Meet Your Candidates: Paul Berg, Morton Grove Public Library, Board of Trustees

Paul Berg, 62, is aiming for a spot on the Morton Grove Public Library Board of Trustees, the seven-member group responsible for shaping the library's fiscal and operating policies. This is Berg's first campaign for elected office.

According to the B-PAC website, "He graduated from Loyola University in 1971 and received his physical therapy education from Northwestern in 1972. He spent most of his career working with handicapped children."

Members of the library board serve six-year terms. This year, three seats are up for six-year terms, and one seat is up for a two-year term on the library board. Two organizations are campaigning for spots on the library board: B-PAC (Mark Albers, Paul Berg, David Calimag and Catherine Peters) and PROLibrary (Bernadette Fahy, Laura Frisch, Lawrence Levin and Renee Miller, a write-in candidate). 

Calimag and Fahy are vying for the two-year term spot, while all other six candidates are campaigning for the six-year term spots.

Morton Grove Patch collects the library enthusiasts' notes with the same Q&As for each candidate, publishes them in alphabetical order, and does not change submitted answers in punctuation, style or content.

Now then, let's get down to the questions:

Patch: How would you assess the state of the library’s budget?

Berg:  The current budget is out of line with the rest of the village.  We cannot continue to put more and more pressure on the taxpayers of Morton Grove. This current board sets its spending without taking the people or the reality of their lives into consideration. Expanding staff, across the board raises and a 15% raise in the budget between 2010 and 2011 proves that they are out of touch with the needs and desires of the people of Morton Grove. Their insistence on building a new library will not only drive us further in debt, but will commit the next generation to inherit that debt, along with a building that will be obsolete before it is finished. We will get spending under control.

Patch: If expenses need to be reduced, exactly what would you cut? Be specific.

Berg: Until the forensic audit is complete, we will not know the exact status of the library funds. When we get in office and those numbers become available to us, we can and will get specific. We will do away with the money that’s scheduled to be spent for the plans for the new library building, and freeze the staff at the current level.

Patch: If more revenue needs to be raised, exactly what would you propose? Be specific.

Berg: We see no need to raise revenue when the revenue has already been raised 50% over the past 6 years, from $2 million to $3 million. I don’t know anyone in this village whose income has gone up that same amount.

Patch: What’s the best way for the library to keep up with changing technologies, such as the way people access books and materials? (Example: eBooks, iPods, and developing technologies).

Berg: The library will continue to do an excellent job of keeping up with changing technology. We will make sure that the staff has access to the latest technology in order to train the people of Morton Grove on its use. We plan to expand the number of computers available to the public as well as expand the number of tech classes.

5) Is the library adequately providing the following, or do you feel these need to be adopted or augmented: computers, study rooms, reading areas, drive-through book drop-offs, self-checkout stations, refreshments/food. Would you suggest any others?

Berg:  We need more computers and will reallocate the space to use them.  We already have a drive-through book drop-off. We will look into the purchase of a self-checkout station. It is not the job of a public library to provide refreshments and food to the public. If they want to provide their own during a meeting, that’s fine.

Patch: Does the wireless connection for patrons need to be upgraded?

Berg: I would direct you to Kevin Justie for the answer to this question. He is the Head of Automated Services and Technology at the library. The board would follow his recommendations on this question.

Patch: What is your favorite childhood book? What are you currently reading?

Berg:  My favorite childhood book was “The Lou Gehrig Story”, as it was very inspirational.  I am currently reading “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Wroblewski, which is beautifully written.  Also “Signs of the Times” by Greg Laurie and “The End of the Present World” by Fr. Charles Armanjon.  I also read “The Week” from cover to cover each week.

Patch: Is the library adequately reaching out to diverse populations, i.e., people with primary languages other than English, people with visual difficulties, others?

Berg: No. People with mobility handicaps have been held hostage to the goal of the current board to build a new library and they have not seen fit to equip the second floor with a chair lift. As a physical therapist, it is important to me that we install the necessary chair lift to solve the accessibility problem. Free ESL lessons are given at Niles West, and the library will continue to support their needs for cross-over reading material and computer training.

Patch: Does the library get adequate feedback from patrons? If not, how would you increase the flow of communication? Be specific.

Berg: This board has been running its own agenda without a thought to public opinion for the last several years. This is not the board’s library…it belongs to the citizens of Morton Grove. We will open up the meetings in a place that can comfortably accommodate everyone who wants to come to the meeting, and, for those who can’t, we will televise our meetings on MGTV. We will have public comments at both the beginning and the end of our board meetings. We will not sit huddled around our conference table pushing papers and pushing cookies amongst ourselves.

Patch: Does the library need upgrades to its facilities? Be specific.

Berg:  Of course it does. Every public building has to change with the times, and the library is no different. We have to continually update and upgrade our facility to accommodate the rapid changes in library technology. We need to continually review and repurpose our space depending on the current needs of the community.  We also need to make our library handicapped accessible on the second floor.

Patch: What else would you like voters to know about your positions on issues, point of view or qualifications?

Berg: Please read our positions on our website, www.B-PAC.org. I am a fiscal conservative and will use my financial experience to bring fiscal sanity to the library board.