Opinion
The Missing MOA: The Overlooked Agreement Behind Library Funding Controversy
The government center has been packed with citizens, and all the conversations have been focused on books. It came to my attention that something was not being talked about—the lack of an MOA in place between the library and the county.
A “memorandum of agreement” (MOA) is a written formal document between parties that details the agreement of how they will work together. I would expect that before handing out over a million dollars in taxpayer funds, such an agreement would be in place. It is hate that is seen when people are stating that the BOS is taking away funding. The board has said specifically that they are asking for the library’s process of how they handle books as well as an up-to-date MOA. It seems that some people that want to jump on their high horse and roll with incorrect info are doing so so that they can look to be the ones holding the checkered flag. Why does it have to be a fight and purposely out to make others look bad?
I reached out to the library director, Michelle Ross, and in an email dated July 5, she acknowledged that the MOA had, in fact, expired 2 years earlier. I was shocked this major piece of information had not been better explained in any news story to inform the public of the full reasoning behind why the BOS fully funded but only appropriated 25% of the library’s budget. I emailed Michelle Ross on July 6th to ask for more information. “This is the main source of revenue for the library, no? It seems that information put out about funding and the process of it is by you and another that sits on the board of directors that pushed this is quite different. It seems that you want the public to be mad at the county when this looks as if this falls on you, the Director. “
On July 10th, I received the following email response back from Michelle Ross: ”Myself and an SPL Trustee met with BOS members and came to a verbal agreement on changes to address public concerns. That includes creating a “New Adult” section which would remove books intended for older audiences (16-college age) from the Young Adult area and into the Adult section of the library. That process has already begun but may take a while as staff are looking at each individual item in the Young Adult collection to determine what needs to be moved. The discussed agreement also includes creating two new card types that would allow parents to restrict their children’s accounts to only Juvenile material or Juvenile and Young Adult material. The limited cards will be voted on at the July 10 SPL Board of Trustees Meeting. Once approved, the new card types will be available on July 11. The BOS decision to appropriate ¼ of the library’s budget was different than their normal procedures, but my understanding is that their intent is to make sure the discussed changes are completed.”
This was the final email to the Director of the Library, who did not want to take responsibility that her job requires exactly what the BOS is asking for. Instead, it seems that they are taking the hit for the library. No one is holding funding captive. Having a current MOA in place, none of this would exist. There hasn’t been an MOA in place since the Director came aboard in 2021.
“Thank you for getting back to me. In getting all of that tedious work together, wouldn’t that fall on the library as the responsibility of getting the proper amount of money for funding? I understand many others have a role to play. It is like starting a new job and having to go through all that annoying paperwork to prove who you really are in order to be on the payroll. You, the new employee, must complete that. Same with filing taxes. There are consequences if you do not. Do you understand my point? You came aboard as Director of the library during covid of 2021, right? Wouldn’t this task fall under the duties of being the director of the library? I would assume you would oversee a budget, establish (in this case) existing relationships with local government, report to your board as well as fundraising, employment issues or hiring, volunteer staff, being compliant with rules and governing laws. I just see that the municipal level of business would be initiated on your end, and you working with the BOS to get that funding moving or in order quickly and professionally. “ ( End of final email)
So, there it is, as Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the Rest of the Story.” Our community has torn each other apart for over a month now when the solution was already worked out. The library could have avoided this entire situation if they had gotten their MOA in place on time. Maybe we should stop this hateful behavior between neighbors and start having a conversation about what really happened and how to avoid having this happen again.
Steph M.
Warren County
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