The Town of Theresa Board discussed potential changes to a proposed joint powers library agreement and library fiscal agent designation at its meeting on Monday, January 5.
The Village of Theresa proposed revising the Joint Powers Agreement with the township near the end of last year, which caused tension between the entities. The Theresa Public Library is a joint library, meaning that it is supported and funded by multiple municipalities. In the case of the Theresa Public Library, these municipalities are the Town of Theresa and the Village of Theresa. A joint powers agreement is the intergovernmental document that establishes the joint library, the structure of the library board, and the financial responsibility of the municipalities, among other items.
Town Board Chairman Lloyd Hilgendorf opened the floor for Village of Theresa Village Trustee Dave Brandenburg to answer questions and receive suggested changes from the town board members.
Joint Powers Agreement
“We weren’t looking to cause problems,” said Trustee Brandenburg during the Public Forum/Guests portion of the meeting. “We went to the attorney that we jointly share, and this is what he recommended as a legal document for a joint library board, which there aren’t many in the state.”
“I did go over the agreement that you proposed and your board has already signed and found some discrepancies,” answered Chairman Hilgendorf. “The attorney did follow very well according to the state statutes for library agreements up until the section on ownership of assets. And he needed the village’s direction on that section, and I think that’s why there are a few items in there that need to be listed.”
One of the discrepancies found was the ownership of the library building. The agreement listed the Village of Theresa as the owner; however, the building is owned by both municipalities.
“We’re more than willing to make changes to what we’ve talked about previously, and some of those have come up,” said Trustee Brandenburg. “One of them was ownership of the library. I guess we just put that in there because our name is on the deed.”
The board also discussed the changes in cost-sharing outlined in the proposed agreement. The town and the village have each contributed half of the library’s funds. The potential edit would make costs shared based on equalized property value instead, which would lead the township to contribute more funds.
The town board expressed its desire for the cost-sharing to remain an even split between the two municipalities.
Along with revising the existing content within the proposed joint powers agreement, the board also considered adding new elements to the document.
“I would like one part to be a history,” said Supervisor Rick Steger. “There should be some history with it so we’re not going over this all the time . . . When you built on, [the library] did a history, and [Village President] Jody [Steger] has a whole thing of history, too. I don’t know where he put it, but he claims he doesn’t have it anymore. I mean, if we have to do it again, we’ll do it again. It should be given to both boards.”
Supervisor Steger also suggested including appraisal and sale guidelines in case the library building was ever sold.
Trustee Brandenburg assured the board that the changes would be made to the Joint Powers Agreement based on their discussion and that he would send a copy of the revised agreement to Chairman Hilgendorf once it was completed. Hilgendorf stressed that the library board should also be included in the discussions, as the library and its bylaws are affected by the agreement.
The Village of Theresa quoted $10,000 split evenly between the municipalities if its clerk-treasurer, Becky Tellier, were to take on the role.
According to accounts heard by Chairman Hilgendorf, a month’s worth of fiscal agent duties for the library can be completed in four to six hours.
“Each submission for reimbursement for a fiscal agent has to be accounted for. Dave had outlined a lot of those roles in that agreement already. I am going to round up to be on the generous side and say it takes eight hours a month,” added Chairman Hilgendorf, calculating that the cost per municipality would be $1,200 if the fiscal agent were paid $25 per hour. “Those seem much more reasonable than the quote from the village for $10,000.”
Chairman Hilgendorf also opened the floor during this section of the meeting for comments from Trustee Brandenburg and Library Director Mary Alice Bodden.
“One suggestion from our system director was not more than 1% of our budget,” Bodden suggested regarding fiscal agent wages. “Hustisford is a joint library, and they are charged $2,400 a year for their clerk, and I think that includes the audit. I think it put $1,200 for the actual bills and $1,200 for the audit.”
The town board considered the feasibility of the town clerk, Christine Steger, taking on the fiscal agent role. The township uses the same program as the library and could potentially add the library as another “entity or enterprise.”
“Dave, I know some correspondence that we’ve had with you, you seem to be in favor of allowing the township to be the fiscal agent,” Chairman Hilgendorf stated.
“We have nothing against that,” responded Trustee Brandenburg. “We think it would be easier and less expensive for the township to do it. I don’t think most of the board expects to get $10,000. That was a number that was thrown out there. It seems very high in my opinion. And from what Mary Alice has presented and from what you’ve read and from what we’ve read, it’s quite a bit higher than what the actual cost would be.”
If the Town of Theresa became the library’s fiscal agent, the library would need to amend its bylaws, which the library had changed last year to list the Village of Theresa as its fiscal agent.
“I did discuss this possible change with the system director, and she said it’s not a problem as long as we submit a fiscal agent,” said Bodden.
Bodden also provided the board with an example resolution concerning Lakeview Community Library, which is also a joint library. According to Bodden, the resolution could be used as a model to name a fiscal agent while amending the existing joint agreement.
“We want to give it fair diligence. We want to look it over, and we want to share it with the village and have them look it over and come to a mutual consensus,” stated Chairman Hilgendorf.
Determining whether the township will take on the fiscal agent responsibility will be included on next month’s meeting agenda.
Board Matters:
• The board considered awarding a contract for the McArthur Road Box Culvert Replacement project. Kin-X Construction Inc submitted the lowest bid for the project at $169,701.01. An additional bid for beam guards and guardrail end treatment was $11,205. The township and Dodge County are sharing the cost of the project, with each entity paying for 50% of the costs. A motion to award the contract to Kin-X Construction was made by Supervisor Pete Buske and passed unanimously.
• The board discussed renewing a five-year rental agreement, granting a local farmer permission to farm 2.5 acres of property around the town hall. The rental agreement included a yearly $100-per-acre fee. Chairman Hilgendorf made the motion to renew the agreement, which passed unanimously.
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