The Carbon County Commission Meeting set to take place on Wednesday, July 5 at 4:30 pm at the Carbon County Administration Building located at 751 East 100 North has placed on the agenda the consideration and possible approval of a revised contract for Bookmobile services.
The Bookmobile issue has been a hot topic since Commissioners voted unanimously against renewing the contract at a regular commission meeting on June 7. “Attention has been given to it because of the budget crunch or the 20 percent decline in overall revenue that the county typically receives,” stated Jake Mellor, Commissioner. “This is a service that we contract with the state for, Bookmobile employees are the state employees and the total bill is over $125,000 of which the county pays over $100,000 of that.” Commissioners have been looking at every avenue of where they can cut expenses due to the decline of mineral lease monies the county once received.
The Commissioners have asked community members as well as agencies to give input on how the county can substitute the services currently provided by the Bookmobile. “Here in our area, the school district is thinking of making some changes during the summer time, when typically, their libraries are closed in the various schools. They’re considering opening those up, which to pay a person a couple of hours a day to open up during free lunch and make those books available to perhaps our most disadvantage children that benefit from free lunch,” stated Mellor. Also accessible is the Price Library, which most recently underwent renovations to better serve the public. While Helper Library, is offering more services, along with several activities and librarians have noticed an increase in their visitation.
The Bookmobile is open to anyone residing in Carbon County, with 19 scheduled stops, serving 14 communities and five schools. It is an on-site library service as well as mobile library service to outlying communities without immediate access to city libraries. It’s been recommended that the communities and schools receiving services should be obligated to assist with the expenses of operating the Bookmobile.
“We’ve finally received from the Bookmobile a reduced contract that would allow us to continue the Bookmobile services perhaps at a 50 percent frequency level,” said Mellor. If the contract submitted is approved at the commission meeting on July 5, the remaining funds in the budget would permit at least one more year of Bookmobile services for the communities and schools. This would allow county officials and members of the public more time for further ideas and permanent solutions.