Kingston Library Board Advances Solicitation Policy Overhaul, Tables Vote to March 16

Library · Meeting of March 2, 2026

Kingston's Library Board of Trustees advanced a rewrite of its solicitation policy and received updates on a coming Green Street entrance overhaul at its March 2 meeting. The board, which met after a February session was canceled due to a blizzard, agreed to model a new policy on Newton Free Library's framework, with a key change placing approval authority for solicitation requests with the full board rather than the library director alone — a move trustees said would reduce the appearance of individual bias. Library Director Donald Cologne was directed to redraft the language, clarify a legally required exception for political canvassing and nomination-paper signature gathering, and obtain formal guidance from the town clerk's office before the next meeting on March 16.

Cologne also briefed trustees on an ADA-grant-funded redesign of the library's Green Street driveway entrance, expected before summer, and reported that a Community Preservation Committee request for Adams Center column restoration — estimated at $9,000 per column — was withdrawn after the CPC sought fuller historical documentation, leaving the building's preservation needs without a clear funding path.

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Source: the Library meeting of March 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.