Thanks to all who submitted questions to last night’s Moderated Community Forum, as well as those who attended. Also thanks to all the panelists who answered questions and helped provide valuable information regarding both school and public library services. Your input is invaluable in helping determine the future of library services in Pipestone.
The public forum is up live: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCisXS6hZGIiQkPEpkmAMt7w
Any questions or concerns should be addressed to your public officials as we enter the next phase and begin negotiations between the city and the district.
The negotiations committee consists of the following:
- Jeff Baatz: Pipestone Area School Board
- Brad Carson: Pipestone Area School Board
- Dan Delaney: Pipestone City Council
- Lance Oye: Pipestone Area School Board
- Evan Schiller: Library Board Director and appointee of the City of Pipestone
- Justin Schroyer: Pipestone City Council
In my capacity as the Public Library Director, I will continue to answer questions regarding the logistics of library operations or clarifications on anything I said at the forum. As such, I have already had quite a few people ask about the current employment of public library staff and the funds with which they are paid. I will provide a quick overview followed by the pertaining statutes as well as this link to all Minnesota statutes regarding public libraries.
- Public library staff are paid for out of the public library funds.
- These funds are required by law to be kept separate from all other funds and are under the express control of the Library Board.
- All library expenses including staff salaries are paid for out of the public library fund.
- Via the Public Library Agreement of 1993, the district is the public library’s fiscal agent.
So, while public library staff receive their paychecks from the district, their salaries and all other expenses are paid for by the public library fund. In the case of Meinders Community Library, the funding levels for 2021 were as follows:
- City of Pipestone: $116,150
- Pipestone County: $33,561
- Pipestone Area Schools:
- Community Education: $17,000
- In-Kind Services (custodial services, utilities, tech support, etc): $45,419
134.11 ORGANIZATION OF BOARD; DUTIES. Subd. 2. Duties: The library board…shall have exclusive control of the expenditure of all money collected for or placed to the credit of the library fund, of interest earned on all money collected for or placed to the credit of the library fund…. All money received for the library shall be…kept separate from other money…and paid out only upon approval by the board.
134.195 LIBRARY OPERATED BY CITY AND SCHOOL DISTRICT. Subd. 9. Contracts: The library board may contract with the school board, the regional library board, or the city in which the library is situated to provide personnel, fiscal, or administrative services. The contract shall state the personnel, fiscal, and administrative services and payments to be provided by each party.
