Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup tensions ran high at a meeting of the Cairo Town Board meeting February 7, as the result of a heated discussion about the Cairo Public Library. Diana Benoit, a member of the library Board of Trustees, spoke about a lengthy Facebook post written in November by town board member Tim Powers, alleging mismanagement of the town's largely taxpayer-funded public library. In particular, he was especially critical of the salaries paid to library employees, including $70,000 for the library director as well as the governance structure of the library. Powers is of the opinion that the library should be under the full control of the town board and within the town structure. The library board of trustees responded to the content of the social media post, in an effort to address the "inaccuracies and lies" contained therein. Benoit wanted to read the board's response aloud during the meeting on Jan. 7, but Town Supervisor Jason Watts initially intervened to stop her. Watts said Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea advised against reading the letter in public session because he considered it to be a personnel issue. According to Watts, Rappleyea said he would be the person to answer Benoit's questions, but that was involved a car accident on the way to the meeting and would not be able to attend. Benoit questioned why the matter should be discussed behind closed doors when it all started with a social media post intended for the public to read. A heated exchange occurred between Benoit and Powers, with Powers accusing the library board of publishing a letter that was “nothing more than a witch hunt and disparaging comments against a town councilman.” Some members of the public expressed support for reading the letter. “Just read it, go ahead and read it,” Watts finally said. After reading both Powers' original post and the trustees' response, there were questions, especially around the unauthorized $2,400 in legal fees expended by Powers during his investigation. However, Watts was determined to shut down the discussion and the meeting, saying, “We are going to move forward with Cairo. Everything is out in the open now.” A link to Powers' original social media post and the library Board of Trustees' response can be found on the WGXC Newsroom page. Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.