Independent or with County
Early on in the process of becoming a district you will need to decide whether or not you are going to be completely independent. There is an option of creating an interlocal agreement with the county where you are a part of the county government system.
Advantages to doing this are:
County will handle part of the workload (which could include accounting, insurance, personnel, etc.). Plus you don't have to worry about some of the legal details that come up when you are independent.
Library staff may be able to take advantage of the county benefits.
Disadvantages to doing this are:
It puts you in a vulnerable place as you are going to be dependent upon the county's goodwill. Yes, there is an interlocal agreement in place (which is essentially a contract), but the county could decide to end that agreement when personnel change. They are handling everything, so they do get a say in how your district will run overall.
You may not have to learn as much of the legalese, but you are going to be in a strange area where questions can come up about who ultimately makes library decisions which could include: who owns the building, who really handles staffing issues, and who is responsible for reports, etc. to the Department of Administration.
ASPeN: The New Library Directory
- Home
- Introduction
- Challenges of being a library district
- Joys of being a library district
- Contact Us
- Getting Started - Helpful Hints
- Develop an Action Plan
- Work/Life Balance
- Celebrate Your Successes
- Getting Started Checklist
- Working with the city and county during the transition
- County Actions
- City Actions
- Memorandums of Agreement
- Independent or with County
- City/County Transitions Checklist
- Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!
- Employer Identification Number
- Name Change
- Notify Department of Administration
- Create List of Contacts
- Paperwork Checklist
- Accounting and other money matters
- Funding during the transition phase
- Decide how to handle accounting
- Paperwork and other details
- Transfer of cash and other liquid assets
- Develop agreements with the Friends and Foundation
- Funding for the First Year
- Accounting Checklist
- Payroll and Personnel
- Initial Decisions
- Take a class
- Notify Revenue Departments - State and Federal
- Personnel
- A note about independent contractors
- Payroll
- Payroll and Personnel Checklist
- Property and other assets
- Transfer Assets
- Obtain Insurance
- Maintenance, Repair, and Utility Costs
- Depreciation of Assets
- Assets Checklist
- The Library Board and its Duties
- Create and adopt an action plan
- Support library staff
- Adopt bylaws for the board
- Hire legal counsel
- Purchase errors and omissions insurance
- Begin work on a long range plan
- Begin adopting policies
- Adopt resolutions and a budget
- Election of board members
- Board Checklist
- Public relations and library services
- Keep the public informed
- Design a new logo and look
- Plan for new services
- Public Relations Checklist
- Reporting Requirements
- IRS Reporting
- Department of Administration Reporting
- Auditing the Library's Accountings
- Depreciate Assets
- Montana Department of Revenue Reporting
- Montana Department of Labor and Industry Reporting
- Montana Public Employees Retirement Administration
- Create an annual report for the library
- Montana State Library Reporting
- Reporting Checklist
- Conclusion
- Appendices