The Village of Lake Bluff will continue to provide financial support to the village’s library through an updated intergovernmental agreement approved last week by trustees of both boards.
“Despite no requirement to do so, the village has provided support to the library as it historically benefits the Lake Bluff taxpayers,” Lake Bluff Village President Regis Charlot said at the Jan. 13 meeting village board meeting.
Officials state an agreement has been in place for years, but the new pact formalizes and modernizes the arrangement. The Library is located on the 100 block of East Scranton Avenue with an adjoining building housing the Lake Bluff History Museum. The Museum rents the space from the Library at a nominal fee, Museum officials said.
The new agreement is set to run retroactively from May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2029 containing automatic renewals for successive one-year terms, according to village documents.
The village will the pay the library a one-time lump sum of $17,000 for exterior maintenance and utility expenses to make up for lost funds as the prior agreement expired about two years ago, according to Village Administrator Drew Irvin. In addition, the village will now reimburse the library up to $16,000 each fiscal year (with adjustments for the consumer price index) for building maintenance.
The village will also pay for the building’s utilities and pay for some costs, village documents show.
In return, the library will not sell the Museum portion building without village approval and the village will have the right of first refusal of the museum building.
“I think this document represents our best collective work and a good step forward to the future between the library and the village,” Library Board President Bonnie Shaul told village trustees.
The library board approved the agreement at their Jan. 14 meeting, Interim Executive Director David Seleb said.
Meanwhile, the library board continues to interview candidates for a permanent director, Seleb said.
Seleb was hired last year on an interim basis following the resignation of Renee Grassi, who took a job at the Wilmette Public Library.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
