Photo by Douglass Huxley June Rhodes, Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library board member, speaks to the Wood County Board of Education Monday about receiving funding from the district.

PARKERSBURG — Wood County Board of Education President Justin Raber said he was concerned about the direction the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library was headed in under the guidance of Director Brian Raitz.

“Over the past couple of years, Mr. Raitz has been very political and politicizing, in my opinion, the library,” Raber said during Monday’s regular meeting of the board.

Area organizations were asked to present to the board to receive funds from the excess levy call for the next year. Raber said over the years funding has been “very prescriptive” so they made a change this year.

“We have requested that each of those entities come and present to the board of education with their programs as well as they’re asked for funding for the next fiscal year,” Raber said.

He said there was $638,000 available and that the board will be deciding where to distribute these funds during their budget meeting Saturday.

June Rhodes, Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library board member, said the library is seeking $446,658.59 for the upcoming fiscal year, a $20,000 increase from previous years, to support personnel, materials, and facilities for children’s services. She said Raitz was out of the country and read a letter from him about the request.

“Based on the calculations from previous access levies, and what was told to the library when the 2022 access levy was drawn up, we determined the amount to request would be $446,658.59 for the coming fiscal year 2024-25,” Rhodes read. “This money will be spent on the following: personnel costs for all Children’s Services, a total of four full time and five part time employees, children’s books and materials, children’s programming, Bookmobile maintenance costs and for facilities for children’s workshops.”

Rhodes said the Bookmobile has had some problems the last couple of months and that upkeep is getting expensive.

“So we’re going to be looking at what we can do to change that, to buy a used one, a new one, something but we don’t want to get rid of the bookmobile,” Rhodes said.

Raber said the West Virginia Board of Education has recommended they provide $216,558 for funding to the library. He asked why they should vary from that when there are other organizations asking for funding.

Rhodes responded that she believes Raitz came up with these figures based on what they expected to receive.

Raber said Raitz has been “antiganizing” various groups and advocating in Charleston .

“My concern is, is the library going in the right direction with Mr. Raitz,” Raber said. “I get that he’s not here, I have an issue with that, but I’m not seeing any major support behind what he provided to you to provide us.”

Rhodes said the letter was what she received for the funding request and said she doesn’t know about Raitz antagonizing any groups.

“When I have seen him, he’s offered to talk with people individually. I know people that wanted to see him individually. I have not seen any of that antagonizing that you’re talking about,” Rhodes said.

Raber said during board comments that one of his major concerns was that the $446,658.59 being asked for was 70% of the total they have available.

“If we fully funded all of those categories, we are underwater by $32,000,” Raber said. “So I think there’s some decisions that we’re going to have to make moving forward.”

Other funding requests included Artsbridge asking for $12,800 – $3,200 to continue the school tours at the current level of six performances and $9,600 to fund artist catalog units for the 16 elementary schools.

The YMCA of Parkersburg requested $10,000 to go towards improving technology and security cameras, maintaining playground equipment, and continuing staff training.

The Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg asked for $75,000 to continue to provide academic support, leadership development, and healthy lifestyle programs for local youth.

The New Era School asked for $5,500 to help cover growing utility expenses.

WVU Extension requested $60,000 per year over five years to increase funding for their part-time STEM education assistant and cover other program costs, as the required match amount is increasing. Extension Agent Jodi Smith said it would cost around $75,000 to have this individual become full-time and Raber asked to have that information given to the board before Saturday.

The Vienna Public Library requested $60,000 to build on the library’s strengths in children’s services and early literacy programs.

The board will meet at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for a budget session and to determine where they will distribute their levy funds.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com