Port Jefferson Free Library's children's section is bursting with books. Photo by Heidi Sutton
A library board president was unseated on Wednesday, in an election that will also fill the board for the first time in a while.
Two incumbents and two newcomers were gunning for three positions as Port Jefferson Free Library trustees this week, at a time when the library is working on plans to expand its facilities.
The library announced on its website that Trustee Susan Prechtl-Loper was re-elected to the board with 129 votes and newcomers Carl Siegel — who once served on the board in the late 1990s — and Joel Rosenthal were elected with 135 votes and 126 votes, respectively.
President Laura Hill Timpanaro lost her re-election bid, garnering only 77 votes, according to Tom Donlon, the interim library director.
Being the top two vote-getters, Siegel and Prechtl-Loper won five-year terms on the board, while third-place winner Rosenthal won a two-year stint that became available after former Trustee Harriet Martin vacated her spot on the board with the time still left on her term.
The library has recently acquired two properties adjacent to its corner building at Thompson and East Main streets in downtown Port Jefferson — a residential property on Thompson and a business on East Main — and is working on developing those properties to help satisfy the library’s parking and general needs.
Three trustee seats up for election next Wednesday
The upcoming budget vote is at the library on Thompson Street. File photo
By Giselle Barkley
Port Jefferson Free Library will soon have a full board of trustees for the first time in a while, after an election on Jan. 13 in which four candidates are running for three seats.
Residents can meet the group at the library on Monday, at 7 p.m., including incumbents Laura Hill Timpanaro and Susan Prechtl-Loper with newcomers Carl Siegel and Joel Rosenthal.
Susan Prechtl-Loper is running for the Port Jefferson library’s board of trustees. Photo from the candidate
The two candidates who win the most votes will secure seats with five-year terms and the third-place finisher will win a seat that carries a two-year term.
The shorter term is available after former Trustee Harriet Martin vacated her seat on the board, leaving a couple of years left on her term.
Hill Timpanaro, the current board president, has been a trustee for the past five years and is seeking re-election. She heads the library’s planning and building committee and has worked on several projects, including securing grants and modernizing the library to keep up with changes in technology.
“The library is moving into a time of change, not only for PJFL but for the libraries in general,” Hill Timpanaro said in an email. “As technology continues to change patrons’ needs we have the opportunity to create a community cornerstone that suits a diverse clientele and becomes [an] anchor for the community.”
Laura Hill Timpanaro is running for the Port Jefferson library’s board of trustees. Photo from the candidate
Hill Timpanaro has lived in Port Jefferson for 15 years. Outside the library, she’s also helped secure funds to build a garden at the Port Jefferson elementary school.
She hopes to continue her work on expanding the library in a new term, especially now that the library has acquired two adjacent properties — a residence on Thompson Street and a business on East Main Street.
Fellow incumbent Prechtl-Loper, the board’s financial officer and a member since 2013, is also seeking re-election, with the goal of further improving the library and its services.
She said the biggest accomplishment for the trustees since she first joined was when the library purchased the Scented Cottage Garden property on East Main Street in May, to help satisfy the library’s parking and general needs.
For Prechtl-Loper, a village resident for more than 20 years and a library member for more than 50, the institution is like home.
Carl Siegel is running for the Port Jefferson library’s board of trustees. Photo from Valerie Schwarz
“I grew up in the library,” she said. “I have really fond memories there.”
Siegel, like the incumbents, is no stranger to the board of trustees. He served from 1994 to 1999 and is hoping to return this year.
During Siegel’s previous tenure, he helped establish the children’s library and an adult reading room, among several other projects. Now that building plans are underway to address a parking shortage and add a room to host live performances, Siegel wants to help execute those projects.
He was an English teacher at the Port Jefferson high school for 23 years before retiring in 1992. Since then, he’s been active in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Stony Brook University, which offers a variety of courses to its older students. He served as its president in 1997.
For Rosenthal, whose has lived in Port Jefferson Village for 50 years, the election is a new phase. While he’s never been a trustee, Rosenthal is aware of the library’s plans for expansion and would like to work with fellow trustees on the projects.
Joel Rosenthal is running for the Port Jefferson library’s board of trustees. Photo from Valerie Schwarz
“With the tremendous changes in technology, [the trustees] should make some informed decisions about the library,” he said in an interview.
Rosenthal is a distinguished professor emeritus of history at Stony Brook University. He was also previously the chair of the history department and took on other administrative roles before partially retiring from the university.
Although Rosenthal said he would prefer the two-year seat to a five-year seat, he would “take what I can get.”
Voting is at the library on Wednesday, Jan. 13, between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.
