PUTNEY — Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard and the trustees of Putney Public Library are investigating the town taking over the library's bookkeeping and establishing the library as a town enterprise.
“They would become a municipal library. For all intents and purposes they are: We own the building; they fall under our personnel policy and municipal retirement,” Stoddard told the Board of Selectmen at their meeting Sept. 25.
The library would preserve its autonomy and board, and wouldn't be a department of the town, but rather a separate fund within the town, she said.
The matter has been discussed among the trustees and seems to have some appeal, she suggested. For one, it would save the nonprofit library the expense of a bookkeeper.
“For us [the town] it would mean a little more work,” she said, adding that she was still delving into legalities and procedures, and wanted to know more about how the library was chartered.
Stoddard said she preferred to propose the date of July 1, 2014 for the change so as not to interfere with and add cost to the town's pending audit.
Selectmen noted that the matter likely would be one slated for discussion and vote at Town Meeting.
The library is at 55 Main St., and is open Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Its website is home.svcable.net/putpub.
Trustees meet at the library at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month except in July and August.