GRAND RAPIDS — The Itasca County Board delayed consideration of an agreement with the city of Grand Rapids at its Tuesday, July 15, meeting amid ongoing library funding discussions.
The city submitted a joint powers agreement to the county July 10 after discussing it in the City/County Cooperative Committee earlier in the week.
The agreement would allow the two to have more discussion on long-term collaboration to support the Grand Rapids Area Library. It specifically called for a feasibility study to explore other organizational options for the county’s libraries. Budget decisions would not be part of the agreement.
But the Board decided to pull it from the agenda, saying they wanted more time before entering a formal agreement.
The city first approached the board in May, asking the county to put more money toward the library. The majority of library use comes from greater Itasca County, but the city provides the majority of the funding, and it said it can’t sustain that any longer.
Commissioners Terry Snyder and Larry Hopkins sit on the committee, where most library talk has been limited to.
Snyder said an alternative way for more discussion is needed. But as far as the whole process, everybody needs to take a step back.
“I mean, the ask is big, it’s a big commitment,” he said.
“And the questions are many,” Hopkins added.
Mayor Tasha Connelly said the joint powers agreement was proposed at the recommendation of County Attorney Jacob Fauchald.
She’s concerned that the city and county are running out of time to make decisions for next year. Budgets have to be in by the end of September.
“All of a sudden this, what was seemingly very far away, is a very small amount of time to cover a lot of ground and information,” she said.
The County Board agreed to set a special meeting for noon July 29 to discuss the issue further.
Connelly said she hopes the questions the county still has will be answered at that meeting, and they can enter the agreement.
In addition to discussing the proposed agreement, she plans to bring up the city’s budget ask for next year: an additional $326,000 from the county. That would be on top of what the county already pays toward libraries.
But Snyder said he doesn’t expect any budget talk at the special meeting, saying they’ll be limited to what’s set out in the meeting’s agenda.
“That’ll be addressed at our regular budget sessions,” Snyder said. “They’ll have an opportunity to come in and present and have a bigger discussion at that point.”
Despite the apparent disconnect, Connelly said she’s still very optimistic.
“But I also — in the interest of their time and our time, too, I think we’re all like, ‘OK, we want to know what the appetite is for supporting this,’” she said.
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