Westlock town and county councils announced changes to the Intermunicipal Library Board agreement in compliance with provincial legislative changes to the Libraries Act at their respective meetings on June 9 and 10.
The amended bylaw allows municipal governments to disallow any new bylaw passed by the Intermunicipal Library Board. Any new bylaw passed by the library board must be submitted to council for review within 30 days of being passed and can be disallowed within 60 days of council receiving notice of it.
“It adds a little bit of protection from your municipal council that your library board can't do something off-the-wall crazy that you don't agree with and that it will come back to your council for discussion as well,” said town CAO Simone Wiley at the town council meeting on June 9.
Changes in the bylaw also require the library board to submit their budget for the year one month earlier, on Oct.1, changed from Nov. 1 to align with the town and county’s budget timeline.
The libraries in Westlock County which fall under the bylaw changes are the Westlock Municipal Library, Jarvie Public Library and M. Alice Frose Library in Fawcett.
The new agreement is in effect for the next five years until a scheduled review in 2030.
