www.mybaycity.com January 15, 2006
Community Article 988


Trucking company workers unload book racks on Sixth Street for the new Jack and Alice Wirt Library, as the main branch is now called. The branch is slated to open in February.

Library Asks Earlier Election Date In Millage Vote Strategy Plan

Best Plan for "Phased Shutdown" Eyed if Decision is Made Not to Seek Revote

January 15, 2006
By: Dave Rogers


Please give us two bites at the apple, the man says.

The topic is not bobbing for apples in the proverbial barrel as in colonial times, it's good old fashioned political common sense and reality in Bay County.

If millage for the BayCounty Library System is not approved in the first vote, another may be sought. That would be the second bite at the apple.

Library System director Fred Paffhausen has asked County Commission Chairman Brian Elder to move up the vote from the scheduled November General Election to the August Primary Election.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The millage renewal levy to be placed on the ballot is 1.19820 mills for operations of the library system with a main branch, South End, Sage, Auburn and Pinconning branches. The cost for the average house, valued at $100,000, would be about $60 per year. The library also has a .99850 mill levy approved in 2004 for building improvements, including a new main, Auburn and Pinconning branches and renovations to Sageand South End. Average cost of the improvements is about $50 per year.)



--- Advertisements ---
     



In a letter to Mr. Elder, Paffhausen wrote frankly: "The primary election does two other things that benefit the system as a whole and they are: give us two bites at the apple if needed (we can marshall forces and resources to change tactics and message to try to win a November general election millage renewal."

"There are a variety of reasons for this request but the primary reason is that we are afraid our message will get lost in the larger general election which could greatly impact the Bay County Library System chances for a renewal victory," wrote Mr. Paffhausen.

"A primary election will be much cheaper for the library system to run because we can more effectively get the message out and not have to repeatedly bombard people with direct mail, etc. It is always difficult for a non-profit to raise funds for renewal campaigns.

"If the decision is made not to try again in November this would allow us to develop the best plan possible to institute a phased shutdown of the system and which branch we might be able to keep open minimally to try to serve the public."

He continued: "We have eight months from now to reach as many supporters as we can and to get the message out that this renewal is not only the future of the Bay County Library System but the funds fromthe renewal are 85 percent of the system as a whole."

Ella Jane Martini is chairperson of the library board, vice-chairperson is James E. Davison, Derald Adcock is secretary-treasurer, and Mark Kaplenski and Howard Wetters are trustees.###



--- Advertisements ---
     



0202 nd 05-02-2024

Designed at OJ Advertising, Inc. (V3) (v3) Software by Mid-Michigan Computer Consultants
Bay City, Michigan USA
All Photographs and Content Copyright © 1998 - 2024 by OJA/MMCC. They may be used by permission only.
P3V3-0200 (1) 0   ID:Default   UserID:Default   Type:reader   R:x   PubID:mbC   NewspaperID:noPaperID
  pid:1560   pd:11-18-2012   nd:2024-05-02   ax:2024-05-06   Site:5   ArticleID:988   MaxA: 999999   MaxAA: 999999
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)