Library director's credit use suspended

[K.] is disciplined for six months for misusing a business card.

The director of the city's library system says she's "embarrassed and sorry" about using the system's business credit card for about $1,000 in personal charges, charges that prompted the board to suspend her privileges for six months.

Nobody is asking for [K.]'s resignation. The board chairman says trustees will "bring closure to the matter" when they meet next month to evaluate [K.]'s annual job performance. In fact, [the chairman] credits [K.] for boosting circulation and participation in library programs since her arrival in R_____ in June 2002.

[K.] said she hopes the issue won't damage the district's ability to pass a property tax referendum, an undertaking the board may launch as early as next year. Voters last approved a tax hike for the city's library system in 1984.

"I'm completely embarrassed and sorry," [K.] said. "I'm disappointed in myself that I put my integrity in question."

[K.] has reimbursed the library district for $1,084.14 in expenses she made dating back to April 2004 on the business credit card. She reimbursed about half of those expenses last year after the district's CFO ... noticed the inappropriate charges and brought the matter to [K.]'s attention.

[K.] made another series of personal charges on the credit card in February, which prompted [the CFO] to notify board members. [K.] reimbursed the district for those charges, totaling $418.87, last week.

In an interview with the [newpapper] on Thursday, [K.] provided a list of the personal expenses, which included gas, groceries, restaurant meals, movie tickets and more than $500 in clothes at Marshall Field's and Nordstrom's.

Board members suspended [K.]'s credit-card privileges for six months at a special meeting March 18. [K.] said she apologized to the nine-member board for the "lapse in judgment."

[K.] also said she promised the board to repay the tax-supported library $770 that the district spent on alcohol last October for an after-hours networking event for the R______ Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Trustees hired [K.] to replace [the former director], who resigned amid complaints of a brash management style. [K.] worked at libraries in Mich. and Colo. for five years before coming to R______, where she earns $81,900 a year.

The board laid off five custodians last October and hired two private firms to trim $120,000 a year from its $7 million budget. A new catalog system is saving the district $100,000 a year, [K.] said.

"She's done a very good job of moving the library forward, but she made a mistake," [the board chairman] said. "I'm not happy about it, but I've also got to look at the intent as well. I don't think there was any malicious intent that was perpetrated.

"The important thing to remember here is that this was handled appropriately. The CFO alerted the board, and the board took action."

[The chair of] the board's Financial Planning and Properties Committee has vowed to examine monthly library expenses to ensure credit-card abuse doesn't happen again.

"I'm extremely critical of her handling of financial matters," he said. "As the board's treasurer, I have to keep an eye on that."

As for a referendum, [K.] and the library board have visions of renovating the main downtown branch, building a neighborhood library to replace the ... branch on the city's west side and building a regional library [on the far northwest side].

The district will launch a campaign this summer to seek private donations. An upcoming feasibility study will help determine how much of a tax increase to seek.

"Even if we weren't going for a referendum, I'm particularly sorry about this because I take my role as a public servant very seriously," [K.] said.

{edited by siteowner}