BUENA PARK : Library Trustee Files Grand Jury Complaint

The Buena Park Library District, one of only two independent districts left in the county, is struggling to cope with having more than a quarter of its budget frozen in the bankrupt county investment pool.

The district can operate only through June unless some $500,000 is released by the county, said the library director, Colleen McGregor.

And that’s not the only problem--one of the trustees of the fractious library board has filed a complaint with the Orange County Grand Jury alleging financial malfeasance.

Trustee Edward A. Erdtsieck filed charges last month that he and another trustee “have been unable to exercise our fiduciary oversight over the district’s budget.” He further complained that “McGregor continues to keep us in the dark” about the effects of the county’s bankruptcy on the library.

McGregor rebutted the charge and said the board members receive budget updates every month. “I don’t know why he thinks I’m hiding anything,” she said. “There is no way for anything to be hidden in the records because they are published monthly.”

McGregor, who has been director of the library for 17 years, attributed this and other past squabbles to the independent personalities of the five trustees. The votes frequently split 3 to 2, with Erdtsieck and Trustee Helen Bohen in the minority, she said.

McGregor gave board members a very pessimistic view of the district’s financial situation at a meeting last week, saying that $500,000 of the library’s $1.7-million budget was frozen in the county fund.

“Our expenditures have been reduced substantially to only what is needed to operate,” McGregor told the board.

As to the request for a grand jury inquiry, board President Robert J. Niccum said he does not fear an investigation. Erdtsieck claims wrongdoing whenever the majority of the board disagrees with him, Niccum said.

“If the grand jury wants to look at us, I’ll open the door and hold their coats,” he said.