By Bob Balgemann

REPORTER

Two weeks before the Dec. 21 city council meeting Ida Public Library wasn’t going to get the 2.52-percent increase, or $18,301, it had requested in its 2020-21 tax levy.

That happened because council on Dec. 7 voted 7-2, with one absent, to keep the city levy at the same level it was during 2019-20. That vote in favor of the status quo meant no increase for the library.

Fast forward to Dec. 21 and the second and final reading of Ordinance 511H, the proposed levy that was before council. Winds of change started blowing immediately when Alderman Dan Snow moved to approve an amendment to the action of two weeks ago, calling for the library levy to increase from $726,224 to the requested $744,525. There was a second. And then the discussion began.

Alderman Tom Porter asked for a more detail on the amendment.

Budget and Finance Officer Becky Tobin explained it this way: “The original request was the $744,525. This council didn’t want any increase in the library ordinance, so we put it back to the $726,224, which is the current levy.”

At that point Sue Holmes, president of the library board, addressed council and revisited the issue of director Louis Carlile’s proposed salary increase that was raised on Dec. 7. She said any increase would be tied to his performance evaluation that would be done in February 2021, on his one-year anniversary at the library.

“That dollar figure ($18,301) in the line item is simply a figure from which the salary increase will be taken, if there is an increase,” she pointed out. “We’re not proposing that the entire amount for his salary increase. We won’t know what that amount is until after the performance evaluation.”

It was Alderman Ric Brereton who on Dec. 7 questioned how the $18,301, if approved, would be spent. Carlile said it was for salaries with his wage getting the largest increase, at up to $18,000. It then was asked whether that was a coincidence, with the amount of the requested increase from the library being the same as might be going to the director.

Holmes provided a clarification, saying it never was the intent of the library board to give one member of the staff the entire levy increase, “despite what you heard, despite what was said.”

More questions

Two questions followed, the first from Alderman Marsha Freeman.

Earlier that night, during a public hearing on the proposed levy, library treasurer Kim Hohf talked about needs at the facility. Among them was crumbling stairs, which the board wanted to address this year.

In response to that, Freeman later asked City Attorney Mike Drella if the library board could appear before council with a proposal to repair the steps “and we could consider it separately?”

The attorney paused, then apologized for doing that and replied, “But these are questions I’d like to have a couple of days before (the meeting) so I could do some research. We cannot increase the levy once you approve it.

“If your question is whether the city could use other funds to help the library, that would require research on my part. It raises the bigger question of your keeping your own levy flat and then helping out the library. That’s a question for Miss Tobin. I would want to research whether the city can take city tax dollars and divert them to the library.” 

The subject area brought up another question, which had discussed been before.

Mayor Mike Chamberlain reminded council of the question still “hanging in the wind,” that being whether city council had the right to deny the library’s requested levy increase. “It’s a point of law that can be looked at from both sides,” he said. “It’s a sticky wicket.”

Brereton suggested everyone return to the Dec. 7 meeting video on YouTube, in the time span of 27 minutes, 45 seconds, through 29 minutes, 40 seconds. That was the portion dealing with how the $18,301 would be spent and Carlile’s response.

“I think anything else is a distraction, to distract us from this large salary increase (for the director) that I’m not supporting,” he said.

Alderman Wendy Frank said she agreed with Brereton. “I think this whole presentation has been horrible,” she said. “We have not gotten any clarification on anything. It’s just as clear as mud.”

The author of the earlier amendment, Snow, encouraged everyone to attend library board meetings, as he does, adding that they’re on Zoom now.

“It’s not their (board) intent to give the new director an $18,000 increase in salary,” he said. “The $18,000 is a pool of money with which they plan to operate. It’s $18,000; that’s an additional $1 per household. It’s not the end of the world. These people need an increase.”

Earlier that evening, council voted 6-5 to approve Snow’s amendment. Voting yes were aldermen Clayton Stevens, Daniel Arevalo, Snow, Tom Ratcliffe and Matt Fleury. Voting no were aldermen Porter, Frank, Mike McGee, Freeman and Brereton. Chamberlain broke the tie by voting yes, allowing the amendment to pass.

Later, council voted 8-2 to approve the original motion, as amended, which granted the library its requested levy increase while leaving the city’s levy at no increase for 2020-21. The levy covers the period from May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021. Support came from Arevalo, Fleury, Frank, McGee, Porter, Snow, Stevens and Ratcliffe. Dissenting were Brereton and Freeman.

 
 
 
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