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• Hudson joins partners in approving amended library agreement

By Randy Hanson, RiverTown Staff

The Hudson City Council on Monday night joined the towns of Hudson and St. Joseph, and the village of North Hudson, in approving a new operating agreement for Hudson Area Joint Library.

There was little discussion of that agreement, however, as council members instead turned their attention to the major capital project that the partners will need to agree to if they are going to buy the Nuclear Management Co. building to be the new home for the library.

The most significant change in the operating agreement will come only if the partner municipalities decide to purchase the NMC building. Then, the partners would be bound to the joint library for a 25-year period. After that period had passed, they would have to give notice five years in advance of leaving the library.

All of the partner municipalities are planning to ask voters in the Nov. 4 election whether they should purchase the NMC building.

They also will need approval from the electorate to exceed the state-imposed tax levy limit in order to pay for the building and its operation.

Monday night, Mayor Dean Knudson sought direction from the City Council on how much private funding for the project should be raised before the municipalities commit to it.

In the end, the council directed him to ask for not less than $4 million in private funds to be raised by Sept. 20, 2009, before any public funds are expended. Council members also agreed that the original plan to have 50 percent of the funding come from private sources and 50 percent from public sources should be maintained.

Knudson said the top elected officials in each of the municipalities initially said the Hudson Area Library Foundation needed to raise $2 million from private sources before the municipalities would move forward.

When the foundation said that wasn't possible, Knudson suggested that it raise $1 million by Sept. 20, 2008, and $4 million by Sept. 20, 2009.

He reported that a foundation representative told the group municipal heads at a meeting early Monday morning that the goal of $1 million by Sept. 20 of this year also would be impossible to meet.

With that, he asked council members what fund-raising guidelines they would suggest.

"It is time for us to give some clear direction to the partners and yourselves," Knudson said.

He said he remained convinced that half of the funding for the NMC building purchase and renovation should come from private sources.

Get the rest of this story in this week's print edition of the Hudson Star-Observer.