By Juliet Kadzviti

P.A. library change surprises administration

Jun 29, 2016 | 2:00 PM

In less than a year the city will officially run the library in Prince Albert — news which left its current regional administrator surprised.

At their regular council meeting on June 27, council approved a motion to establish the John. M Cuelenaere Public Library (JMCPL) as a municipal library by January 2017. The library is currently a branch of the Wapiti Regional Library.

The decision, although a long time coming, is unfortunate according to Wapiti Regional Library’s regional director Tony Murphy. He said the city should have at least discussed the decision with them before proceeding.

“There has been very little reciprocity, and then the city goes ahead with this, with no consultation with us. I mean, if you want a divorce that’s fine, but why does it have to be as adversarial as it can be?” he asked.

Murphy acknowledged the relationship between the two groups has been rocky, but, at least from Wapiti’s perspective, there were efforts to work more productively with JMCPL.

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“There’s been lots of positive change, lots of work on Wapiti’s part to improve the relationship,” he said.

Murphy explained to administer services as a regional library, Wapiti operates with funds acquired through a provincial grant.

He said the separation will not only see Wapiti lose part of its provincial grant, but it would also affect the city.

“To replicate those services would cost money, there’s no getting around it… You either have to up your levies or cut services, I don’t see how they can proceed with this without doing one of those two options,” he said.

At the council meeting, Councillor Ted Zurakowski said the library has expanded with two new branch locations within the city and there is higher demand and more changes in the use of libraries.

“I think the time is now. We need to take that step forward. Frankly, circulation at the JMCPL (locations) are higher than many other regional libraries and those numbers are positive. In a positive way we need to move forward with our municipal library status,” he said.

jkadzviti@panow.com

On Twitter: @julietkadzviti