'Board has no knowledge of the rationale used by previous administrations to justify . paying for (Bell's) law degree'
Danielle Wong, The Windsor Star
Former Windsor Public Library CEO Brian Bell's MBA and law studies cost the library more than $36,000, library board chairman Coun. Alan Halberstadt said Wednesday.
That includes money for textbooks, tuition, examination fees and copying costs while Bell studyied part-time at the University of Windsor from January 1999 to December 2007.
During that time, Bell moved from human resources director to interim CEO and became CEO in 2006.
Windsor Public Library CEO Brian Bell listens to other board members speak at a library board meeting in this March 2008 file photo.
File photo, The Windsor Star
"The board has nothing to hide in this regard," Halberstadt said after the library board's meeting Wednesday, adding members of the current board, which took over in May 2007, had nothing to do with the original contractual agreements authorized by past administrations.
Former CEO Steve Salmons authorized the educational assistance for Bell's pursuit of an MBA in 1999, Halberstadt said, but it remains unclear who authorized the full subsidization of Bell's part-time studies when he switched over to law.
"The current board has no knowledge of the rationale used by previous administrations to justify ... paying for (Bell's) law degree," Halberstadt said. "All (we know) is that it inherited contractual obligations which it legally had to follow."
But Salmons, who obtained an MBA through the library after becoming CEO in 1998, said the rationale was a good one.
Furthering education is appropriate for an institution whose culture is all about higher learning, Salmons said Wednesday. "It's a good corporate policy."
Salmons' contract had subsidized part-time tuition written in shortly after he became CEO. The library paid for the five years it took for him to obtain his MBA. He said he couldn't remember how much the library paid.
Salmons left his post abruptly in 2004 and was succeeded by Bell.
Controversy surrounded Bell and the library board after the public learned Bell was articling at a law firm while on paid sick leave based on his annual salary of about $127,000.
Bell left the library earlier this month and library board members have remained tight-lipped about whether he resigned or was fired.
Halberstadt maintained Wednesday that Bell did nothing wrong. "The administration ... did authorize all of this," he said.
But the policy for authorizing education costs will change in September.
On Wednesday, the library board announced that revisions to the current educational assistance policy are being drafted.
The board is looking to make its policies more in line with those of the city, acting CEO Jean Foster said.
The most significant amendment, she said, is requiring any senior management staff applying for assistance to go through the library board, which will review and amend the application.
Previously, the CEO could approve the assistance on his or her own.
Another possible change is the elimination of reimbursement for books and other supplies.
Foster said the board will also review whether an employee who leaves the library within a specified time will be required to repay tuition.
It's a new day, Halberstadt said. "We're making some sweeping reforms to the way we run the library... We hope we can move on from this and build a good library system."
A committee was formed Wednesday to recruit a new CEO.
