Library ordered to declutter
Staff writer
Hillsboro is telling its city library to declutter and get things in order.
Council members heard Tuesday from Mayor Lou Thurston on a decision to close the library Oct. 29-30 and to allow employees time to declutter the space.
Books waiting to be logged and office equipment were everywhere.
After Oct. 30 the city will inspect the library. If not done, city employees will be tasked with the cleanup, and no one wants that.
When asked why the library got to this point, Thurston said part of it was space challenges and how decisions made never were implemented.
“We are giving them the opportunity they can use down there,” he said. “The alternative is city staff will have to go in to renovate.
“It must be done. It’s a citywide issue. “Do it or we will do it.”
After the meeting Thurston told the Record the library has been needed to be cleaned up for more than a year.
“Over this last year we can’t go forward,” he said, “It’s more of a preventive method to prevent our insurance from going up.”
The city does an annually inspection of the library, administrator Matt Stiles said.
Rhiannon Schmidt, Hillsboro’s children’s librarian, said that when just one employee that hurts the library.
“I would say we would be lucky if we completed it within a week,” said Schmidt, who was unaware of what the city had ordered.
“This is the first we have heard of it,” she said.
Most of the council members visited the library right after the meeting to see what Thurston was talking about.
“We will do what we can,” Schmidt said.
The council also approved its Christmas time-off schedule.
Stiles proposed to close the office on Christmas Eve at 3 p.m., but council wanted it to close no later than 1 p.m.
Non-essential city employees will get Dec. 26 as a paid holiday. Employees will also get a paid holiday the day after Thanksgiving.
Thurston said non-essential employees, like police officers, do not work a typical schedule.
On the day after Christmas Stiles said he did not want to have to turn down employee request’s to have the day off.