Theresa Village Board Tables Library Agreement Amid Fiscal Agent Confusion

With the upcoming retirement of Theresa Public Library Board’s treasurer, Angie Anderson, the Theresa Village Board discussed fiscal agency and revising the joint powers agreement at its meeting on Monday, December 15.

The fiscal agent for the library would be responsible for managing payroll, benefits, insurance, and similar financial items. Library Board Treasurer Anderson has been completing the fiscal agent responsibilities for many years and is retiring in February. After Anderson retires, the library wants the village to take on the fiscal agent role.

“I downloaded all of the information [Library Director] Mary Alice [Bodden] gave us. Thank you, Mary Alice. That is a lot of information you found,” said President Jody Steger. “Back in 2000, it said that [the DPI] would strongly suggest that the Theresa Public Library does not sign the fiscal agent agreement drafted by the village.”

President Steger continued to explain that the 2000 agreement was not signed by either the Library Board or the Town of Theresa Board. The agreement was only signed by the village.

“Being that there was only one signature on the agreement, checking with our legal counsel, they said that it was not a legal document. Right now, according to them, we don’t have any kind of agreement with the Theresa Public Library,” explained President Steger, before opening the floor for Bodden to comment.

“The DPI recognizes the Village of Theresa as our fiscal agent,” stated Bodden. “[The library] is not required to have a fiscal agent agreement signed by you and us. When we were formed, if you read the papers of the formation, it was formed as the village being responsible for being the fiscal agent. It doesn’t maybe say fiscal agent, but it says, at the beginning, you are to pay our bills . . . and everything that is covered under fiscal agent duties.”

According to Chris Bucher, Director of Communication with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), which oversees the public library system, the DPI does not have any records of the village being designated as the library’s fiscal agent.

Bucher wrote, “Our records show that the Theresa Public Library was formed as a joint library in about 1984. The 1984 agreement for Theresa did not include any information about a fiscal agent, which would have been in compliance with the statutes at that time . . . To our knowledge, the Theresa Public Library is still operating under its 1984 agreement. Therefore, we do not have any information or records about who is currently serving as the fiscal agent for the Theresa Public Library.”

During the board meeting, Bodden mentioned library founding documents from 1982. According to the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) Legal Hotline, it is possible that these documents designated the village as the fiscal agent without using the exact terminology before the library became a joint library in 1984. However, this cannot currently be verified, as the request to view the documents and the library’s bylaws was denied.

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.

A revision to the 1984 Joint Powers Agreement was proposed by the village earlier this year to add the Village Clerk-Treasurer Becky Tellier as the library’s fiscal agent. However, the revision was not signed by either the Library Board or the Town Board. According to President Steger, the Town Board had not budgeted for the proposed administrative costs of $10,000 split evenly between the village and town, and therefore did not sign the agreement.

“The Joint Agreement is separate from the fiscal agent,” stated Bodden. “It is part of it. At this point in time, my concern is that I may not have someone to pay my bills and pay my staff because my treasurer and my bylaws have been changed. We took the whole year to change them so that we can turn it over to you. It was told to us that everything was going to be okay. In September, we thought we weren’t going to have any problems, and we are very baffled by this.”

If a revised joint powers agreement were signed by all entities, it would have to designate a fiscal agent, as DPI Communications Director Bucher notes, “Wis. Stat. § 43.53 requires that the joint library agreement name a fiscal agent for the library. However, that requirement was not added to the Wisconsin statutes until 2011.”

To follow state statutes, the agreement would also need to “allow for the reallocation of board members to remain proportional to the populations of the town and village,” according to DPI Public Library Administration Consultant Teresa Schmidt.

“I would ask that you give us time to work with the town and work with our attorney to come to the joint agreement and come to the fiscal agency agreement,” Trustee Dave Brandenburg responded to Bodden.

Trustee Brandenburg made a motion to table the joint powers agreement until the January meeting and to consult with the village attorney, town, library, and DPI. The motion passed unanimously.

Board Matters:
• The board considered approving a manufactured housing community license renewal for a land lease community within the village. Trustee Dave Brandenburg informed the board that there is a discrepancy between state statute and code on the license fee amount. A motion to renew the license and consult with the village attorney on the fee amount was made by Trustee Brandenburg and passed unanimously.
• The board also discussed approving a minor subdivision of land in the Town of Theresa. The requested subdivision was to change the property use from “Active Working Farm Operation” to “Business / Industrial / Commercial Use” for a milk truck operation. The village board had to approve the subdivision because the parcel is located within a certain distance from the village line. Trustee Robin Billings made the motion to approve the minor subdivision of land, which passed unanimously.

• Additionally, the board considered approving Tami Vodak, Peggy Loehrke, Rick Krapfl, Rylee Krapfl, Lynn Steger, Jack Yuds, Kevin Siebert, Jennifer Banaszynski, and Sandy Leonhard as election inspectors. The motion to approve the inspectors was made by Trustee Pat Bodden and passed unanimously.