Ayer Library Board Appoints Two Permanent Trustees, Orders Faster Reopening

AYER -- April 15, 2021, Ayer Library trustees unanimously seated two permanent members and demanded the library director accelerate a COVID-19 reopening plan at the April 15 board meeting. The board voted 5-0 to appoint Treasurer Sue Kennedy and, in absentia, Sharon Salosky to permanent trustee seats on the nine-member board, which has struggled to maintain quorum. Trustee Deborah Faust Clancy led a sharp challenge to Library Director Tim Silver's phased reopening timeline, naming more than 20 area libraries, including Acton, Groton, Littleton, and Lowell, that she said had already reopened under state guidance permitting limited in-person access since early March. "The board is telling you open the library, that's what you should listen to," Faust Clancy said. Silver, who said staff vaccination appointments were being scheduled for that weekend, walked back a July projection, suggesting May or June as a more realistic target and said he planned to record a public service announcement for APAC and Facebook to update residents on reopening plans.