The Great Falls Public Library board has closed their case against Cascade County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant over the June 6 library levy election.

In May, the library filed a civil suit in district court against Merchant, asking the court to appoint an election monitor, alleging a series of errors from the May 2 school board election they were hoping to avoid.

On June 6, voters approved the library levy in a vote of 7,233 in favor and 6,607 against amending the city charter from the two mills the city was previously able to mill up to 17 mills.

City delays library board reappointment

Raph Graybill, attorney for the library board, asked the court to allow the library to pay Lynn Deroche, court appointed election monitor, for her time.

At $16.49 per hour, Deroche’s current wage as a county employee, and the 50 hours of vacation and unpaid time she took to serve as the monitor, the court approved the request for the library to pay her $824.50.

On July 10, the court dismissed the case and ordered all parties to pay their own attorney fees and costs.

Graybill said they did not seek attorney fees.

As of July 24, the library had not yet received an invoice for their June 6 election.

County certifies June 6 library levy election results

The library’s fiscal year ended June 30.

In a July 19 email, Merchant told Library Director Susie McIntyre that, “we are waiting for one more invoice to come in, which was expected sooner than this. It should be done early next week.”

The elections department was billed $2,176.14 for use of Expo Park for the library election, according to county documents obtained by The Electric through a records request.

Expo Park billed the elections department $3,445.03 for the May 2 school election. Those costs don’t appear to have been included in the invoice sent to Great Falls Public Schools on June 20.

Library hosting summer performances in the park

The Electric has not yet received county emails pertaining the school and library elections as requested in an April 4 records request.

The library board meets at 4:30 p.m. July 25 for their regular monthly meeting.

According to McIntyre’s report to the board, library staff are moving forward with their levy implementation plan.

Library levy approved

They’re planning an open house at the library in September to present that plan to the community.

Key things to know for the June 6 library election

Part of the levy items already underway, McIntyre included in her report to the board include:

• as of July 1, the library patron parking has free two-hour parking
• they’ve moved three staff members into positions with modified job descriptions-cataloging specialist, Bookmobile coordinator and resource sharing coordinator
• the technical services library clerk position has been filled and she starts July 31
• they’re advertising for the positions of assistant director, community engagement coordinator and communications specialist
• they’re working with human resources to start advertising for the second wave of hires, technology assistant and security guards, the first week of August
• they’re preparing space, including installing phones and computers, for the new staff
• they’ve started purchasing extra copies of downloadable ebooks and eaudiobooks for patrons and have developed a plan for investing in additional electronic resources

During the July 24 library board meeting, McIntyre is also planning to discuss the library remodel plan. That project is not being funded by the levy but would be a separate capital campaign, according to library officials.

Great Falls library board pursuing levy

McIntyre is planning to ask the library foundation during their September meeting to reallocate dollars currently designated for purchasing and installing an automatic materials handler to fund the remodel design work.

Library staff have drafted a request for qualifications to solicit proposals once the funding is in place.