Oversight leads to library cuts

The retirement of former head librarian and director of the Colfax Public Library should have been a simple affair, but due to a previously overlooked clause, the library’s 2021-22 budget has been thrown into turmoil.

During the Colfax City Council’s workshop meeting on Dec. 1, it was determined that an overabundance of unused paid time off, or PTO, resulted in $6,000 having to be unexpectedly pulled out the library’s budget.

Colfax City Administrator Wade Wagoner said city employees who work under the management and authority of the city council traditionally have the option to either use or lose their PTO. If employees don’t use their PTO by the end of the year, they will receive a lump sum payout equal to their remaining PTO hours.

And up until 2018, this PTO system was used by every city department, except one: the library.

This was because, until 2018 when the two systems merged, the employees of the Colfax library were not working under city council management, but rather the management of the library board.

And due to an oversight in the library board’s employee contracts regarding PTO policies, when former library director Jill Miller retired after over a decade of service she had accumulated around 300 hours of unused PTO.

According to reports given during the council workshop, when Miller retired a few months ago, the library had to pay out Miller’s accumulated PTO in one large lump sum – equal to about $6,000.

“When library board handed over its employee management to the city, Jill had already built up all that PTO, so their wasn’t anything anyone could do,” current library director Diane Hagerty explained. “I wasn’t made aware of this whole situation until I saw the money come out of my budget.”

Wagoner says blame for the mistake cannot be put on any one person in particular and credits the mistake to just being the result of a system that is made up almost entirely of community volunteers.

“This whole situation is an honest mistake by the library board. The members of the board only meet for one hour every month and their focus isn’t usually on how much vacation time the librarian has,” Wagoner said.

And while paying $6,000 to a retiring employee might be an unexpected expense for a business or a city government, it does have an effect on the library’s day-to-day operations. For the small, one-room library, $6,000 represents a decent portion of its overall yearly budget, which amounts to just $66,000 without outside donations.

This unexpected decrease in funds has now left Hagerty in a very tough position. During the workshop, Hagerty presented the board with her plans to cut costs.

In order to accommodate the new budget, the library has had to shorten hours of operations, cancel magazine subscriptions and put a temporary halt to in-person programs.

Hagerty went on to assure the council she is doing her very best to cope with this unexpected situation and keep the library on track.

“Every decision I will make will be data-driven. Our decisions will be mainly concerned with getting the most bang for our buck,” Hagerty said. “Going forward we will do our best to operate within our new budget.”

The library’s reduced hours and services will remain in place until the end of June 2022, when the new 2022-23 budget will take effect, Hagerty added.

“We will be looking at our situation month-to-month and will be making changes accordingly,” she said.

Contact Abby Knipfel at 641-792-4687 ext. 6531 or aknipfel@shawmedia.com