VOORHEESVILLE — A father of two, who has a passion for biographies is running in an uncontested election for trustee of the Voorheesville Public Library.

Robert Kent was appointed trustee two years ago; he replaced Margaret Adkins who resigned in 2004 after being elected New Scotland town judge. Kent is now running in his first election, for a five-year term. There are five seats on the board.
With a 10- and six- year old, Kent said, "My wife and I use the library all the time — it’s a real asset in the community."

The family borrows books regularly; his kids pick out children’s books. Luckily, he said, they like to read, and he also enjoys reading to them. On occasion, his children also borrow video games from the library, but mostly they borrow books, he said.

The next book Kent wants to read is local author Paul Grondahl’s biography on Teddy Roosevelt, Presidential Passage: How Theodore Roosevelt Rode the Lessons of Albany Politics to the White House.
"I’ve always been interested in politics"the people involved"not so much what happened, but what got them there, the process," Kent said of this genre.

Kent has lived in the Voorheesville School District for 12 years in the town of Guilderland at the Weatherfield development.

In his next five years on the board, Kent said, he wants to move forward with a building expansion. The construction project is a big thing, he said, and trying to maintain a reasonable budget at the same time. With the proposed $881,000 budget for 2006-07 fiscal year, Kent said he sees the increases as a reflection of the cost of everything that increases each year.

He wants to meet the demands of the computer age.
"I’m old-fashioned," he said. "There’s something in me that still likes to hold something in front of me," he said of reading and gathering information from paper rather than off a screen.
But computers at the library are an important resource, he said. The residents of Voorheesville come from "both extremes of the economic spectrum," he said, and the library is non-threatening place in the community for people to come to access the Internet.
Kent has been serving as the library board’s treasurer. He said he works with the "great staff" to monitor the public library funds. He reviews the finances monthly and signs checks so bills and employees are paid, he said.