Marine on St. Croix near a deal to operate its own library

Fearing that they were going to lose their library, residents of Marine on St. Croix and surrounding communities pulled together to save it and take over much of the operation themselves.

Their efforts over the past nine months have apparently paid off.

The city of Marine on St. Croix and Washington County are finalizing language for a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) that will allow the city to take over the responsibility of running the library and establish a partnership with the county that spells out which services it will still provide.

City attorneys are reviewing the draft before it goes to the Marine City Council. If the council signs off, the JPA would need county approval before the deal would be complete, said County Administrator Jim Schug.

Both the city and county expect that to happen in the coming weeks. Toward that end, the newly formed nonprofit Marine Library Association (MARLA) that will oversee much of the operation will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Marine City Hall to recruit volunteers to staff the library and form committees to develop programs and classes for kids and adults, said MARLA spokeswoman Robin Brooksbank.

"People are ready to put on the work gloves and make things work," said Brooksbank. "We plan to be ready to take over Jan. 1."

Brooksbank estimates that it will take about $20,000 a year to operate what's being called a "Community Reading Room." The City of Marine will kick in about $8,000 for utilities and lost rent from the County Library system.

MARLA hopes to use some of the bequest money each year to help cover expenses, such as buying books, magazines and newspapers and paying for telephone and Internet connections, including Wi-Fi, Brooksbank said.

Volunteers will staff the library, which will be open about 20 hours a week.

As part of the JPA, the county will install a kiosk that will allow patrons to order materials from any Washington County Library and have them delivered to the library or to lockers outside City Hall. The county also will leave three public computer terminals in place and modify a self-service checkout system to meet data-privacy requirements. The county also will provide a rotating collection of about 2,000 books, said county Library Director Pat Conley.

Officials in Newport are talking with library officials in hopes of establishing a similar arrangement there, said City Administrator Brian Anderson. Residents in Newport are collectively taxed $68,000 for library services, but as of Jan. 1 they could be without a library. The small branch will be eliminated as part of a budget-balancing plan. Newport would like to keep its library because it's "important for kids to have a place to have computer access and do homework," Anderson said.

Newport will continue to negotiate with the county for some type of service.

In Marine, folks in the town of about 600 are relieved that they will still have a place to gather and have library service, said City Council Member Karl Benson.

"There is a huge commitment to the library in Marine," Benson said. "We are very happy about it."

Brooksbank said about 70 people attended the initial meeting in February to forge the plan to keep the library open. Tuesday's meeting is designed to keep the interest going.

"The county and a lot of people have worked hard to make this happen," said Mayor Glen Mills. "This has been a good community-wide effort. We will operate with volunteers, so we need to energize the people who want to keep the library going."