Chad Roach reminds Alfalfa County commissioners the importance of its county library

Monday's holiday meant the Alfalfa County commissioners met Tuesday. Nate Ross, Mike Roach and Garret Johnson were joined at the table by County Clerk Laneta Schwerdtfeger.

The three men started the meeting with regular business items like approving the previous meeting minutes and maintenance and operation payment warrants.

After that, the group heard from Cherokee City Manager (and former Alfalfa County Commissioner) Chad Roach, who was there to discuss the library in Cherokee and appeal to the commissioners for financial help since it was budgeting time. Jenny Regier, the librarian of Cherokee City County Public Library, could not attend the meeting that morning, but [Chad] Roach asked the commissioners to stop by and see her when they had time.

On her behalf, City Manager Roach reminded commissioners that the library in Cherokee is actually a county library. He said 37 percent of the people active there are not Cherokee residents. He continued that the county library costs $121,000 per year to operate, of which Alfalfa County contributes $10,000. With expenses up, Roach said they were reaching out to see if the County could look at the budget and find a way to help.

He also reminded them that libraries do not solely check out books (there are electronic books, not just paperbacks or hardbacks); The library has many children's programs on location and programs where library staff go to the schools.

"This is for the kids. This is never going to be a program that makes money. It's about serving the community." He said, "It is something that we provide for our citizens, not something that will ever financially pay for itself." The commissioners acknowledged Roach and thanked him for his time, and he exited the meeting.

Because of the changing fiscal year, the commissioners took care of several service contracts. Those were with County Budgeting Services LLC, Western Plains Youth and Family Services (for services at Northwest Oklahoma Regional Juvenile Detention Center) and Tisdal and O'Hara. The latter is a contract between the servicers Alfalfa County BOC and Alfalfa County Assessor.

Next, the trio declared a Cannon AP50145 electronic typewriter (Inv. no. SL201, Serial no. A7X301737) and a typing stand (Inv. no. SL199-100.02, no Serial no.) to be surplus, followed by resolutions for their disposal. Also designated surplus was a computer tower, monitor, keyboard and media (Inv. no. B220-100.02, Serial no. 98955638090).

They then signed a revised resolution designating requisitioning and receiving officer for FY 23-24. Last on the agenda was a $40,000 transfer from the Sheriff M&O account 1319-2-0400-2005 to the Sheriff Personal Services account 1319-2-0400-1110 to fund salaries for the remainder of the fiscal year.

 

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