Ugh, that guy definitely sounded like a smarmy prick, but the head librarian was making $100K a year? I think I'd like to know exactly what her job entailed...I'm all for educators making more than the measly amounts that they tend to make these days, but $100,000?? Anyways, Constantine Xinos sounds like a miserable little man!

He's not only a bastard, he's a scumbag.

After a little digging, I found that the village board commissioned an analysis of the library's staff and service which includes the total cost savings for each employee laid off. Flip to page 11 to see the numbers in question. The $97k quoted in the article is factually true because that amount includes the money for the employee's salary, health insurance and retirement benefits, but it is a little misleading in that it leads one to believe that their take home pay was close to six-figures. In any case, a cursory reading of the study shows that it concluded that the library was overstaffed. Whether or not the employees were overpaid is a matter I'll leave to someone else.

If you would like to know exactly what happened during the board meeting in question, you can view a video here. This meeting took place on 9/22, so be sure to scroll down and click on the right one.

Skip ahead to the 54 minute mark to see Mr. Xinos take the podium.

What a jurk! HE'S the one getting stuff without paying! The place has NO PROPERTY TAXES!!!!

The library started as a volunteer group, and will not die just because of one hardhearted blowhard.

From what I understand, Mr. Xinos is the treasurer of the village board, which means that he, more than anyone else, knows where the town's money is going. A little googling will reveal that Mr. Xinos was a die-hard opponent of the library, and a little reasoning would lead you to conclude that he took that stance because he thought it was a waste of money. In his eyes, I'm sure he feels that all these librarians are a waste. Mr. Xinos is a childless, former marine turned criminal lawyer who has no real need for a public library. He certainly doesn't need to use it, his non-existent children don't need to use it, and, since he's such a b*****d, he doesn't care if no one else uses it either. To him, I'm sure, it's just another drain on his income.

Now, given that an independent review of the library's operating costs concluded that service levels could be preserved while reducing the staff, I have a hard time faulting him for his stance.

My issue with Mr. Xinos, is that he is one of those people who whine about entitlement, yet refuse to recognize the fundamental unfairness of the modern world. Let's be honest here: this is a very, very rough place. Aside from Old Money, an education is one's best shot at making it. Libraries are a wonderful, free resource that, in my mind, should be a governmental priority. Mr. Xinos, as evidenced by his performance in the video i posted earlier, doesn't give a damn whether or not libraries are available. To him it's just another tax burden.

When you couple that with the abrasive manner in which he addressed the parents and child who petitioned the village board, I'm absolutely unwilling to have any sympathy for this man.

Yup. Connie's a Douche Nozzle, for sure.

More to the point, in the most "privatization" mantra views of the world, it's still been known for quite some time that libraries in general tend to lessen crime and raise the education and living standard of a community. It's not the only thing of course, but any offset by some wack no government ideology would be negligible in comparison. And of course, regardless, you don't talk to an 11-year-old that way. Unless of course he'd like to meet me in the octagon to show what a big man he is.

It doesn't matter to me what his stance on the library is, or what the budget was, or if every member of the library was overpaid - it doesn't matter.

You can say "no" to an 11 year old, but you can't do what he did. He is low-life. "I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night," a grinning Xinos says Wednesday".

He thought it would help teach her a lesson about life. Well, he is right. She learned that money can corrupt people, and that sometimes the bad guy wins. Thanks for the lesson, !@#hole.

As to teaching life lessons, I sincerely hope that next time Ol Connie goes out to eat, his server slips some Visene into his drink so he learns that life isn't kind to greedy dicks who intentionally make kids cry.

A reduction in service is one thing, but this whole thing sounds like he is leading the charge to completely close down this "drain"!

I agree with you about his impolite manner and refusal to see the true public good of the library! (Which is probably why it was originally funded from the public fund!)