Mayors set up panel to study a countywide library system

PROVO — Utah County mayors have set up a committee to study whether a countywide library — and what type of system — would work in Utah County.

Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn, Saratoga Springs Mayor Timothy Parker, Highland Mayor Jess Adamson, Lindon Mayor Larry Ellertson and Pleasant Grove Mayor Jim Danklef will anchor the committee.

They will research options and prepare possible proposals which could include a countywide library tax and/or the merging of existing city facilities to some extent.

County officials, ultimately, will have the final say after the mayors make their recommendations.

Utah County Commissioner Jerry Grover said he has led many an uphill charge (for a countywide library system) — and is willing to do it again — but not until he's convinced that is what the cities truly want.

Grover said he personally believes officials should look more seriously at reciprocal agreements between the 23 cities rather than a county-managed system.

"The bottom line is, it can be done, but it's not a county deal. They're the one's who will have to get it going. We'll have to go to the city manager level to work it out," Grover said. "It's going to be a little complicated, but I think it's worthy of a look."

In 1996, the idea was seriously discussed under Commissioner David Gardner's leadership, Grover said. "I think they were just meeting to see if it was possible, and it didn't look likely, largely because you had so many cities with their own libraries and who had made certain promises to donors who helped build the libraries."

Commissioner Steven White and Grover recently asked the mayors in a Council of Governments meeting if they would be interested in revenue from the county in exchange for library privileges for residents living in the unincorporated county areas.

The county has also proposed using some of the restaurant tax revenue to pay for countywide access to the city libraries.

The response to both ideas was lukewarm, Grover said.

Ellertson, who is running unopposed in the November election to replace outgoing commissioner Gary Herbert, said he believes the interest level is way up.

"Based on the discussion I heard at the last COG meeting, I think this has moved up to the front burner," Ellertson said. "But, it will be a process, not an event."

Ellertson said he would like to explore a number of possibilities, one of which may be a countywide library tax.