At a Morton City Council meeting on Monday, Timberland Regional Library (TRL) Executive Director Cheryl Heywood provided an update on TRL’s services in Morton just months before voters in the city will decide whether to secede from the system.
As part of the update, Heywood explained why Morton currently does not have a permanent library building, mentioning the history and legal agreements between TRL and Morton.
Heywood said Morton’s relationship with TRL began in 2012 when the Morton City Council passed an ordinance requesting annexation into the TRL library system.
The city council’s request was followed by a public vote later that year in which 72.75% of Morton voters agreed to the request, ultimately joining the TRL system in 2014.
According to Haywood, under the contract signed in 2014, TRL is not under obligation to provide a permanent library. She also said TRL at one point was working with the Morton School District to construct a public library located within one of Morton’s schools, but the Morton School Board voted against the idea.
Heywood’s library update came ahead of an upcoming ballot measure that would see Morton secede from the TRL system.
According to Morton Mayor Dan Mortensen, the idea to leave the TRL system came from Morton residents.
“We try to support our community,” Mortensen said. “So we put (the idea to leave the TRL system) to a vote of the community.”
Mortensen said the reasoning residents provided for leaving the library system was simple.
“Basically taxes. I really think if you want a library you can pay for the library card, which costs about the same as the taxes they pay,” Mortensen said.
In Mortensen’s telling, many Morton residents believe those who use TRL services could continue using them while those who don’t use them could pay lower taxes.
But in Heywood’s view, secession from the TRL system wouldn’t be so easy.
During her presentation, Heywood said a vote to secede would mean Morton losing its library kiosk, as well as other services TRL provides.
She also said the cost of a library card for people living outside the TRL service area is $102 a year, though that amount is reassessed annually.
Morton residents will vote on whether to stay in the TRL system on Nov. 8.
