24 hours to make a decision.
"If these conditions are met, I will stay 4 weeks, perform my duties as library director as competently and professionally as I always have, and will recruit and/or train my successor," she wrote.
Reutty caught the library trustees -- and borough officials -- by surprise.
"She did not give us a reasonable time to review her conditions indicated in her letter, and therefore her resignation was accepted immediately," said Borough Administrator Michael Kronyak. He said a reasonable amount of time would be two weeks.
Reutty "served the people of Hasbrouck Heights well in her 17 years," said Lisa Traina, chairwoman of the library Board of Trustees.
Assistant Library Director Mimi Hui will be appointed acting director when she returns from vacation next week, Traina said. Until then, Kronyak is overseeing the library.
"It is business as usual at the library, and we will survive," Traina said. "Our patrons are our No. 1 concern."
Reutty's resignation comes in the midst of negotiations between the trustees and her lawyer over her actions in May, when she refused to give borough police circulation records without a subpoena.
The police were searching for information on a man who allegedly made sexual threats to a 12-year-old borough girl. The man was carrying a library book with a certain title. Police came to Reutty asking for the name of the person who took out that book. She refused, citing New Jersey state statutes governing access of private information from libraries.
She cooperated after police brought the legal document.
But part of the controversy concerns Reutty's other actions: She consulted a lawyer familiar with state library law at the time of the police's request, not the borough attorney, as is required by borough law.
After a public meeting in June, negotiations began between the library board and Reutty's lawyer. The library board voted last month that Reutty's punishment, if she did not comply with any agreement, would be a two-week suspension without pay.
Reutty said during a telephone interview she is unhappy to leave the Hasbrouck Heights library.
"I love that town and the people in it," she said. "We built that library as a team. You don't build a library like that without having support from the administration, the trustees and the staff."
But Reutty said she had no choice but to give the trustees an ultimatum. "I truly wanted to give them, the library board, that 24 hours to consider the option, which is more than they did for me." she said. "I put my heart and soul into that library for 17 years, and to be treated so shabbily just broke my heart."
She said she is not yet sure if she will take any legal action.
Reutty said she will start at the Oakland library Dec. 4.
E-mail: firschein@northjersey.com
Copyright (c) 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.