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Pewaukee library director of 12 years resigns after disagreements with village board

Jordyn Noennig
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jennie Stoltz is retiring as library director after serving Pewaukee for 12 years.

Library Director Jennie Stoltz will leave the Pewaukee library Jan. 29, a decision she made after a year of rifts between the village and library boards, according to Stoltz.

Problems between the two entities began when the village questioned the library board about spending $4,000 on Christmas lights in December 2017. The village then began investigating other payments the library was making. 

The joint library board serves as its own governmental body so it cannot be swayed by either municipality, according to state statutes. Stoltz said the village was overstepping its boundaries when it began investigating library budget items. 

"You can't have either municipality body influencing the control of the library. When you have overreach from one of the two municipal entities it becomes problematic. In the case of the village board, they were getting very involved in reviewing invoices, and that becomes problematic because it questions the authority of the library board," Stoltz said. 

In Pewaukee's case, the library serves residents of both the village and city of Pewaukee. The library receives taxpayer money from each community based on equalized value.

For libraries owned by a single municipality, that library's budget would be established by an equalized value according to the state Department of Revenue. In the case of joint library boards, state law allows those municipalities to use the average of the the last three budgets as the minimum contribution, and uses the DOR equalized value to establish the percentage each municipality contributes. 

"The one thing about taking the average that is problematic is that you continue to fund at the minimum," Stoltz said. "It doesn't ebb and flow with changes in the economy." 

For the 2019 fiscal year, the library's budget is nearly $1.07 million. The village accepted its portion of the library budget — $256,489 — as a part of the 2019 village budget. That includes nearly $7,000 more than the average of the last three years' budgets.

The library's 2019 budget as a whole asked for about $70,000 more than the average of the last three years' budgets, according to Stoltz. The city will pay about $63,000 more than the average as part of its contribution. 

As the village approves more than the minimum required by the state, Village President Jeff Knutson said he feels accountable for the spending of those tax dollars.  

"I don't feel that we overstepped their boundaries. We did not tell them how to spend money. We questioned the spending of it," Knutson said.

"We just wanted clarification because we collect money from our taxpayers. Residents and businesses come to us and ask why groups are spending money on the thing they are spending it on, and if we don't have those answers for taxpayers in this community, we look like idiots," he said.  

But Stoltz said that is not the village board's responsibility, and she said the inability for the village board to recognize that led her to submit her resignation on Nov. 14.  

What's next?

Stoltz has suggested three steps the village and library boards could take to amend the problems between the two. She said she suggested these during a special library board meeting with village board members present on Oct. 3, but she felt that her ideas were not heard. 

Stoltz's suggestions include the two boards have a joint meeting with the director of library systems, have a more defined method for instructions to pass from the village board to library director, and to have library internal procedures line up more easily with the village procedures. 

Library Board President Dale Noll said that his goal is to find a better communication path with the village board going forward. 

Knutson said he hopes the library board passes a resolution that will more clearly create channels for communication between the two boards, but Knutson also said he thought the problems between the two boards had been mostly resolved and thought it was a "dead issue."

"I was very surprised when we got the resignation letter. I'm sad we got it," Knutson said. "I think she did a great job with the library. I think this is a loss for the community, and I wish her the best in whatever she chooses to do moving forward." 

Stoltz told Lake Country Now said she hopes to do consulting for public libraries and is pursing a teaching position at the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

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