In the end, Natalie Reichl took the high road.

The president of the Coplay Public Library Board resisted the urge to write a letter to Coplay Borough Council complaining about what she believes was "offensive" behavior by Councilman Matthew Recker.

At the March 12 council meeting, Recker questioned the method used by library personnel to report foot traffic to the state and said after the meeting that he did not believe an average of 55 people a day enter the library.

At the March 14 library board meeting, Reichl said she intended to write a letter to council saying that Recker's comments threatened the credibility of the entire council.

However, her letter to council, sent March 25, simply referred officials to the library's attached 13-page annual report to the state.

"There have been a number of questions recently about Coplay library," Reichl's letter says. "Please take a moment to look at this report and note any questions you may have. I ask that you submit those questions to [borough Secretary-Treasurer] Sandy Gyecsek, who will forward them to me. We will then prepare a presentation for a council workshop/meeting and will invite our state liaison."

No one asked any questions at council's workshop meeting Tuesday night. Recker did not attend the meeting. Council President Lou Bodish said Recker reported being stuck in traffic in New York state.

Still, the library came up several times and ended up dominating more than a quarter of the one-hour meeting.

During public comment, resident Mel Procanyn asked that the borough list in its newsletter and on its website the amount of tax that would be paid by residents if the library funding referendum passes.

In February, council voted 4-1 with Recker opposed to place a question on the May 21 primary ballot asking residents if they approve paying a dedicated tax of 0.38 mills to support the library. The taxes raised would replace funding withdrawn by the Whitehall-Coplay School District.

In response to Procanyn, Reichl said the referendum asks residents if they are willing to pay $38 in tax for every $100,000 in assessed property value.

"My concern for you guys putting this in your newsletter [is] I think it might be against election law," she said.

Borough officials are not allowed to do anything that would influence the election, she said. Likewise, the library's political action committee, formed to get the word out to voters about the referendum, cannot distribute any of its materials at the library itself.

Councilman Charles Sodl mentioned the library when reporting on negotiations with Giant to acquire land for a proposed civic plaza.

"I'm not interested in the borough spending tons of money on that plaza," said Sodl. "I don't want that to be a distraction in the community, that boy we're going to think about putting a plaza up but we're not going to take care of the library. That's not the thought at all, not in the least."

Councilman Bill Leiner Jr. asked Sodl to elaborate on his position regarding the library.

Acknowledging the library is important, Sodl said he doesn't want to force his views on others.

"From a business standpoint, I see us losing $30,000, $40,000 in a pool for 12 weeks and here we have a library that's 52 weeks a year," Sodl said. "That's a lot of money to keep someone's tushes cool."

On the other hand, if the borough were to close the pool, it could have an adverse impact on the community, especially the youth, he said.

"We have to look at really what's important to the community. Dollars and cents sometimes isn't the total answer," he said.

Also during public comment, library Interim Director Maryrose Farquhar gave a 10-minute presentation on library activity in 2012.

"I just want to thank everybody for showing an interest in everything that we do at the library," she said. "We have a large variety of materials and activities to appeal to a wide range of interests. And we invite anyone to come in at any time to come in and talk to us."

Farquhar said the library's worth cannot be measured by a single statistic, such as foot traffic, any more than the value of Gyecsek's job can be defined by a statistic such as the number of phone calls she answers in a given time period.

"If someone were to ask [Gyecsek] to keep statistics about on how many phone calls she answers in a day, this would be only a small fraction of the jobs that she performs in service to the borough," Farquhar said. "Similarly, there is no one service or statistic about the library which defines its value to the community."

Regular programs at the library include a monthly story time with a craft, the monthly word twist challenge in which patrons see how many words they can make from a phrase and a monthly scrabble night.

Special programs included weekly guest readers from the Disney store during the summer reading program, a visit from costumed Star Wars characters, an astronomy night program, family fun day and an "animals after dark" program presented by a biologist from Muhlenberg University.

More than 1,700 people attended library programs, Farquhar said.

The library's Middle Earth Studios interactive theater program at Coplay Community Days was "the first family event of its kind held at Coplay's annual festival," Farquhar said.

The library also participated in the Coplay Halloween parade with a volunteer-decorated float and a visit from IronPigs mascot FeRROUS.

On a daily basis, the library maintains four computers to give patrons Internet access plus wireless access for patrons bringing their own devices.

The library also offers e-books through a service called Overdrive, which allows patrons to borrow books through the library website without setting foot in the library itself.

The library also proctors exams for students at nearby universities, she said.

Foot traffic was 17,160 and website traffic totaled more than 48,000 hits.

While providing these programs, the library stayed within $50 of its curtailed operating budget, verified through an independent audit.

The library has also seen a steady increase in fundraising income since 2010, when the library raised $12,822. In 2011, the library raised $29,334 and in 2012, it raised $35,777. The funds have come through dinners, book sales, selling gift cards, raffles and a print and fax service, among other things, she said.

If the referendum fails and the library is unable to find alternative sources of funding, it will be forced to close, Reichl has said. If it does close, it would be the first library in the state to close due to lack of funding.