Library board discusses Stutsman County's fair share to provide library services

Nov. 8—JAMESTOWN — Mayor Dwaine Heinrich asked the Stutsman County Commission on Tuesday, Nov. 7, if it would consider discussing a contract for joint library services for the city of Jamestown to operate the library for the city and county.

Heinrich told the commission that there could be a set mill rate for Stutsman County that would go to the city of Jamestown to provide joint library services. He also suggested the formation of a committee that consists of people within the community who are not directly involved with the James River Valley Library System and its board of directors.

The county commission took no action on any of Heinrich's suggestions.

Jamestown City Councilman David Schloegel told the library board on Wednesday, Nov. 8, that the amount of funding provided by the city of Jamestown and Stutsman County for joint library services should be determined by the population of each entity.

Stutsman County's financial share for joint library services has decreased since 2015, the first year there was a combination of funding between the county and the city of Jamestown, said David Schloegel, who is an appointed nonvoting member of the James River Valley Library System Board of Directors.

His data showed the percentage of Stutsman County residents living in Jamestown was about 73% in 2022. He said he used U.S. Census Bureau data to find the population for 2022.

"I think that's a reasonable thing to go off of if you are trying to determine the amount of mills moving forward," he said, referring to how many mills the county should provide for joint library services.

According to the population of the city compared to the county, he said Stutsman County's fair share should be 3.5 mills.

For 2024, that would mean the city would provide over $845,500 while the county's share would be almost $310,000.

Since 2015, the city of Jamestown's share to provide joint library services has increased from its approximately 70% share to about 83%, according to data provided by Schloegel.

The city and county mill rates from previous years are used for budgeting purposes the following year.

Schloegel said there has been a consistent reduction in the amount of county mills to provide joint library services since 2014. The county provided 4 mills for joint library services prior to 2015.

The county started reducing the amount of mills provided for joint library services in 2015 at 3.81 mills. For 2024, the county will provide 1.92 mills.

He said the value of a mill for the city is different compared to the value of a mill for the county. In 2023, the value of a mill is $56,350 for the city of Jamestown and the county's value of a mill is about $88,550.

For 2024, the James River Valley Library System is set to receive more than $845,200 from the city, or 15 mills, and over $173,500 from the county, or 1.92 mills.

Stutsman County Commissioner Joan Morris, an appointed member of the library board, said on Wednesday at the library board meeting that she doesn't have a problem with the county paying its fair share but asked why it's so expensive to provide joint library services.

She estimated an annual budget of $110,000 to $130,000 for a partnership with the University of Jamestown if the county operates the bookmobile if an agreement cannot be reached between the city and county.

Morris said at a county commission meeting on Oct. 4 that operating the Stutsman County Library as a separate entity from the city would cost around $160,000, which includes the cost of offering bookmobile services.

In October, the county commission approved the formation of a group representing the county to work with the city of Jamestown and review a 2009 memorandum of agreement to provide joint library services. The group includes Jessica Alonge, auditor/chief operating officer; Bob Toso, a former superintendent of Jamestown Public Schools and Pingree-Buchanan Schools; Joe Rector, director of the James River Valley Library System; County Commissioner Jerry Bergquist and Morris.

The city of Jamestown and Stutsman County have provided joint library services under a memorandum of agreement after voters approved a measure in 2008 to combine them.

In the 2008 general election, voters approved a measure to create a joint library board, with 75% city and 66% county voter approval to create joint library services. The James River Valley Library System was then established in 2009 when Alfred Dickey and Stutsman County libraries were legally combined.

In October, the county commission also approved allowing the group representing Stutsman County to express an interest to the University of Jamestown in a potential partnership to provide library services to county residents. Morris said the group asked UJ about the possibility of partnering with the university as an alternative plan if the city of Jamestown decides it does not want to be in a memorandum of agreement with the county.

"It definitely was a plan B because my concern with this entire discussion is that we don't do anything to harm the relationship between Stutsman County and the city of Jamestown," Bergquist said at the county commission's meeting on Tuesday. "That is a super important relationship that has not always existed."

Alonge said Tuesday that Heinrich responded to a letter sent to the city with some thoughts and questions that he was hoping the county commission would respond to prior to the Jamestown City Council appointing individuals to a working group to review the memorandum of agreement.

Earlier this year, the county commission and City Council approved a one-year extension to the memorandum of agreement, extending by one year the date each entity may provide a notice of intent to withdraw, which is March 3, 2024.

If neither side provides a notice of intent to withdraw, the agreement will automatically be extended for another five years. Either entity must give a two-year notice of intent to withdraw from the agreement.

Schloegel told the library board that it would be "detrimental" if the city and county decided to split.

Rector said the difference in the amount of funding provided for library services depends on what is acceptable to county residents. He said if the county feels it's better to not provide joint library services with the city and partners with UJ, officials will need to have discussions with library users and voters to see what they think.

He added that $100,000 worth of work for renovations and a roof has been completed for Stutsman County Library that was approved by the county commission and it would be disappointing to lose that library for the library system. He said the approval by the county commission was prior to Morris being elected to the commission.

Bergquist said Tuesday it is beneficial to review the memorandum of agreement that was signed in 2009. He said a lot of the agreement is "heavily" based on language in the North Dakota Century Code and research needs to be done to see if any laws have changed on providing library services.

"That was my idea by looking at that agreement and just if nothing else put a new date on it ... ," he said. "Then the city and county could show that, yes, we did review this and it is up to date."

Heinrich said the agreement to provide joint library services is a partnership between the county and the city. He said one issue in the partnership is the amount of funding that each entity is providing to the James River Valley Library System.

He said the city of Jamestown has provided 15 mills to the library system and maintained that level of funding while Stutsman County originally provided 4 mills but has reduced its financial contribution by more than 50% without any discussion with the city.

"I think it would be very difficult to find someone that would think that you have a good partnership when a partner unilaterally decides they are going to reduce their financial contribution to that partnership by 50%," he said.

However, Heinrich said the reason the city asked for one-year extensions wasn't necessarily because of the funding issue. He said it was because of the inability of the library board to get along. He said redoing the memorandum of agreement would have no effect on getting the library board to work better together.

He also said another issue is what the future of the library system is.

"Do they stay at the Alfred Dickey (Public Library) or do they go somewhere else," he asked. "Do they stay at the Alfred Dickey and still have another location? ... I don't want to have a situation where the library leaves the Alfred Dickey building with no plan for what's going to go on there. I don't want to see where the library leaves and then someone thinks the city has the money to just maintain that building forever."

He said a committee made up of people not directly involved should be formed to make recommendations on the future of the library system's expansion or relocation and on a new memorandum of agreement to provide joint library services. He said it would be good to have "fresh eyes" on each issue versus having people who are already committed to their positions.

Morris said the committee should include some younger people on it.

Library board member Jackie Barnes said Wednesday suggestions were made by community members when a space-needs study was completed a couple of years ago. She said community members were able to voice their wishes and desires of what should be included in a library at public meetings.