OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Town councilors and members of the library board will meet tonight to try to resolve a standoff over who’s running the Libby Memorial Library.

The library board has turned over some, but apparently not all, of its financial records more than a month after a local bank told library officials that some of its money had apparently been misappropriated, town officials said.

Additional Photos

The Libby Memorial Library's website still carries a scroll saying that, "due to impending closure," library materials need to be returned by Wednesday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Old Orchard Beach police, with assistance from the state Attorney General’s Office, are still investigating the alleged misappropriations and suspicion has focused on a former library bookkeeper who passed away in March.

Since then, the town has said it will no longer transfer money to library accounts and will, instead, pay all of the library’s bills and issue paychecks from Town Hall. Louise Reid, the town’s assistant manager, said the library on Monday turned over some financial record that the town needs to start paying those bills, but still has not supplied tax forms identifying vendors and employees.

The library’s board has a memorandum of understanding that it wants town officials to sign recognizing the board’s role running the library, said Jerome Plante, who heads the board. He said the memo also sets out the town’s role in providing financial oversight.

The library’s website still carries a scroll saying that, “due to impending closure,” library materials need to be returned by Wednesday.

But Town Council Chairman Robert Quinn said he hopes a workshop session tonight will ease the board’s concerns over the town assuming control of the board’s finances and end the threat that the library will close.

He said the council is not interested in managing day-to-day operations at the library, but it backs the town manager’s decision on town control of the library’s finances.

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