The lawsuit challenging the legality of the Moniteau County Library Board and the Moniteau County Library will be decided by Judge Donald Barnes after the first of the year.
On Dec. 12, the parties appeared before Judge Barnes in Moniteau County Circuit Court. Given several hours to negotiate, they reported they were unable to come to a solution. The case brought by the three plaintiffs - the city of Tipton, and three Western subdistrict taxpayers and patrons of the Price James Memorial Library, Tipton - was originally filed Oct. 6, 2015, against the Moniteau County Library District and the Moniteau County Library Board of Directors. That case was assigned to a senior judge for ruling.
The original suit was a result of patrons of the city of Tipton's privately-owned Price James Memorial Library being unhappy with the donation of the $1.8 million in assets of the private entity, Wood Place Library, California, to the Moniteau County Library District. This action, taken in December 2013 to be effective on Jan. 1, 2014, created an actual publicly owned, taxpayer supported Moniteau County Library. It was then named "Moniteau County Library@Wood Place." The action was undertaken because the Missouri State Library urged the county library board to create a Moniteau County Library. The Moniteau County Library District was created by the Moniteau County Commission in 1996. The donation was the first step into becoming statute compliant with the Missouri State Statutes governing libraries.
When Walker originally came to Moniteau County, she did not realize that the taxpayers had no assets belonging to the county library district since only private libraries served the county residents. Having a county library background, she thought that the taxpayers would have assets to show for their tax dollars, with the donation of the private library assets to the publicly owned Moniteau County Library. Before that, all taxpayer funds were going to private libraries - the California Wood Place and the city of Tipton Price James.
Walker reported that during the negotiations, one offer made by attorney Steve Grantham to the plaintiffs was to make the Price James Library a branch of the county library. All the contents would be donated to the county library, with the city keeping the building. The county library would then lease the building. It was agreed that all Western District funds would go to operate the new branch county library. The offer was reportedly rejected, leading to the impasse and the resulting trial.
The Moniteau County Library District was established in 1997. Two subdistricts were established, based on the school districts. One subdistrict included the Tipton, Clarksburg and Latham school districts. That subdistrict passed a library tax levy. Those funds, up to the formation of an actual county library, had gone toward the support of the contracted Price James Library in Tipton.
The second subdistrict included the rest of the school districts in the county. The voters in that subdistrict did not approve a library tax. Later, the voters of the city of California approved a library tax. Following that vote, the Wood Place Public Library, was supported by the Elia Wood Paegelow Trust and city of California library taxes. The Wood Place Library had been established in 1955 by the First Christian Church with funds from the Elia Wood Paegelow Trust. It was originally in the Wood-Paegelow home on East Street and moved to 501 S. Oak St. in 1998. The facility was provided after restoration by California Progress Inc. (CPI).
There appear to be two main questions. The first is, if the California Subdistrict 2003 election can be overturned, due to the statute of limitations. The second appears to be whether the county library district is required to contract to provide services with Tipton and the Tipton library in the Western Subdistrict. The Price James Library is a private library owned by the city of Tipton. The county library board maintains that all contracts with the Price James Library must be done through the city of Tipton, and voted on by the Tipton City Council.
The defendants were given two weeks to file additional suggestions on the statute of limitations. The plaintiffs will then have an additional week to respond. The judge will then make a ruling.