BUENA PARK : Library Cost-Cutting Try Called Vendetta

A Buena Park Library District trustee charged last week that a colleague’s proposal to reduce salaries for managers is a vendetta against the library because her husband was fired 14 years ago as an employee.

Trustee Robert Niccum made the accusation against Trustee Helen M. Bohen.

Bohen denied the charge, saying it was ludicrous.

“What has happened, I believe, is that Helen was merely waiting to launch the vendetta,” Niccum said. “I think she found in our budget problems the fertile ground to initiate . . . what I believe was her plan all along.”

Bohen countered: “I think it was a personal attack. There was no reason for it. I don’t have a hidden agenda. My concern is with library services to the public and maintaining staff and services.”

The squabble began when Bohen said she wanted the board to look into 10% salary reduction for all five managers and cutting the use of library cars by the director and another top manager as ways to cope with the library’s financial problems.

Bohen withdrew the proposal from discussion after Niccum cited a policy Wednesday night that prohibits publicly discussing certain matters.

The policy prohibits a trustee whose family members were subject to disciplinary action while employees of the library from initiating or participating in actions adversely affecting the employment of managers or supervisors who recommended the disciplinary action.

The policy, enacted in 1979, was revised in October, 1988, before Bohen’s election to the board that year.

“I did not get on the board to cause trouble, it was water under the bridge,” Bohen said in reference to her husband’s dismissal.

Bohen’s husband, Earl, then an 11-year library employee, was dismissed after a theft in 1979. No criminal charges were filed. Earl Bohen filed a civil lawsuit against the library but the courts ruled he had no case.

Library Director Colleen McGregor, who has held that job for 16 years, said she had recommended to trustees that Earl Bohen be dismissed.

McGregor charged that Helen Bohen and Trustee Edward A. Erdtsieck, who are usually in the minority on voting matters, are allies. Erdtsieck had voted against dismissing Bohen’s husband.

“It would appear they have not operated in the best interests of the district,” McGregor said.

Helen Bohen said McGregor’s charges are wrong and that she and Erdtsieck share a common interest in the library. “We seem to see eye to eye with what’s going on,” she said.

Helen Bohen said the split among board members has to stop.

“But I don’t think we’re going to reach any understanding until we put this penny-ante stuff behind us,” she said.