ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 450
(By Senators Ross and Helmick)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported March 2, 1994.]
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A BILL to provide a stable method of financing the operation of
the Upshur county public library located in Upshur county,
West Virginia, as the same was organized under the
provisions of article one, chapter ten of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by creating a separate library board with power to operate
the public library to serve the residents of the county of
Upshur as a joint venture of the Upshur county board of
education and the Upshur county commission; appointment of
board of directors, members, terms; meetings of the board of
directors; powers of the board of directors; incorporation
of the board of directors; requiring levy at the request of
the board of directors with an annual cap of seventy-five
thousand dollars; deposit and disbursement of funds;
providing workers' compensation, social security and
retirement coverage for library employees; vesting title to
library property; and providing for application of future
amendments to general law.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
UPSHUR COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY.
§1. Public library board created; joint support by the county
board of education and county commission of Upshur county,
West Virginia.
There is hereby created a public library board, which shall
operate the Upshur county public library. The library shall be
supported by the board of education of the county of Upshur and
by the county commission of Upshur county, as a joint endeavor of
two governing authorities in the manner hereinafter provided.
§2. Board of directors; appointment, powers and duties
generally; officers, bylaws and rules.
There shall be a board of directors consisting of five
directors who shall serve without compensation. Before the first
day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the board of
education of the county of Upshur shall appoint two members of
the board of directors, appointing one member for the term of one
year and one member for the term of four years. The county
commission of Upshur county shall appoint three members to the
board of directors, appointing one member for the term of two
years, one member for a term of three years and one member for
the term of five years. The initial terms of these appointees
shall commence on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-four. Annually thereafter, on or before the first
day of July in each year beginning on the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-five, the two supporting entitiesshall in rotation, appoint one member of the board of directors
annually, the first the appointment to be made by the board of
education of Upshur county and the second the appointment to be
made by the county commission of Upshur county. Each appointment
to the board of directors of the library shall be for a term of
five years, except that any person appointed to fill a vacancy
occurring before the expiration of that term shall serve only for
the unexpired portion of the term. Any member of the board is
eligible for reappointment and the governing authority which
appointed any member to the board may remove that member for
cause.
There shall be an annual meeting of the board of directors
in July of each year and a monthly meeting on the day of each
month which the board may designate. A special meeting may be
called by the president, the secretary or any two members of the
board and such special meeting shall be held only after all of
the directors are given notice of the special meeting. At all
meetings three members constitutes a quorum and at each annual
meeting of the board of directors it shall elect, from its
membership, a president, a vice president, a secretary and a
treasurer: Provided, That the director of the library may be
elected as the secretary. The board of directors shall adopt
such bylaws and rules as are necessary for its own guidance and
for the administration, supervision and protection of the library
and all of the property belonging to the library. The board of
directors shall have all of the powers necessary, convenient and
advisable for the proper operation, equipment and management of
the library; and except as otherwise especially provided in thisarticle, shall have the powers and be subject to the duties which
are conferred and imposed, respectively, upon library directors
by sections six through eleven, article one, chapter ten of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, or by subsequent enactments of the Legislature of West
Virginia.
§3. A body corporate.
The public library hereby created shall be a corporation.
As such it may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued,
plead and be impleaded and shall have and use a common seal.
§4. Title to property.
The title to all property, both real and personal,
hereinafter devoted to public library purposes by the board of
education or the county of Upshur, in connection with the
operation of it by a public library in the county of Upshur, and
any branches of the library shall, on the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-four, vest in the board of directors
of the Upshur county public library, hereby created.
§5. Levies for support, maintenance and operation.
In order to provide for the support, maintenance and
operations of the Upshur county public library and any branches
thereof, the supporting governing authorities shall, upon written
request by the board of directors of the public library, levy
annually within the respective taxing districts of the governing
authorities, on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation of
the respective classes of property taxable in the area served by
it according to the last assessment for state and county
purposes, up to the following rates beginning with the fiscalyear beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-four.
(a) The county commission of Upshur county, for the first
year and annually thereafter:
Class I, six-tenths cents;
Class II, III and IV, eight-tenths cents.
(b) The board of education of the county of Upshur for the
first year and annually thereafter:
Class I, nine-tenths cents;
Class II, III and IV, one and one-tenths cents.
Each year the board of directors shall request each of the
two supporting authorities to levy within the rates prescribed
above, at the rates specified by the board, on each one hundred
dollars of assessed valuation of property of the same class; and
each of the two supporting authorities shall levy at the rates
requested by the board of directors: Provided, That the sum of
the revenues or levies shall not exceed seventy-five thousand
dollars in any one year. Nothing herein shall prevent any of the
supporting authorities from contributing to the public library,
from time to time, any other general or specific revenues or
excess levies.
§6. Deposit and disbursement of funds.
All money collected or appropriated by the two governing
authorities for library purposes shall be deposited on a
quarterly basis directed by the board of directors of the Upshur
county public library in a bank or savings account specified by
the board.
All moneys appropriated to the Upshur county public libraryand all income realized by the operation of the public library
from any sources other than the above levies shall be used by the
board of directors for the support, maintenance and operation of
the public library and its branches.
The board is hereby vested with authority to accumulate a
surplus from year to year over and above the amount currently
required for the proper operation, maintenance and management of
the library. The accumulated surplus may be used if and as
needed for support, maintenance and operation of the library, and
for capital improvements, additions or extensions to library
facilities.
§7. Status of employees.
All full-time employees of the Upshur county public library
shall be entitled to the benefits of the provisions of chapter
twenty-three, and articles seven and ten, chapter five of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended.
§8. Effect of future amendments of general law.
Amendments to article one, chapter ten of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, and
other general laws shall control this article only to the extent
that they do not conflict with the special features hereof, or
unless the intent to amend this article is clear and
unmistakable.