Prendergast board president Tom Rankin walks the audience through a presentation focusing on the library’s budget deficit and selling the artwork.

That was the decision made Thursday afternoon by the board of trustees during its regular board meeting and after a number of residents attended the meeting to speak out against selling the art collection.

According to Prendergast Board President Tom Rankin, the latest numbers show the library is facing $65,000 operating deficit for this year and a $180,000 deficit for next year.

Library officials believe that by selling some of the art collection – which has a total value of approximately $3.17 million – they can add more money to the library endowment, which would then help to provide additional revenue on an annual basis.

The library also believes that if they were to stay committed to keeping all the artwork, they would see an addition cost for both restoration and security.

“$130,000 is what we project it would cost to upgrade the Fireplace Room so that it meets the needs to continue displaying these works,” Rankin said. “But it doesn’t include staff costs to have someone manage it. It just covers the cost of fixing the HVAC and security systems.”

Rankin also said there would be separate restoration fees to consider, which would involve restringing and reframing several of the pieces.

Ten different people addressed the board during the meeting, with about half against selling the artwork, while the other half supported the board’s initial decision.

Area residents (from top to bottom): Dianne Soule, Hillary Hornyak, and Doug Champ were three of the 10 individuals who addressed the library board. Those who spoke were split between selling or keeping the art collection.

“Mary Prendergast’s will stipulated that a gallery be built in the library to house a permanent collection and it was included in the construction of 1891,” said city resident Diane Soule. “The library was a gift to the city and the art collection was part of that gift. [The community] thought it would be safe and protected. But board members voted unanimously to sell it, right out from under our noses.”

“These are assets, but there are assets in this building that are more important than these assets,” said city resident Doug Champ. “This library functions for everyone, not necessarily an art person – but a reader, or someone who’s interested in research, or someone who needs guidance when their young. So what I say to this community, ‘Would you rather be looking at the artwork? Or would you rather have a successful child who’s able to read and write and use a computer?’

“The artwork has served a purpose and now its time to move on. The artwork can not be maintained in this environment. Do you want to spend additional money and keep these on the wall or do you want to channel these to other more important assets?” Champ asked.

“I know that you have probably looked at tons of [solutions], but where are those numbers? What are the different things that we can try?” asked area resident Hillary Hornyak. “There are community members that are willing to step forward and help and I think that’s what you’re seeing here today. They want to be included in this decision and make an impact in some way.”

Later in the meeting, the board entered executive session to address personnel and contract matters and following the closed-door session, it returned to open session to announce it will not deaccession any artwork until after a public input session is held.

Rankin said the purpose of the input session is to identify fundraising options and other solutions to help close the budget deficit without having to sell the art collection.

“We recognize its an emotional issue for folks and we’re willing to listen to alternatives,” Rankin said. “A couple of folks who don’t want to sell the art said, ‘we want to sit down. W have a couple of ideas,’ and we’re willing to say, ‘Okay. Let’s sit down and listen to those ideas.”

The input meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8 and will be facilitated by Prendergast board members Bruce Gleason and Joni Blackman. It will be open to the public.

One of the slides that was part of a powerpoint presentation by the Prendergast Library during its Sept. 17 meeting.

Rankin said the board’s finance committee will be meeting at the end of this month to continue to review the financial challenges facing the library and what can be done to address them.

“We want to have our budget committee meeting on Sept. 28 and hopefully, out of that meeting, we’ll have a very clear idea of where we stand for 2016. At that point, we’ll be in a better position to look at what art we might need to sell.”

The board has already signed into a contract with Sotheby’s to auction the artwork, should they decide to deaccession any of the pieces. Rankin said Sotheby’s would only be used to auction the oil paintings in the collection, much of which were willed to the library from the Prendergast and Packard families during the early 20th century.

The library has also requested that County Surrogate Court Judge Stephen Cass grant the library permission to sell the artwork if it chooses. That is required because the artwork was given to the library and intended to be a permanent asset.

The next meeting for the board of trustees is Thursday, Oct. 15, which would be the earliest that the board could met to again discuss and possible deaccession pieces of its art collection.

Another slide used during the Prendergast Library’s Sept. 17 powerpoint presentation.

The library board has been discussing the possibility of selling some of its artwork for the past several months.

Library executive director Tina Scott has said the sale is necessary to help close a looming $90,000 budget gap for this year and a $180,000 shortfall in 2016. The plan is to auction artwork and place the money into an endowment, which would then generate revenue on an annual basis for the library. The total value of the Prendergast Art Collection is an estimated $3.17 million.

Much of the collection includes 19^th and early 20^th century paintings by artists from America and Europe that were gifted to the library by various residents, including the Prendergast family. In addition, some of the paintings were purchased with money from the Prendegast estate as a bequest from Mary Prendergast, more than 100 years ago.

