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August 4, 2010

Somerville considers options for joining county library system

Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 12:08 PM Updated: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 2:36 PM
Amanda Peterka / Messenger-Gazette
nj.com
Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010,
Amanda Peterka / Messenger-Gazette
SOMERVILLE — Now that the library task force has recommended that Somerville join the county library system, Borough Council is trying to figure out exactly how that could be done.

The council instructed Borough Attorney Jeremy Solomon to look into the official process on municipal libraries joining a county, and he reported back at Monday’s council meeting with the news that there doesn’t seem to be much in state law to go by.

“It falls into that perfectly gray area,” as Mayor Brian Gallagher described it.

Somerville Public Library at 35 West End Ave. was set up by referendum in the early 1900s, but Solomon said that the council could choose to join the county system through another referendum, in which the public would vote on the issue, or through the passage of an ordinance or resolution, in which public officials would make the decision.

There is no law that says exactly how it should be done, but there are examples of libraries doing it each of the above ways, Solomon said.

Borough Council members said that they would discuss the library at the next council meeting on Aug. 18. Before then, on Councilman Dennis Sullivan’s request, the mayor will reach out to the county library system and ask that county representatives be present at that meeting.

In July, a task force formed to evaluate the Somerville Public Library recommended that it join the county system. The move would cost Somerville taxpayers less, increase the programs and hours of operation at the library and potentially increase staff, task members said.

Posted by tumulty at August 4, 2010 10:05 AM

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