Adams Trustees Officially Rescind Library Service Animal Policy
 The library trustees rescinded a controversial policy and got an update on the library project. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Adams Free Library board of trustees officially rescinded its approval of a service animal policy.
The trustees met Monday afternoon to revoke the decision made in December. The policy was immediately attacked by people saying it discriminated against those in need of a service animal and was illegal. Library Director Deborah Bruneau suspended the policy soon after the approval.
"I need to apologize," Bruneau said. "I really didn't do enough homework on that because I heard from people all across the country."
The original policy asked that the service-animal owner present certification for the animal and wait for an employee to tell all patrons in the library that there was an animal in the building.
Trustee and attorney James Loughman also apologized for not looking more into the policy. He said he was under the impression that other libraries practice the same policy.
"I had the impression other libraries had the same policy, and I thought if it worked for them it would work for us," Loughman said. "I simply concluded that what we voted on met the standard."
According to the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, service animals do not have to be licensed or certified and cannot be prohibited or detained. If an animal is acting up, the owner can be asked to remove it.
Bruneau said no service animals have been in the library since the original policy was suspended. She said a new policy is being drafted with town counsel.
"I am going to reword it in a more positive slant and send it off," she said. "It is more to just to ask them to take care, clean up, and keep the animal leashed because this is the problem we have had in the past."
Bruneau said she did not mean to discriminate against anyone and only was concerned for patrons.
"I have children in the library and patrons that are petrified of dogs and according to some of these people, they have no rights," she said.
She also gave an update on the library renovation project. All of the automatic door openers have been installed and will soon be powered once the electrician hooks them up. Fixtures will be installed in the new bathroom next week after the floors are sanded.
She added the library may have to close one more day for some roof work needed to repair a drain.
Bruneau said she would like to add new computers into the library's budget. She said the front-desk computer sees the most use and may need to be replaced soon
"Four out of six days it takes 45 minutes to warm up," Bruneau said. "There is something wrong."
She said she would also like to write maintenance of the public computers into the budget. The computers were paid for by a grant and are not covered by the town.
"It's the service we provide," she said. "Now it's time to keep up and maintain the service. It is not as though they are in bad shape."
Tags: ADA, adams library,
