The comments at Monday’s meeting were often supportive of library staff. Some expressed warm memories of the café and its owners while others questioned their allegations of racism. Several people of color spoke, saying they had not experienced racism at the library. The most common call was one for answers on whether racism and harassment had occurred — or not.

The 20-student Farnsworth team created He Hika, a city located on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, which uses hydropower, biomass, geothermal, and hydrogen as energy sources. Able to spend only $100, the students built their model of recycled materials.

The Altamont Board of Trustees this month accepted the retirement of its superintendent of public works, Jeffrey Moller. 

Beckmann also received reprieve from having to install a costly sprinkler system when, as part of its approval, the town’s zoning board of appeals granted him a variance from that portion of the law, instead allowing him to install a localized alarm system. 

Bette and Greg Shields, Westmere

On Friday, the library issued a statement saying investigation has shown the problems were “not driven by discrimination based on any protected class” but rather from disagreement “about roles and responsibilities for library staff versus cafe staff,” and that internal procedures would be overhauled “to ensure that future vendor relationships are cordial and collaborative.”

“In the end,” Superintendent Marie Wiles said of flag football, “we felt it was fairest to our existing programs and to the overall process that we use to make really tough decisions about what ends up in the budget to put it in the queue for next year.”