Clarkson Town Supervisor Jerry Underwood (left) recently donated his first year’s salary to the Seymour Library, which serves the Clarkson/Sweden/Brockport community. Supervisor Underwood noted that the library has struggled financially in recent years and has been forced to cut hours of operation and staff hours. Carl Gouveia (center), Seymour Library Director, and Taysie Pennington (right), president of the Seymour Library Board of Trustees, accepted Underwood’s donation. Gouveia told Westside News that due to budget constraints last year, the library had cut its hours – two hours each weekday and one hour on Saturday morning. “The (library) board voted at the last meeting to use Supervisor Underwood’s donation to restore the cut made last year to our morning hours, so we will be opening once again at 10 a.m.,” Gouveia says. “There was some concern from a few board members over the sustainability of this restoration, but we wanted to fulfill his wishes. I hope that the community and the municipalities can work to not only make this permanent, but also restore the evening hours that were cut last year.” Gouveia noted the Seymour library receives $23.11 per resident in contributions from the three municipalities it serves, while the average in Monroe County is $37.23 per resident. “Many of the other libraries in the county benefit from their municipalities handling the library’s facility issues, repairs and capital improvement, which is not factored into their numbers. The Seymour Library takes care of the library’s facility issues, repairs and capital improvements,” he said.
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