Merged libraries await new board

Minneapolis libraries will enter the Hennepin County system without the city represented on the county's library board.

Despite a merger that takes effect Jan. 1, the County Board has yet to name the three Minneapolitans required by law to sit on the county's library board.

Those representatives may not be named until after the first library board meeting of the year on Jan. 23, according to a county aide. The county has had the names of applicants since Oct. 25, the deadline for applying.

The library merger law requires that at least three Minneapolis residents sit on the board for the first three years following the merger. The board will expand from seven to 11 members.

The law also requires the County Board to consult with Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City Council before appointing Minneapolis residents. As of last week, Council President Barbara Johnson said she and the mayor had been contacted but hadn't responded.

But the County Board also hasn't acted on two suburban vacancies on the current board created by expiring terms. Nor has it filled another seat created by the board's expansion that is open to any county resident.

The County Board had the appointments on its agenda at its last meeting of 2007 last week, but it was announced that the appointments would be deferred until the board's Jan. 8 meeting.

Although that board's role is primarily advisory to the County Board on financial and construction matters, it also sets operating policies, such as circulation and collection decisions.

Although some Minneapolis residents spoke against a merger of library systems at an October public hearing, some said they took comfort that Minneapolis would be represented on the county library board.

"It's disconcerting," said Steven Petermeier of the delayed appointments. But Petermeier, who uses the Walker Library, said a bigger issue for him is switching from an elected city library board to an appointed county version.

Minneapolis library taxes collected in 2008 will be turned over to the county; city residents will pay the county library levy directly in 2009. The city also is turning over land, buildings, furnishings and a collection valued at $241 million.

Among the 20 applicants for the three city seats are several candidates with ties to the city library system, including current Minneapolis trustees Sheldon Mains and Gary Thaden; former trustee Kathleen Lamb, and Roger Hale, retired president of Tennant Co., and a member of the library's blue-ribbon advisory committee.