Scott has also told WRFA that currently, the board does not have a final list to act on and will likely discuss that list during today’s meeting, and then act on it.

Two pieces of artwork in the Prendergast collection that could be auctioned in the coming months: Left: “Industry” by French artist Eugene Romain Thirion – painted in 1874.
Right: “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” by French artist Leon Bazile Perrault, painted in 1884.
Both are from a collection of 32 paintings given to the library at the bequest of the Prendergast family.

The decision to sell off the artwork is a controversial one and several members of the community have spoken out against the plan. On Monday night Jamestown Residents and opponents of the sale Lily Grice and Dianne Soule addressed the Jamestown City Council in order to make sure city leaders were aware of the controversy.

City Council President Greg Rabb says that while the city has earmarked an estimated $340,000 for the library this year, he doubts the city will take a side in the controversy.

“The largest amount of money from our budget to something other than a city operation goes to the library, but we have no control over who’s on the board and the decisions they make,” Rabb said. “I don’t know if the council will vote to make a recommendation to the library. I just couldn’t tell you. We obviously listened to [Grice and Soule], but we didn’t really discuss it and I’m sure at some point we will, to see if we should say something to [the library].”

Rabb did add, however, that he is personally against the sale.

As for today’s meeting, Grice is encouraging anyone who has an interest in preserving the library’s art collection to attend today’s meeting.

“We want as many people there as possible. You don’t have to say anything, you can just be there,” Grice said. “The more people we have there in support of what we’re doing to save this art, the better. We don’t even know what decisions we can change at this point, but we just want as many people there as possible.”

Thursday’s meeting begins at 12:15 p.m. at the library and is open to the public.

JAMESTOWN – A group of residents concerned with the Prendergast Library’s plan to sell off a portion of its art collection is asking the Jamestown city officials to intervene.

Local residents Dianne Soule and Lily Grice spoke during the Jamestown City Council’s work session Monday night, informing the council that the library will likely act on selling pieces of its art collection this coming Thursday.

Grice and Soule approached the council in an effort to not only raise awareness, but to also gain its support.

“We mainly want to make sure everybody knows what’s going on,” Grice said. “If city council members know what’s going on, that means the public should know what’s going on as well. We want their support. We know they’re not able to change what the library is going to do or not going to do, but as long as their aware and we have their support, it holds weight with a lot of people in the community.”

A $3.17 Million Dollar Asset

The Prendergast Library Board of Trustees has been discussing the sale of its artwork for the past several months. The entire art collection is listed as an asset on its 2013 990 tax form worth a total of $3.17 million dollars. Much of the collection includes 19^th and early 20^th century paintings by artists from America and Europe that were gifted to the library by various residents, including the Prendergast family.

Two pieces of artwork in the Prendergast Library Association collection that could be auctioned in the coming months:
Left – “Industry” by French artist Eugene Romain Thirion, painted in 1874.
Right – “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” by French artist Leon Bazile Perrault, painted in 1884.
Both are from a collection of 32 paintings given to the library at the bequest of the Prendergast family.

Prendergast Library Director Tina Scott has told WRFA that at this time, the board has not yet decided which pieces of its collection will be deaccessioned, only that the board doesn’t plan to sell art that was created by local artists, such as Roger Tory Peterson, or art that has local historical significance, such as portraits of members of the Prendergast family.

Scott also said that the plan is to put any proceeds collected from the artwork sale into an endowment, which would then help to generate money on an annual basis to help close any annual operating deficits.

Currently the library is facing a $90,000 shortfall this year, with a projected $180,000 shortfall in 2016.

Despite the financial challenges, a growing number of residents are coming out against selling the artwork, with more than 400 signing an online petition opposed to the sale.

Besides being upset with the sale of the artwork, the group is also concerned with the process, saying there has been little to no transparency. While the board has been discussing the issue in its regular meetings, Soule says there has been no public outreach attempt, to either learn more about what the community would like to see, or to try and figure out alternatives to selling the work.

Jamestown resident Dianne Soule addresses the Jamestown City Council – including city council president Greg Rabb – on Monday, Sept. 15.

“We understood it was a gift to the library so we never thought we should have a guard at the door – or actually the back door in this instance – because in the minutes it states that they would be very transparent and open up to the public [regarding the sale]. We only, luckily, heard just a little snippet of what was going on and we were so alarmed that we immediately went into action.”

City Council President Greg Rabb said its likely the council will not get involved with the artwork controversy, saying that the city feels the members of the library board know what’s best. However, he said personally he is against the sale.

The library is the largest non-government recipient of funding from the city. This year it received approximately $340,000 and will likely see that same amount in 2016.

Meanwhile, the library will hold a meeting this week to further discuss and likely act on which pieces of artwork it plans to sell. Opponents of the sale will also be in attendance to go on record as being against it. The meeting begins at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 and is open to the public.