Section 10.1.3 of the Public Library Act states that a person is qualified to be appointed as a member of the board is (i) a resident of the municipality for which the board is established in the case of a public library board.
City Clerk Stephen Huycke was asked to confirm that all Library Board members were in fact residents of Richmond Hill.
His response is as follows “Given that ‘residency’ is a matter of personal information we would not normally answer this question. However, as this relates to a statutory requirement under the Public Library Act I can advise that all applicants who submitted an application for appointment to the Library Board were required to confirm that they are residents, owner or tenants in Richmond Hill.”
A owner is an owner of property or business. A tenant is a person or legal entity that rents and occupies a piece of land, an office or a house from another for a period of time, while a resident is a person who lives somewhere permanently or on a long-term basis.
So the question back to the Clerk is are all Library Board member residents of Richmond Hill as described and required by the Public Library Act? The Act does not stated residents, owner or tenant it states residents. Since Richmond Hill residency is a requirement to be appointed to the Board should their residency not be confirmed?