Milner council to withhold library funds

The Milner city council voted 3-1 July 19 to withhold operational funds for the controversial Milner library. Mayor Andy Marlowe and two council members blasted the library board for not communicating.The discussion began with city administrator Tausha Grose telling the council, ‘The library is still a source of woe.’ Council member George Weldon is also a member of the library board.Marlowe fired the first salvo. ‘The city has had no contact with the library board. We can’t get any answers. No one can produce an agreement. No library board members ever show up at their meetings except for Mr. Weldon and Mr. Christopher. They just don’t care,’ he said.’I need to see the documents of library agreements. I’m done taking peoples’ word on things,’ councilman Michael Floyd added.Following some discussion of the dwindling funds available to the Friends of the Library, councilman Skip Seda weighed in.’George and Regina Weldon are the only ones left from the Friends of the Library. I expect the library board members to be here for our next meeting or I will make a motion to shut the library down. When all this started, the city bought a pig in a poke. You can’t count on the good will of donors. People die. People move. The city has to make up the difference.You can’t run a library like that. You can’t run a business like that. You can’t run a church like that,’ he said.Floyd made a motion to ‘withhold all funds from the library until we get transparency on documents, agreements, contracts, etc.’ which passed 3-1 with Weldon opposed. Milner will make sure the library payroll, which it has been processing as a courtesy, is not impacted. One library employee is leaving soon, Grose said.