To the Editor:
I am writing in response to your recent editorial that appeared in the Thursday, March 7, edition of The Enterprise about the Feb. 28 meeting of the Guilderland Public Library Board of Trustees [“The sooner the truth is known, the better for the library, for the Café con Mel, and for the public”].

As the library’s interim director, present in the room that evening, I do not dispute the events that you recounted. A series of separate matters were indeed discussed as part of one board meeting, and in hindsight, it is clear that these matters could all too easily be misinterpreted as being connected to one another.

On behalf of the staff of the library, I am writing to disentangle these points, and to provide context of which I am personally aware as an administrator of the library for what occurred during this meeting — because it would do a grave disservice to members of our staff if these issues were left open to interpretation.

To clear up the ambiguity, it is important to first understand that, although the library is currently in the midst of a crisis response that requires significant attention and care, the community’s need for the vital services and resources we provide has not diminished.

Accordingly, the administration and staff of the library must continue to operate the facility, which means the board of trustees must continue to vote on important business items that impact the finances and function of the library, including retirements.

As an additional point of clarity, although it is very easy to mix up these two bits of jargon used by public employers like the library, there is a difference between an “early retirement” and a “retirement incentive.” 

Retirement incentives are typically offered by public employers as a cost-savings measure, given that the base pay for a new employee is often much lower than the final rate of pay for an employee with a long history of service who is eligible to retire. An “early retirement” on the other hand refers to a situation in which a public worker leaves employment before full retirement age, and takes a reduced pension rate as a result.

As a last point of order in relation to retirement at the Guilderland Public Library in particular, it is true that the library administration worked out a one-time retirement incentive with our CSEA [Civil Service Employees Association] union and board of trustees.

The incentive was negotiated in the summer of 2023, with the official announcement made in October of 2023. Meanwhile, Café con Mel did not open until September of 2023, meaning the bulk of the work to create this incentive occurred well before the café opened.

To pull this all together — while it is indeed true that the library created and rolled out a retirement incentive package, and that four long-term library employees eligible for full retirement, including Kim LaPlant and Maria Buhl accepted the retirement incentive, any suggestion that our incentives have anything to do with Café con Mel is false — and anyone who makes reference to these retirements as being “early” is incorrect.

On behalf of the administration of the library, I would like to commend and thank all our staff for their service, including Maria Buhl and Kim LaPlant.

Nathaniel Heyer

Interim Director

Guilderland Public Library