Library district details spark disagreements

By Cherry Sokoloski
Fossil Creek Current

There's a dust devil of details swirling around the new library district in Larimer County.

Voters approved the Fort Collins Regional Library District in November, and it officially came into being on Jan. 1. Beyond that, however, everything is in flux as the district awaits its new boss, the district library board, which will not be in place until late March or early April.

"There's no provision for leadership until the board is seated," so many decisions and organizational tasks must wait, commented library director Brenda Carns.

Meanwhile the library staff, Fort Collins and Larimer County are hammering away at details surrounding formation of the district. Two contentious issues are the reinstatement of library hours and whether a city representative should be on the library board.

Shortly after the November election, Carns sent out a press release announcing restoration of operating hours to their previous levels, in anticipation of increased revenue from the district. The increased hours, namely Thursday evenings at the Main Library and Saturday mornings at Harmony, were to begin Jan. 1.

Library hours have remained unchanged, however, pending a decision by the Fort Collins City Council. The issue will be addressed at the Feb. 6 council meeting, according to city manager Darin Atteberry.

According to Marty Heffernan, executive director of the city's cultural, library and recreation services, the library staff was "excited about being able to restore services," but it didn't consult with city council first. Some council members think decisions regarding restored services should be made by the new district board, while others say there's no harm in reinstating hours now.

There have been some complaints from library users about the backpedaling on restored services, Carns said.

The question of the city's ongoing involvement with the library district has also led to lively discussion. Most council members want either a council member or a designee from the manager's office to represent them on the board. To date, both county commissioners on the nominating committee have been adamantly opposed to the idea. The committee is composed of council members Ben Manvel and Karen Weitkunat and commissioners Karen Wagner and Kathay Rennels.

Weitkunat strongly favors city involvement on the board. "The library has been a city operation for the last 50 years, and the district will be taking over the city assets in some form," she said.

Also, she noted, the district will likely contract with the city for some services. "There's still a huge, huge connection with the city, and I think that perspective should be present," Weitkunat stated. "It would be different if the district were being created from the ground up."

Rennels said having a voting representative of the city on the board would "harm its independent nature." An ex-officio, nonvoting member from the city would be acceptable, she said.

However that argument turns out, the initial library board will not have a city representative, because the board will be creating an intergovernmental agreement with the city.

Assets a big issue

The important issue of library assets will be dealt with in intergovernmental agreements. Atteberry estimates that city-owned library assets, including buildings and books, total between $10 million and $15 million. As a further complication, the Harmony Library building and grounds are owned by Front Range Community College.

Within 90 days of the board being seated, the library district must have IGAs in place with the city and county, and as part of that process it will negotiate whether the district will lease or buy the assets.

Carns said she hopes the city will be reasonable in what it asks for the assets, whether it's a lease or a purchase, so the library district can afford to offer a high standard of services.

The library district will have about $6.2 million annually to work with, compared with the city's most recent library budget of $3.8 million. However, Carns noted, there will be considerable new expenses as well, such as operating a new branch library in southeast Fort Collins, restoring a half-million dollars in library cuts, contracting for services that previously were provided by the city and paying for some new management positions.

The library district will also have to repay Larimer County for the cost of putting the district issue on last November's ballot. That cost, according to the elections office, has been figured at $36,380.

Field narrowed

On Jan. 26, the nominating committee selected 17 library board candidates to interview beginning Feb. 14. Fourteen of those are Fort Collins residents, while three live in unincorporated Larimer County. Sixty applicants put their names in the ring for the volunteer positions, including one person from Timnath.

"We've had some amazing applicants," Rennels stated.

Until the district board is seated, the public libraries are still being run by Fort Collins. "We will continue to keep funding the libraries until the IGAs are in place," Mayor Doug Hutchinson said. At that point, Hutchinson added, it is the city's expectation that operating costs from Jan. 1 on will be repaid to Fort Collins.

Property tax revenues for the new district will be available by the end of April.

City criticized

Marty Tharp, who co-chaired the library district election committee, thinks Fort Collins has slowed down the transition process unnecessarily. The city council was slow in putting the nominating mechanism in place for the library board, she said, and that has resulted in delays.

"The voters passed the district on the assumption that these things (restored services) would happen," Tharp said. "Now, they expect to have some of these additional services. The perception is the city is not being responsive to what the voters voted for."

However, Mayor Hutchinson defended the pace of the transition process. "These are not trivial issues," he said, referring to challenges the new library board will face. "We're taking some time to make sure we have the right pool of expertise. We're going to do it right."

Hutchinson added that the change to a library district is "a major, major shift."

"We have a good process in place to carry out the voters' mandate, but it's more complicated than the average library patron may recognize," he said. "I hope people have a little patience as we do this transition properly."

Carns and many others have been working hard to prepare for the new board. She said the board will first have to establish bylaws and adopt a budget. The library district budget was due Jan. 31, but the state has granted an extension until the board is organized.

Until the board is seated, Carns noted, no property tax revenue can be released. The district can't open a bank account, hire an attorney or make important decisions.

"Everybody's doing their best to move forward," Carns said, and others agree that the transition problems are only temporary. When the dust settles there will be a new boss, the library board, and members will have their work cut out for them.