HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 08/13/2024 - Memorandum from Rupa Venkatesh re: Amendments to the Library District, Larimer County IGACity Manager’s Office
300 Laporte Avenue
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
970-221-6684
rvenkatesh@fcgov.com
CC: Delynn Coldiron, City Clerk
MEMORANDUM
Date: August 8, 2024
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
From: Rupa Venkatesh, Assistant City Manager
Subject: Amendments to the Library District, Larimer County IGA
BOTTOM LINE
The purpose of this memo is to provide information on a proposed second amendment to the
Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the Fort Collins Regional Library District
(“District”), Larimer County (“County”) and the City of Fort Collins (“City”) as it relates to the
District Trustee selection process.
Under the state Library Law, the City Council and County Commissioners must ratify the choice
of new trustees but do not have to be involved in the process of nominating those trustees.
Currently when there is a vacancy, a committee of two City Councilmembers and two County
Commissioners review and interview applicants to select a nominee for City and Council
approval.
The proposed amendment would allow the District Trustees to interview and choose who to
recommend for City and Council approval. If either the Council or Commission does not approve
the Trustee recommended, the process would start over.
BACKGROUND
The Fort Collins Regional Library District was approved by the voters in November of 2006 and
funded with three mills of property tax. The District, County and City entered into an interim IGA
in July 2007 in which the City continued to operate the libraries on behalf of the District at the
District expense until January 1, 2008. On December 4, 2007, the City Council adopted
Ordinance No. 139, 2007 approving a final IGA regarding the City’s and County’s roles in the
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management and operation of the Library District. The IGA was signed, and operation of the
Fort Collins public libraries was turned over to the District on December 31, 2007.
The state library statutes say that the legislative bodies of the local governments that form a
library district (in this case the City and County) shall appoint two members each to a committee
that appoints the initial trustees. After that, they can either continue to appoint trustees that
way, or they can delegate to the board of trustees of the district the authority to recommend new
trustees. Either way, the appointments still have to be ratified by the legislative bodies of the
governments.
The 2007 IGA stated that the City and County would continue to select new trustees and that
process has been followed since 2008. The Library District and the County have expressed
interest in changing the way that trustees are appointed because the current process is time-
consuming and administratively burdensome for both the City and County since often times,
there are more than 30 candidates that apply for the position and trying to coordinate schedules
is very difficult.
The City and County ultimately are the final decision makers on the appointments. The change
is that the selection process would be run by the District, and the City and County would ratify
the appointments, rather than having a committee of City Councilmembers and County
Commissions review applications, interview candidates and recommend the trustees.
NEXT STEPS
The Library District Board will consider the proposed draft second amendment at their meeting
on August 12. Both City Council and the County Commissioners will consider it at their
respective meetings on August 20.
The District will have a mid-term vacancy in August 2024 and recruitment started in mid-July.
They hope to seat the new member at their October board meeting.
If there are any concerns with the proposal, please notify staff as soon as possible so we can
notify both the District and the County before the process for the current vacancy starts.
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