West Bend Library Board looks for new attorney, schedules emergency meeting tonight

OWEN from B&S reports on this:

Consider this a red alert…

The West Bend Library Board has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow evening. I don’t know the time or place yet. The extremely short notice is troubling. On the agenda is to hire an outside attorney - someone other than the city attorney - to represent the Library Board. The reason is because some of the Library Board members were not happy with Mary Schanning’s advice (West Bend’s City Attorney) that they must disclose their emails regarding the public library’s business.


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Here is the email that the City Attorney sent to the Library Board Members:

Library Board Members,

I am writing to you regarding the Library Board meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 18, 2009 to discuss hiring outside counsel to represent the Library Board. As I already informed Barbara Deters and Patti Geidel, I discourage you from taking such action. As the City Attorney, I have provided legal counsel to the Library Board in the past and can continue to provide legal counsel in the future. Because the Library Board is a committee of the City, the City Attorney provides legal counsel to the Library Board at no charge to the Board. Hiring outside counsel will require the Board to use library funds to pay the legal fees of the attorney hired.

.....more here.

NOTE: The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the West Bend Library.