The Dilemma

In Ontario, a library board governs a public library under the Public Libraries Act (1990), which sets out its legal responsibilities and authority. Municipalities are governed under the Municipal Act (2001), which does not define a general relationship between them and public libraries. Once a municipal government appoints a library board at the beginning of a municipal term, the board assumes it has full control over the library in the name of public interest. The municipality’s interests are usually represented by its councillors appointed as trustees to the board (always fewer than a majority).

However, since municipalities provide the bulk of the operating funds and, in addition, often fund the library building, maintenance for the building, and possibly other services (e.g., payroll), they may wish to influence board policy decisions beyond the opinions of their councillor trustees. Boards, fearing loss of independence apparently granted under the Public Libraries Act, can react with indignation at the perceived interference.

The Struggle

A board and municipality may have an apparent cooperative relationship until a major policy or financial issue arises. One such struggle arose in the St. Marys jurisdiction over a library staff benefit issue that the previous board wanted to pay. The municipality believed that decision would create a discrepancy between library staff and other municipal employees, leading to potential discord. Much board time over many meetings was devoted to this unresolved issue. Finally, the board voted in favor of it and the municipality refused to act on it. The board, having no independent source of funds, had to accept the decision. The authority for control of the library by the two bodies can present a dilemma with tricky “horns” that can lead to an unfortunate struggle.

Passing between the “Horns of the Dilemma”

At the start of the current board’s term, signs of this struggle arose over a different issue. The board chair undertook to develop a model of cooperative relationship principles between the board and the municipality. The model was reviewed by the board, the library CEO, library staff, the municipal administration, and a council committee. The revised version was passed as policy by the board and the council.
Key to the policy were the two principles that acknowledged the “authority horns,” but slipped between them by defining domains of responsibility. These principles were:

By appointing the Board under the Libraries Act, the Town acknowledges that it transfers trust of governance of the library to the Board in library matters covered by the Libraries Act.

The Board acknowledges that the library staff are Town employees with the responsibility for specific issues being assigned as follows …
While the content of these principles may seem intuitively obvious, there is an underlying theme of trust, explicit in the first but implicit in the latter. Not only does the municipality trust its appointees to govern the library effectively, but the board trusts that the municipality will have employee policies that are also relevant and fair for library staff. Also important is that the board will have input to new municipal staff policies.

Elements of the Policy

Some boards may have difficulty with the second principle in that it appears to give away the board’s legislated authority, but this is not so. What follows “the responsibility for specific issues being assigned as follows” is Procedures for Areas of Responsibility and Decision Making, which is the crucial heart of the policy. The areas of responsibility and authority of the board are specifically laid out and have been acknowledged by the council. Those areas related to the library staff include: supervision, working conditions, complaint handling, career development, employee policies internal to the library, and municipal employee policies (e.g., salary and benefit guidelines, employee handbook, bullying policy). It is made clear that these areas are the domain of either the CEO or the board personal committee or the board itself.

For example, the library staff benefit from the hard work that goes into municipal employee policies; however, these policies are reviewed by the board for compliance with the standards of the Public Libraries Act. Where authority would normally fall on the municipal CAO, it is transferred to the library CEO or board. By this delineation, reporting authority for staff clearly avoids the confusion of duality of supervision.

The policy also addresses the dual role of councillor board members which at times can be difficult when the needs of the library may be at odds with those of the municipality. The policy lays out a number of options as suggestions to reduce this difficulty.

The full text of the Relationship Policy with detail on specific areas can be found in the sidebar.

A First Test

Recently, a trustee resigned, triggering an issue from another section of the new policy. In the past, the CAO of the municipality advertised for trustees, reviewed the applications, and made recommendations to council. Now, board members assist in recruitment, and a trustee and the library CEO review the applications with the CAO. Thus the needs of the board for diverse skills and background can influence the selection of trustees.

Postscript: A Caveat

Is this approach needed or would it even work in every municipality? Perhaps not. Our current local board and council believe in cooperation, mutual respect, and power sharing. Even further, they recognize the substantial contribution each makes to library services for our community. Other communities, using their own hot issues to evolve negotiated principles, might benefit from this policy exercise that defines the roles and makes problem solving more transparent. If nothing else, such policies can be an educational exercise for boards and municipalities to better understand each other.

Gary Austin is Chair of St. Marys Public Library Board in St. Marys, Ontario. The author wishes to thank the library board, the library CEO, and staff, as well as the municipal councillors and administration, for their contribution to the policy development and to this article. garywaustin@sympatico.ca