Union negotiations, personnel policy and a 53-year-old city ordinance are raising questions about the role and authority of the South Portland Library Advisory Board.

“The board just wants to do what it is charged with, but now we’re not quite sure what that is,” said Carin Dunay, who chairs the seven-member volunteer group.

At issue is a recent workshop the Library Advisory Board held with City Manager Jim Gailey and corporate counsel to clarify the duties of the board, composed of City Council appointees.

Dunay described the board as “stalemated” in the last two years, as the city and library staff have been engaged in a contract dispute.

The city’s Library Ordinance, enacted in 1966, gives the board powers over staffing and policymaking.

But members were not involved in recent changes at the Main Library that included closing the Young Adult Resource Room and the layoffs of a clerk and the Young Adult Librarian.

Those decisions were made by City Manager Jim Gailey, based on recommendations by Dana Anderson, director of Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Libraries.

Dunay noted that Library Director Kevin Davis attends all the Library Advisory Board meetings, but Anderson – Davis’ supervisor – has never been to a meeting. Likewise, Tim Gato, Anderson’s deputy director, also has not attended a Library Advisory Board meeting.

Dunay said it is her understanding that the Library Advisory Board is charged with “shared governance” of the libraries, along with the director and city manager.

“Eliminating the Young Adult Librarian and closing the Young Adult Room was a de facto elimination of service. A change of that magnitude should not have been undertaken without full involvement of the Board,” said Vicky Smith, a South Portland resident and children’s book editor with Kirkus Reviews.

“Ideally, the Board should have been informed of the targeted budget cut well in time to consider all the alternatives, with input from the public… as well as the library administration and staff,” said Smith, who has been a vocal critic of the cutbacks.

The city’s Library Ordinance outlines the board’s duties as creating policies to “govern the operation and program(s) of the library,” including setting hours, determining services and preparing an annual budget in conjunction with the director.

The ordinance also calls for the board to recommend employees and supervise their work.

But at a Library Advisory Board workshop last week, city attorney Sally Daggett recommended that the board refrain from making staffing and oversight decisions. She cited union negotiations and the city’s own personnel policies as the reasons.

Dunay said the board was told by Daggett that its role is limited because of labor talks. “We want to do things correctly,” she said. “But we want to find a way to have a voice.”

Gailey said in an e-mail Monday that “there are some inconsistencies in the old Ordinance,” with how South Portland’s libraries operate today. He pointed to the language that directs the board to have “oversight of the Director and his/her staff and setting pay scale for those employees.”

Gailey also noted the role “union negotiations and ultimately the establishment of the union could play in diminishing the existing role of the (board).”

He encouraged the Library Advisory Board to research how other boards operate at libraries with unionized workers. “I don’t see this as a huge barrier, but one that should be looked at.”

He said the board “brings value to the library and its operation and they now find themselves in a position that they need to update an Ordinance…”

He noted that a Library Feasibility Committee is looking at “the whole facility” and plans to recommend actions “for the betterment of the Main Library… I for one am eager to see the outcome of this work.”

Library director Davis said “it’s safe to say that an ordinance instituted in 1966 is likely to be out of date in places.”

No one’s “duties or roles have changed – or will change,” he said. He noted that most of the board members are new to their roles, since there has been a turnover of members.

“We just need to find the best way for the Board, the staff and myself to work together in the most beneficial manner for our users,” he said.