Valley News – Family alleges misuse of donation intended for Stowell Library in Cornwall

CORNISH – The family of a Stowell Library donor claims the money was misused by a committee that wanted to convert the former Cornish General Store into a new library for the town.

Brian Meyette is asking the Cornish Library trustees to return $15,000, half of the donation his late mother, Margaret “Peggy” Meyette, made in 2020, four years before her death earlier this year at age 93.

The donation was intended exclusively for the Stowell, and the trustees should not have allowed any of the money to be spent on preparing cost estimates to renovate the former store, Brian Meyette said during last Thursday’s trustee meeting, which was heated at times.

“Half has already been wasted and abused,” Meyette told the trustees. “The request is for $15,000 before that too is wasted.”

In August 2021, a year after Peggy Meyette donated $30,000 to the library, an exploratory committee was formed to study what it would cost to move the library to the nearby store on Route 120, which was offered as a donation by its owner, Colleen O’Neill.

Voters narrowly approved that donation at the March 2023 town meeting, and the nonprofit Cornish Community Initiative has five years to raise about $2.5 million to convert the store into a library and community center. Stowell, which opened in 1910, is 1,000 square feet and has no handicap accessibility or indoor plumbing, while the store is substantially larger at 6,000 square feet.

The library trustees pooled all donations into the library’s building fund, and the trustees and the city agreed that using the money to draw up plans with cost estimates for renovating the store and Stowell was an “appropriate use” by the committee, said Laura Cousineau, the trustees’ chairwoman.

As of January 2020, the building fund received Meyette’s $30,000 donation, and another $150 was added in May of that year. There is $14,700 left. Designing a septic tank for Stowell cost $2,500, and the rest was spent on architect fees and legal fees.

The trustees wanted to seek an opinion from the Charitable Trusts Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office before making a decision, Cousineau said.

“The reason we’re going to the trust and potentially bring in a lawyer is because we want a correct decision on this matter,” Cousineau said. “So we’re going through the proper channels and if the answer is ‘give the money back,’ we’re not going to bring in a lawyer to fight it. We’re going to say: here’s your money back.”

Brian Meyette and local resident Alicia Simino said it didn’t have to be that complicated because when the money was donated in 2020, there was no other city library besides the Stowell, and the former general store didn’t show up until a year later. Meyette’s donation came with no documentation other than the check, and it just said “for the library.”

“So I guess I’m confused as to why the trustees are having such a hard time figuring out what Ms. Meyette’s intention was,” said Simino, a member of the group pushing to keep the Stowell as a public library.

At the time of the donation, the Stowell Library was the only library in town to be supported, so Meyette’s intent was clear, Treasurer Kathi Patterson said, according to minutes from a June 12 trustees meeting. At the same meeting, Meyette said his mother’s donation was for a ramp in Stowell to make it more accessible.

However, Cousineau said the donation was “too vague,” the minutes say, so the trustees voted to seek advice from the Charitable Trusts Unit.

Instead of getting a clear answer, Cousineau said, the unit’s response suggested trustees contact the city’s attorney. Trustees voted Thursday to contact the Charitable Trusts Unit again, hoping for a more definitive answer and possibly bring in the city’s attorney.

Simino was angry at the trustees’ actions and their refusal to immediately vote on repaying the money.

“So why are you spending the city’s money and holding up Mr. Meyette?” Simino asked. “Why can’t you just make the decision yourself? You don’t need a lawyer. You could do the right thing right now and return the money.”

Trustee Marie De Rusha said if a vote is held on Thursday, Meyette would not receive the money.

“It’s probably better to get the lawyer and the trust involved because if it comes to a vote, Brian won’t get his money back. I think the vote would be 2 to 1 against,” De Rusha said.

Patterson warned that the company would face a lawsuit if it proceeded without a legal opinion to support its decision.

During the meeting, Cousineau and Patterson recalled that Peggy Meyette had come with her son to at least one exploratory committee meeting when the construction of the new library building was discussed.

Patterson said Meyette didn’t object when asked if she wanted to spend money. Her son has a different memory of the one meeting his mother attended.

“Her comment at that meeting was that she didn’t hear or understand a single word that was said,” Meyette said of his mother, who was 92 at the time and suffering from hearing loss.

Brian Meyette later pulled out his phone and showed trustees a picture of a sign on his mother’s front yard in 2022 that read “Save the Stowell.” Simino added that Meyette had contacted her about the sign and she brought it in.

According to Cousineau, Peggy Meyette never objected to the use of the money between the committee’s creation and her death. She added that there was a lot of “hearsay” about what happened and that she wanted to base her communications with the trust only on facts.

At the end of the meeting, Meyette said he had only wanted the trustees to return the rest of the donation, but if that did not happen, he was prepared to take legal action.

“I can assure you, if I need a lawyer – and I don’t have one yet – but if I do need one, we’ll go all out for it,” Meyette said. “The entire $30,000.”

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at [email protected].