Bolivar council schedules stakeholder meeting after county resident urges keeping long-standing library agreement

A county representative asked Bolivar City Council to maintain the long-standing contract that governs the joint city–county library and to retain the funding schedules and arrangements “as written many years ago by Judge Carey,” the speaker said.

The speaker, identified in the record as Mister Pauls, said the existing contract provides a division of costs (cited as 52% county, 48% city on the front page) and urged the city to continue the arrangement. Pauls asked that the agreement be retyped and signed to preserve the longstanding partnership.

Council members said the matter has caused confusion among stakeholders—city, county, and the library board—and several council members proposed a meeting of all parties to review which provisions work and which might be updated. One council member noted concern over how employee bonuses are handled under the older contract and said bonuses are paid from a library-board account, not city or county funds, per language in the older agreement.

Council members and the speaker agreed to convene a meeting with all stakeholders, including city and county representatives and the library board, to clarify administration, payroll, benefits and the split of costs. No formal action to change the contract was taken; council members said they are willing to continue the partnership and will set a date for stakeholder discussions.