OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The town council has appointed a representative to sit on the Edith Belle Libby Library Board of Trustees.

The Edith Belle Libby Library is a quasi-municipal organization, with its own bylaws and board of trustees. It receives most of its funding from the town, and also gets money from donations and fundraisers.

The town council unanimously voted last week to appoint Councilor Kenneth Blow as a member of the library’s board of trustees.

Having a councilor on the library’s board is a change from past practices.

Council Chairman Shawn O’Neil said the town gives a lot of money to the library, and the council wanted someone to actively participate on the board.

It is yet to be determined whether the councilor on the board of trustees will be a voting member on the library’s board.

Town Manager Larry Mead said the library trustees voted to have the town councilor on its board be a voting member, but there is some question whether the library’s bylaws would allow a voting member. To accommodate either option, the town council voted for Blow to be either a voting or ex officio member of the library’s board of trustees.

Library trustees member and treasurer Doris Harris said she didn’t vote to have Blow as a voting member, because she was concerned that, as a voting member of the board of trustees, he would not be allowed to vote as a town councilor, would not be able to support the library during the town budget process or vote with councilors on the town’s funding for the library.

O’Neil said, though the town would get a legal opinion, he believed if Blow was allowed to vote on the board of trustees he would also be allowed to vote with the other town councilors on library funding during the town budget process. O’Neil noted that councilors sit in on contract negotiations and then vote on contracts.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.