[Michlib-l] ATTN DIRECTORS: Branch Library Maintenance Cost Contribution Question

[Dan Hutchins]

Hi Everyone,
Van Buren District Library is a seven location, former county library system. Going back to the 1940s six of our branch facilities have always been provided and maintained by the local governments of our service area, with first the County Library, then District Library, staffing, stocking, furnishing, and equipping them.
A predecessor of mine began conferring “branch grants” to the local governments who provided library facilities. From time to time, when the Library District found it had excess funds at the end of a fiscal year, it would give $5,000 “grants” to each of the local governments who provided the branches, with no strings attached, as a way of saying “thank you” for providing and maintaining the library’s facilities.
Last year one of the local governments who had received library grant funds challenged this practice. Their legal counsel argued the branch grants, as given, weren’t authorized expenditures under our establishing law, PA 24 of 1989 AKA the District Library Establishment Act. Our legal counsel agreed with them and advised us to stop giving the grants.
For every action though, there is an equal and opposite reaction and now more than one local government is coming after us for maintenance contributions, in spite of the fact that our branch library agreements with them clearly specify that maintaining the branch facilities are their responsibility and their responsibility alone.
My Board has asked me to reach-out to my colleagues and ask if there are other multi-branch library systems in Michigan with similar arrangements, where the library operates facilities provided and maintained by local governments, and if so, does your system contribute toward the maintenance costs? If your system does, how much and under what conditions?
Not a simple question to ask or answer, so please know I appreciate any time and thought you put into this on my behalf.
Best,
Dan Hutchins
Executive Director
Van Buren District Library
200 North Phelps Street
Decatur, MI 49045
dhutchins at vbdl.org
http://www.vbdl.org
269-423-4771
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