Personnel Details

If the personnel policies and procedures adopted by the county governing body include an established pay plan, then compensation for library employees may be determined by the board of county commissioners.  The board and commissioners should work together on this issue since the Montana Supreme Court in Board of Trustees, Butte-Silver Bow Public Library v. Butte-Silver Bow (DA 09-0024) ruled that the board has exclusive authority to determine salaries and compensation of library employees.  

Boards and directors should follow local personnel policies to minimize their own risk. They also minimize risk for the local government when they follow local personnel policy because it means that all local government employees are treated fairly. It puts both the library board and the local government in a precarious position if two local government employees are treated differently when it comes to benefits.   

An example of this is giving the director health insurance when that person only works part-time if the county policy says an employee must work full-time to receive health insurance. This could create a legal nightmare for the county because one set of local government employees must work full-time while another set only has to work part-time to receive the same benefit.