Meeting Type: BCC Regular Meeting
Meeting Date: 6/4/2024
Item Status: Addendum
From: Roger H. Rendleman, County Administrator
Submitted by: Anu Gary, Administrative Services Manager
______________________________________________________________________
ITEM TITLE
Title
Baldwin County Library Cooperative Dissolution and Establishment of a County Commission Support System for Joint Library Services with the Municipal Library Boards in Baldwin County
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STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Take the following actions:
1) Approve Resolution #2024-124 which dissolves the Baldwin County Library Board; and
2) Approve an Intergovernmental Agreement between the Baldwin County Commission and the municipal library boards in Baldwin County, for the County Commission to facilitate the joint library services system for the municipal libraries in Baldwin County; and
3) Authorize the County Attorney and the County Administrator to take any and all actions necessary to:
a) Dissolve The Baldwin County Library Cooperative, Inc., a domestic non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation; and
b) Transfer and/or recovery of all assets of the Baldwin County Library Cooperative, Inc. to the Baldwin County Commission; and
c) Transfer all contractual agreements from The County Library Cooperative, Inc., to the Baldwin County Commission deemed necessary for the purpose of the County Commission to continue providing joint library services for the public library system in Baldwin County, Alabama.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Background: Agreement forthcoming from County Attorney.
At the conclusion of the budget cycle last summer, we began researching a way to treat the BCLC’s 501-C3 just like other outside agencies.
On October 9, 2023, the primary result of such research completely changed the complexity of the situation:
The By-laws of the Baldwin County Library Cooperative, Inc. state under Article 3: The corporation shall have five (5) members appointed by the Baldwin County Commission and collectively they shall be known as the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees shall have those duties and responsibilities authorized by the Code of Alabama, 1975, Section 11-90-1 et seq.”
An Attorney General Opinion (99-00135) on March 15, 1999, clearly concluded that “Section 11-90-1, et seq., of the Code of Alabama does not give local library boards power to incorporate.”
Therefore, the Baldwin County Library Cooperative, Inc does not have the authority to exist.
Efforts began gathering additional information and researching for potential opportunities to efficiently reorganize the operations once the 501-C3 was dissolved. On December 18, 2023, we gauged the interest of the municipal libraries in creating their own joint cooperative to take over all the joint services currently utilized under the BCLC. The result of the meeting was there was no apparent path for such a joint cooperative to be created and the lack of joint services would have a severe negative impact on the smaller libraries. The primary services identified were:
• Connected Catalog and Library Software
• Libby and Sors Services
• Interlibrary Loan and Courier Service
• Some tech and grant assistance
December 19, 2023, Commission Meeting Minutes:
“Mr. Rendleman discussed the Baldwin County Library Cooperative's 501(c)(3) status
being non-compliant due to improper setup when established and requested the
Commission's permission to work with the County Attorney to address this issue and
to develop a plan to work with the municipal libraries to ensure cooperative services are still available.
The Commissioners agreed to have Mr. Rendleman and Mr. Hicks move forward with the request.”
Over the next several months different options were researched and/or explored. One option was a possible partnership with other entities.
On March 8, 2024, the County Administrator met with the BCLC Director and Assistant Director to verify information and gather additional operational information in order to formulate potential transition options. At the end of the meeting, both were told that once options were ready for consideration by the Commission, Mr. Rendleman would provide them the options prior to the meeting when action would be requested.
On April 8, 2024, any realistic partnership opportunities ended.
At this point to keep the necessary joint library services, the first option appeared to be just move the entire operations over to the county as a county department. That option clearly was inefficient as some of the functions performed by the BCLC Staff could be integrated into current county operations. In addition, certain activities of the BCLC Staff seemed duplicative.
A second option to present to the Commission was being formulated to consider running the 501-C3 for ninety days to provide a transition time to verify where the inefficiencies and duplicative operations truly existed. The current employees would be given ninety-day notice that employment would end with the 501-C3. During such time, employees would be evaluated and considered first for the necessary remaining position once those were determined.
On May 22, 2024, while specifics were being reviewed and finalized for the second option along with determining which June Meeting to present to the County Commission, the BCLC Board terminated the entire staff immediately. Based on information obtained from the board members, the BCLC Director requested an emergency meeting on May 21st to be held on May 22nd. Apparently, the Director informed the Board that the County Commission was going dissolve the BCLC, the assets of the BCLC would be seized by the Commission and all employees would be fired immediately without severance pay at the June 4th Commission Meeting. The Director requested the BCLC board to terminate all BCLC employees effective immediately and approve providing the employees with one year’s worth of salary as severance pay.
Since then, we have been working closely with several of the municipal library directors to ensure the most critical joint service remains operational, which is the courier service sharing resources among the libraries. In addition, we have been discussing and developing plans to review and assess efficient ways to restore other necessary joint services.
Given the current circumstances created by the events on May 22, 2024, we are requesting a series of actions to start the process to create a new joint library services system for the municipal libraries in Baldwin County facilitated by the Baldwin County Commission.
Previous Commission action/date: N/A
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Total cost of recommendation: N/A
Budget line item(s) to be used: N/A
If this is not a budgeted expenditure, does the recommendation create a need for funding? N/A
LEGAL IMPACT
Is legal review necessary for this staff recommendation and related documents?
Yes, County Attorney review necessary.
Reviewed/approved by: Reviewed/approved by County Attorney 05/31/2024 akg
Additional comments: N/A
ADVERTISING REQUIREMENTS
Is advertising required for this recommendation? N/A
If the proof of publication affidavit is not attached, list the reason: N/A
FOLLOW UP IMPLEMENTATION
For time-sensitive follow up, select deadline date for follow up: N/A
Individual(s) responsible for follow up: N/A
Action required (list contact persons/addresses if documents are to be mailed or emailed): N/A
Additional instructions/notes: N/A