Whiting: A library in search of identity
Toolbox
By DIANE REYNOLDS HERALD CORRESPONDENT - Published: September 9, 2009
Chester is deciding whether its community library, Whiting Library, is by definition a municipal or a private library.
The town produces paychecks for the three library staff members, pays the library invoices for purchases, pays their workers' compensation and processes their W-2s.
The library may need to take over these tasks.
The regulation states, and is supported by legal rulings, that if it is a "town library," then the town and the library trustees can divide responsibilities however they wish. If it is a private library, then the town needs to remove itself from any fiduciary responsibilities.
Thinking about dropping these responsibilities is not new. The issue has surfaced before, said David Pisha, town manager. More recently it surfaced at a Select Board meeting three weeks ago. The board and some town staff were looking to possibly rearrange staff roles and responsibilities in the wake of Town Treasurer Irene Wood's October retirement. The staff said auditors recommended against the town treasurer doing the library's financial work.
"We do their paychecks and W-2s and pay their workers' compensation and do their books and the auditors say we shouldn't," one staff member said.
A library is only a "town library" if it has been established in accordance with 22 V.S.A. paragraph 141 (a). The statute and town records need to be reviewed to determine if a true town library exists in Chester. Assistant Town Clerk Julie Hance will do the preliminary research. If it isn't clear, the town will get the town attorney Jim Carroll involved.
"If it's not a town library we should not write their checks," said Pisha.
The Vermont League of Cities and Towns Handbook for Vermont Municipal Treasurers says the town treasurer has no responsibility for managing the funds of public libraries that are privately run and privately funded even though they may receive an annual appropriation of taxpayer money from town meeting.
The town owns the building and grounds, but it is not known if Whiting is truly a town library.
Library Board of Trustees Chair Bruce Parks and former chair Cindy Collins Friday met with Pisha and Hance.
"We are in an investigatory process to try to find out in the twisted history of the library what kind of library it is," said Parks in a phone interview.
"The early indicators are that it is a municipal library. Some towns with municipal libraries do the library paperwork; some don't. There is no specific notation saying that towns shouldn't. But the library wants to do it the way it should be done. We may end up having to do our own books and hire a bookkeeper."
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