Woodstock Town Councilman Loren Rose has joined several other members of a recently-formed community group in calling for the dissolution of the library's Board of Trustees.

Rose has a long history with this library.

"It says Elizabeth Rose," he said as he pointed to a faded name plate on a bench outside the library on Tinker Street. "She was my mother. She did a lot of work for the library. My whole family did."

The Board of Trustees recently voted to tear down the library and build one with triple the space.

The community group said a recent survey -- that one of its members helped write -- shows more people are in favor of renovating the 50-year-old building that has some features that date back to the 1800s, not rebuilding it.

They are trying to get 450 signatures before August 1 for a ballot referendum on whether to dissolve the library's Board of Trustees and give oversight to the Woodstock Town Board.

"They're not responding to the people," community group member John Ludwig said in an interview outside the library on Wednesday.

Ludwig -- a former library trustee himself -- said past trustees have wasted money on consultants for expansion projects that never happened.

He said the board spent "$93,000 for the architect, $33,000 for the attorney, and over $80,000 on fundraising" for those projects.

Board of Trustees President Dorothea Marcus said input from the survey, community meetings and emails shows an even split of opinions in the community.

"The board had a very difficult decision to make," Marcus said.

Marcus conceded that past trustees could have done better, but defended the current board's decision to rebuild instead of renovate.

"Once we have a design and schematic of what it's going to look like, I think people will relax," Marcus said.

Marcus said the board is going to seek out public comment on three possible designs for the new building, as soon as those designs are ready.

Ludwig said he hopes to get a town-wide vote on the referendum scheduled for as soon as this fall.

Woodstock Town Supervisor Bill McKenna said he is taking this “one day at a time,” and is not taking sides.

“I had heard grumblings over the past week this might happen,” McKenna said when reached by telephone Wednesday evening. “You know, this is democracy. We’ll wait and see ... I’m remaining neutral on this one and letting it play out.”