County pitches new library structure

Shawano County officials are working to drum up support among library boosters for a countywide library consolidation aimed at promoting efficiency and shoring up local control.

The consolidation idea elicited many questions but also signs of support Wednesday during a public forum at the Matsche Community Center in Birnamwood.

County officials assured those in attendance that libraries in Birnamwood and elsewhere would remain undisturbed if the county assumed control of finances and operations.

Jan Atkinson, director of the Birnamwood Library, said later it sounds as though implementation of the county’s consolidation plan would be relatively transparent for library patrons and others.
Atkinson said that, although she still has some technical questions about the proposal, it seems to represent a reasonable strategy for reasserting local control of libraries in the face of intrusive financial penalties being imposed by neighboring counties.

“I think it’s a smart thing to do,” she said.

County officials will hold a second public hearing on the proposal at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Shawano County Courthouse in Shawano.

Under the consolidation concept, the county would create a countywide library board to take responsibility for funding and operating all library branches, including the main library in downtown Shawano and branches in Birnamwood, Bonduel, Mattoon, Tigerton and Wittenberg.

The system’s yearly budget of about $600,000 is currently funded 80 percent by the county and 20 percent by the city of Shawano. Some individual branches also receive additional support in their local communities, and some operate with relative independence from the city-county administration.

Proponents contend that reorganizing as a county-run library system would create more efficiency in how libraries are operated through such approaches as shared manpower and uniform standards.

The new structure also would safeguard the county against bills exceeding $100,000 a year from neighboring library systems because of residents crossing borders to use library facilities elsewhere. The situation is most common in border communities such as Pulaski and Marion, where residents find it more convenient to use public libraries that are outside Shawano County.
State law allows surrounding counties to bill Shawano County for crossover library patrons, but the law would prohibit any such billing if Shawano County converted to a consolidated library system.

After months of consideration, the Shawano County Board in September gave tentative approval to the reorganization, directing county staff to put together a detailed blueprint for a consolidation to take effect in January 2018. One of the main questions left to be answered is how much additional cost the county would incur in operating all libraries — and where the money would come from.

At Wednesday’s event in Birnamwood, county officials said the consolidation would keep Shawano County resources in the county for the benefit for local libraries.

“It may even cost us a little more,” County Supervisor Kathy Luebke said, “but the money will stay in Shawano County.”

Luebke is a member of an ad hoc group that studied the issue and recommended consolidation to the county board. Members of the group joined County Administrative Coordinator Brent
Miller in presenting the concept to about 20 people at the Matsche Community Center.

In order to implement the new library system by next January as planned, county officials are asking local village boards or other involved civic leaders to take action by April on whether they want to take part. Any library opting out will have to take steps on its own to comply with state library standards and will be subject to the same sort of out-of-county financial penalties now paid by Shawano County.

With consolidation, officials said, a nine-member library board with countywide representation will administer the entire system, leasing each branch facility from the current property owner and seeking an operating agreement with each local organization now running a library.

Asked by participants how much the county would exert control, officials offered assurances that the county would make no across-the-board changes in library personnel and would not tamper with any financial endowments created locally to support a library.

Miller said he would not want to discourage local financial support for a library by making it appear that the county would divert that money elsewhere.

“We want to keep it in the local community,” he said.

Birnamwood Village Clerk-Treasurer Lauri Klumpyan said the community’s library is a partnership between the village and school district, so the consolidation poses an important decision for many civic leaders. Klumpyan said it was too soon to predict how the discussion will turn out locally.

“There’s so many ifs yet that nobody knows the answers to,” she said. “That’s all going to have to be ironed out.”