Mayor Suggests Shutting Down Hudson Area Library

Hudson Mayor Alan Burchill has called a special meeting of the City of Hudson Common Council for Monday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. There will be only one item on the agenda: funding of the . We don’t have to wait until Monday, though, to get a clear read of the mayor’s position on the library.

It was Feb. 28, just two weeks ago, at a meeting of the leaders of the four HAJL partners — , , and Town of St. Joseph — with a group comprised of members of the HAJL board and others.  The topic under discussion was the continued growth in library usage, and the continuing problem of underfunding of the Library operations. Near the end of the meeting each municipal leader was asked to sum up.

Mayor Burchill’s choice was "...dissolving the library and shutting the library down. Cause I think that’s a third option that we have to look at, and be realistic." This is a direct quote, spoken by the mayor at an 1 hour and 43 minutes into the meeting. I give you the exact time so you can, if you wish, view it yourself. The streaming video will allow fast forwarding once a sufficient buffer has been cached.

Shut down the Library. It wasn’t a joke, and no one was smiling. And it wasn’t an offhand comment; Burchill mentioned shutting the library down before the meeting began, and after it ended. 

There are nine libraries in St. Croix county. Considering that the HAJL covers four municipalities, it’s fair to say that every incorporated city or town or village in St. Croix county has a library. That libraries are important to us is self-evident. Here in Hudson the trait we have most in common — more than membership in any community group, more than voting — is that we have library cards. If we were to follow the mayor’s statement, we would have the distinction of being the largest city in the county, and the only one without a library.

If you have an opinion of the mayor’s opinion, then you should plan to attend Monday’s meeting at . I’ll see you there.

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Editor's note: Scot O'Malley is running for mayor in the City of Hudson against Alan Burchill. The election is April 3, 2012.