Analisa Romano
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April 8, 2014
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Greeley will not participate in High Plains library board takeover, council says


Greeley City Council members on Tuesday said they will not join other Weld County communities seeking to unseat the High Plains Library District’s board of trustees, citing concerns that those communities are acting illegally.

Several council members at a work session strongly disagreed with the actions of leaders in Ault, Eaton, Hudson, Fort Lupton, Fort Lupton Re-8 School District and Weld County, who met on Monday and nominated each other as High Plains’ new board members.

Those communities, plus Greeley, are the founding members of the district, which they said gives them authority to throw out the new board.

But Greeley City Attorney Doug Marek said he mostly agrees with arguments made by High Plains attorney Nathan Godsey.

The founding communities should have changed the High Plains bylaws or gotten authority from the board to begin the nomination process, and they never cited any “good cause” for unseating board members, those attorneys say.

Marek said he also thinks it takes unanimous approval by all of the nominating bodies to seat a new board member, instead of majority approval, as cited by Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker.

Greeley Mayor Tom Norton did not go to Monday’s meeting, saying he needed time to talk with council members about their position on the matter.

Even so, Norton on Monday was nominated as an at-large member of the new board.

On Tuesday, he wrestled with the duty to represent Greeley and other communities served by High Plains and the legality of his actions if he did so.

Greeley, Kersey, Firestone and Erie are served by branch libraries, meaning High Plains runs those libraries directly. Those libraries serve 89 percent of all library patrons in Weld County, according to High Plains officials.

The founding members, plus Platteville and Johnstown, have member libraries, meaning their individual library boards decide how most of their revenue will be spent.

Without Norton on the board, there is a possibility that most patrons served by High Plains won’t be represented.

But council members said they would rather the city not be involved in the new board at all, saying they don’t see how the issue will be resolved without litigation.

Council Member Mike Finn said he felt the initial conflict between member libraries and High Plains officials, which has led to the unseating of the board, should have been solved by Weld County commissioners, who have hosted meetings with those communities about how they wanted to proceed with the district.

Finn said he feels commissioners are choosing to represent the rural areas of Weld County, but not the population centers.

“It’s another example, in my opinion, that the county commissioners aren’t representing this community,” he said to applause from a handful of residents gathered at the work session.

Council Member Sandi Elder said the founding communities need to give a reason why they are seeking to take over the board.

“It’s pretty black and white, what you can do and what you can’t do,” Elder said. “I just don’t think this is good government.”

Norton said the structure of the library district, which essentially gives both the High Plains board and individual library boards some of the same powers, is a “recipe for disaster.”

He said he has had a difficult time getting direct answers from representatives of member libraries regarding what exactly is angering them.

Norton called on the public to contact the city if they have any information they feel offers good cause for seeking to unseat the board.



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The Greeley Tribune Updated Apr 9, 2014 01:15PM Published Apr 11, 2014 07:15AM Copyright 2014 The Greeley Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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