Checks and Balances

Balancing Authority and Powers with Local Government

The most common areas of tension or conflict between a local government and a library happen around money (library budget), personnel, facilities, and board authority.

Some of this tension is inherent in the structure of the law. Montana Code gives most library boards a fair amount of authority and city councils and county commissions aren’t used to this power structure. They are used to advisory boards that focus on policy and services and leave budgets and personnel management to the city or county.

This tension exists because of

1. the recognition of the importance of spreading power over a wide range of individuals
2. the importance of not giving the most powerful local government body full control over what appears on a library’s shelves or in its programming
3. a need for checks and balances within government

To keep things in perspective, attending to these potential areas of tension will help your library serve the information, economic, workforce, and cultural needs of the community.  With balance and healthy relationships, it is exciting to think about the possible opportunities you will bring to your patrons.

Build and Manage Relationships

What are some ways you can manage potential tension and build positive relationships with local government officials?

Scroll through the options in this presentation. Take note of any actions you are already doing, need to do soon, or need to plan.

Time and Effort

Building relationships takes time and effort. Good relationships require an understanding of structures, authority, roles of the various officials, and a willingness to recognize the challenges that have to be balanced in order to provide the best library services your community expects and can support.

Board authority, budgets, facilities, and personnel are the four most common areas of potential tension.

For you, as an individual trustee and collectively as a board of trustees, it is important to plan for the time and effort needed to productively engage with local officials to address the areas of potential tension. 

Some Suggestions

• Consider assigning individual trustees to monitor one of these areas.
• Keep up-to-date contact information available to make it easy to reach out with a quick phone call.
• Track meeting dates and times for local government entities and plan regular attendance.
• Create standing agenda items to report out or check in on each of the four areas.

Who Can Help?

There may be situations that are truly difficult to resolve when there are disagreements or misunderstanding about authority, budgets, facilities, or personnel management.

Breakdowns in communication and relationships happen for a variety of reasons--and these are stressful for everyone concerned. So, what do you do when it seems that compromise or respectful communication are not possible?

Reach out to the professionals who have the skills and knowledge to help bring everyone to the table.

1. MSL Consulting Librarians
2. County or City Attorney
3. Professional Mediator

MACo, MSU Local Government Center or the Montana League of Cities and Towns may have recommendations for mediation services.

Moving Ahead Toward Your Vision

Let's think back to where we started in this course.  Have you held the vision statement for your library in mind?  

In order to reach that vision, it takes understanding and good relationships with local government to solve issues that arise related to authority, budgets, personnel, and facilities.

Your understanding of the forms of government, the duties of local government officials, and how to work together to support for library services are foundational to making decisions that ensure the long term success of the library.

A library is a civic institution. It's place in the governance structure of cities or counties determines how financial support, facilities, personnel, and services can be delivered.  We hope you have a better understanding of the importance of library board members' role in connecting to local governments and their officials. Their support can make your library's vision possible.

Your next activity is New Knowledge.