Scott Aust, Journal staff | Posted: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:00 pm
|
RAPID CITY - Other
than setting next year's non-city resident library card fee at $70
per year next year, the Rapid City Library's board of trustees had
little to say about the dispute with Pennington County over library
services.
County Commissioner
Ethan Schmidt, who is the county's liaison to the library board,
told the board on Wednesday he would like to keep negotiating for a
new library services contract next year.
"Our problem is
financial. You have the figures in our budget," Schmidt
said.
But at that point
library board chairman Monte Loos interrupted Schmidt.
"We don't need to
get into that at this time," Loos said. "We'll get into those
issues in negotiations, not in a public meeting. I really don't
want to get into that, especially with media here."
The board informed
the county a couple of weeks ago that it would not renew the county
contract next year, leaving the county commission scrambling to
come up with other options to provide library services for county
residents who live near Rapid City.
Without a contract,
people who live in the county outside city limits will have to pay
to get a Rapid City library card. The library board on Wednesday
set next year's non-city resident rates next year at $20 for three
months, $40 for six months and $70 for 12 months.
Greta Chapman,
library director, said representatives of the library board and the
county commission will meet in a negotiation session today that is
closed to the public. If any progress is made, media outlets will
be notified.
But Loos indicated
a quick resolution was not likely, saying, "It's gonna be
weeks."
Earlier on
Wednesday, county commission chairman Jim Kjerstad was skeptical
that progress would be made at the library board
meeting.
"I don't have a
clue," Kjerstad said. "We've laid our stuff out on the table and I
think it's up to them to consider it and say, 'Absolutely not,' or
'Maybe we should.'"
But realistically,
Kjerstad indicated chances didn't appear good, considering neither
side has budged from its position. He said a resolution, one way or
another, will be needed by Nov. 1.
"We need some quick
decisions here because if it doesn't happen, we've got other things
we need to do," he said.
The county outlined
six potential options Tuesday that could be pursued to provide
library service for county residents in the Rapid City area,
including partnering with the school system, bonding for part of a
structure, creating a library user district with other counties,
pushing for a county sales tax, buying a double-wide manufactured
structure for a county library or using facilities at the county
fairgrounds for a library.
Kjerstad said his
top choice is partnering with a school system.
"That just opens so
many doors to broaden library services to all areas, especially the
city," he said.
As examples,
Kjerstad cited the General Beadle satellite library, which the
school built and the city is helping to operate, and the
cooperation between schools and cities for library services in Box
Elder and Hill City.
Kjerstad said last
year there were some discussions with the Rapid City school system
and officials there were receptive to the idea but weren't prepared
to move forward. There was also some discussion last year about
working with Western Dakota Technical Institute to allow county
residents to use its library, something Kjerstad said would be a
"prime location."
One long-term
option that doesn't have much traction is for the county to build
its own library, an option Kjerstad agreed would likely be quite
expensive.
"I don't think we
really want to get into the library business or have a separate
entity at all. I think there are plenty of libraries around and we
don't need another one," he said.
Voters twice
mandated that the county provide library services. To do that, the
county signed contracts with municipal libraries in Rapid City,
Keystone, Hill City and Wall through 2006.
Last year the
county signed separate five-year contracts with Wall, Hill City and
Keystone after negotiations with Rapid City bogged
down.
Regardless of what
happens with Rapid City, county residents can still use the Hill
City, Keystone or Wall libraries next year. The $70 fee would only
apply toward getting a library card from the Rapid City
library.
Contact Scott Aust
at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com
