Trustees Reward Library Director with Extended Severance in New Contract

The main order of business at the December 19 meeting of the Jones Library Board of Trustees was approving a 3-year extension to Director Sharon Sharry’s contract.

Though a public document, the proposed contract was not included in the meeting packet.  Trustee President Austin Sarat noted that there were changes to compensation and vacation indicated in red.

Trustee Alex Lefebvre asked Sarat why the contract increased from three to six months the advanced notice the trustees are required to give Sharry in the event that she is terminated.  Lefebvre noted that the trustees had set this period at three months in 2017 on the advice of the Human Resources (HR) Director.

Sarat replied that he had not spoken to the HR Director.  “The impetus to doing this is that we have a library director who’s been in place for more than a decade and who has performed in an exemplary way and I believe that we should give her a little bit more time,” he said.

Lefebvre also asked why the director would be receiving nine months of severance pay if terminated for any reason other than cause, when the previous contract called for six months. 

School Superintendent Mike Morris reportedly received a ten-month severance payout after his August 31, 2023 resignation. Lefebvre told of finding that the Town Manager’s severance period depends on his length of service and assumed that is why the increase in the library director’s severance period was being proposed.  She pointed out that there is a financial implication resulting from extending the severance period.

“I can’t confirm your assumptions,” replied Sarat.

Pressed by Treasurer Bob Pam, Sarat explained that he was proposing that the Director’s annual leave be increased to six weeks because of “her consistent record of performance for the library.”

Pam reported that the severance increase was not included in the version of the contract he was looking at.  Farah Ameen thought that he might not be reading the latest version of the contract that Sharry had sent around.

“I would suggest an amendment to go back to six [months],” moved Pam, concerned about the change’s consistency with other town departments.

Lefebvre maintained that the School Superintendent’s contract calls for one year of severance and the Town Manager’s severance increases to one year after four years of service.

Pam’s motion to change the director’s severance period back to six months was defeated by a vote of 5-1.

According to the latest compensation statistics on the MBLC website (2022), Sharry, at $112,933, is the second most highly paid public library director in Western Massachusetts behind Springfield ($124,196) which has a service population of 155,929 and ahead of Chicopee ($96,002) with a service population of 55,560. 

Amherst’s library service population is reported to be 39,263.