Saugus Library board meets, moves forward

SAUGUS – The new Saugus Library Board of Trustees met for the first time this week, and the three newest members have their eyes set on rebuilding trust in the community, according to trustee Matthew Canterbury.?We?re all on the same page,” said Canterbury. “We want to restore the faith of our fellow Saugonians in the library and the second part of that goal is to reinvigorate them and let them know they have this amazing resource. It?s a great place to go.”Canterbury said the trustees? meeting went well and was very productive, even though it was mostly organizational.?It was really good,” said Canterbury. “It was a lot of housekeeping and stuff like that. The three trustees were there and I?m really excited to work with Paul Allen and Gail (Murray). (Library Director) Diane Wallace is awesome. I?ve met with her a couple of times to show me around and I think we?ve got the right person there.”The trustees elected Allan, a Town Meeting member, as chairman Monday while Canterbury was elected secretary.Federal agents arrested former administrative assistant Linda Duffy in December for allegedly stealing more than $800,000 in library fees and donations over a seven-year period while an employee there. The 65-year-old is charged with four counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft.At a hearing in federal court in March, Duffy?s lawyer, former Library Trustee Fred Riley, claimed Duffy used the money she allegedly stole to fund library operations. Duffy is due back in federal court in Boston on May 30 for a status hearing.Allan said Thursday the current library staff is as “trustworthy as can be,” but noted trustees want to make sure they can easily show anyone “where money is being touched and who?s touching it.”?We kind of came up with our game plan moving forward,” said Allan. “We?re going to work on the bylaws first and get those all hammered out. We?re going to see if there?s anything we need to add to them to maintain transparency. We just want to work together to have the checks and balances. We want to have that outstanding transparency so there are no questions asked. We?re one team working on the same cause.”The Board of Selectmen met in executive session Tuesday with the town?s labor lawyer to discuss the status of Ewa Jankowska, who served as interim Library Director while Duffy was employed there.Selectman Stephen Horlick said the board will meet Tuesday in open session to discuss what actions to take based on a report from a recent labor hearing looking into whether she should have known about the alleged theft. He said the board could vote to suspend her or terminate her.Jankowska has been suspended with pay since January.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].