Essex Free Press - February 23, 2017

Page 1

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Vol. 137

A LOOK INSIDE

Libraries in county reopen after long strike

2017 budget offers over $7M in infrastructure projects PAGE 3 _______________

Issue No. 7

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Essex ready to celebrate Heritage Week

PAGE 5 _______________ Special guests read to students at St. Mary’s PAGE 9 _______________ Rotary offers on-ice fun for Family Day PAGE 10 _______________ Local students go on mission trip to Guatemala PAGE 11 _______________ 73’s sailing above admirals PAGE 20 _______________

Looking For A Good Home Essex library branch Resource Assistant Brittanie Ouellette (left) helps Milee and her brother, Tyler, at the library.

“MILA” See Page 5 for adoption info.

by Fred Groves The Essex library is open. After a strike that lasted nearly eight months, library workers returned to the job last week. Patrons have warmly greeted them. “We don’t discuss the library disruption but they are glad we are back. We’ve gotten flowers

and baked goods,” Cathy Humphrey said, who is the Essex Community Hub Supervisor. She oversees the branches in Essex, Harrow, and McGregor and added that when she left the library in Harrow on Thursday afternoon, the day the libraries reopened, there were 15 patrons there

including teenagers and young children. “On Tuesday and Wednesday, we were in moving materials, calling people, and getting ready to open,” she said. Humphrey said that since nothing in the branches had been touched for eight months, there were a lot of spider

webs in Harrow to clean up. In Essex, a ceiling tile had to be replaced and some of the books have to be sent away to be repaired. “It has been steady all day,” she said on Friday from the Essex branch. “We have had two staff members on and the clerks come back on February 27.”

The strike lasted 230 days and CUPE 2974 accepted the Essex County Library Board’s deal last week, which includes a two percent wage increase over each of the four years of the contract and a $3,000 signing bonus. What the Library Board has also offered up is an amnesty program for its patrons that runs until April 30 and includes any overdue fines on all materials regardless of how long they have been borrowed. “I had one lady and she had fines since 2007,” Humphrey said. At the Essex library on Friday afternoon, regular user Kerri Rupert brought her two children, Milee Kowtiuk, 5, and Tyler Kowtiuk, 12, in to load up on books and movies. “We are very happy. We’ve been waiting to get books to read,” Rupert said. She added that when the strike was on, they bought a few books, but missed coming at least once a week to the library.

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