City of Swift Current has second thoughts about separate municipal library

The City of Swift Current is stepping back from a previous plan to create a municipal library that will not be part of the Chinook Regional Library (CRL) system, but it is not closing the door on the idea.

Council members approved a motion at a regular City council meeting on Oct. 30 that expressed support for building collaborative relationships within the CRL system and the continued evaluation and progress under the new executive director.

City Chief Administrative Officer Jim Jones made a presentation during the council meeting that highlighted the City’s motivation for previously starting a process to depart from the CRL system and the reason it is now evaluating the situation.

He noted that a motion was approved at a City council meeting on June 27, 2022 to begin the process to establish a municipal library.

“The objective of this change was to enable the City of Swift Current to directly manage and control the budget, set priorities and establish the needed level of service delivery,” he said.

The City held a public hearing on Nov. 14, 2022 where written and verbal submissions in support and against a proposed municipal library were presented.

Jones referred to various changes that occurred within the CRL system since then, including changes to the board and executive committee as well as the hiring of Jake Marion as the organization’s new executive director in August 2023.

“Since Mr. Marion’s arrival, many positive conversations have taken place, fostering an optimistic outlook on the future of CRL with the City,” Jones said.

He added that the City had limited opportunities over the course of the past three years to facilitate co-operation with the CRL on matters relating to the development of library services.

“As such, Administration feels it is important to utilize the next six months to develop this new relationship, move forward and work collaboratively with CRL to establish priorities, budgets and delivery of required service levels,” he said.

Councillor Ryan Plewis said there has been some significant changes since council made the motion to evaluate the City’s continued participation within the regional library system.

“Our goal should be to continue to build that relationship, and I don’t think a little bit of extra time here will hurt anything in helping us to ensure that we get things going just exactly the way that a regional library should be operating for the benefit of everybody in the region,” he mentioned.

Councillor Ryan Switzer, who is one of three City representatives on the CRL board executive, expressed his excitement about the appointment of Marion as the new CRL executive director and the leadership provided by Brent Michelson, who was elected as board chair at the CRL annual general meeting in May. “I believe we’re strongest in the region when we all work together, when we work collaboratively,” Switzer said.

“There’re some folks within the region that don’t necessarily agree with that, but Mr. Michelson does, Mr. Marion does, and members of the Chinook Regional Library executive committee do after some changes at the spring annual general meeting. I’m confident that this will be a strong relationship going forward with the leadership that we have in place.”

Switzer spoke after the council meeting with local media. He referred to what the City hopes to see from a collaborative relationship with the CRL system.

“The City wants to feel heard,” he said. “People often don’t understand the relationship with the regional library and how that works. When they have a concern about the local library, they think that it’s a City-run facility and it’s not. We at council hear from Swift Current stakeholders and in the past we’ve taken those concerns to the regional library about how things could be run in a more efficient manner, maybe how we could have had better operating hours. And with the new leadership, with Jake Marion, he’s fully committed to finding ways for Swift Current to get more bang for its buck and possibly expanding service hours and more programs for the great people of Swift Current.”

Switzer felt optimistic that the City will be able to build a positive relationship with the CLR system beyond the six-month period referred to during the council meeting.

“The six months, it’s a good period for us to really sit down and hunker down and get the lines of communication open,” he said.

“But with the leadership that is in place, not just in the executive director position, but at the Chinook Regional Library executive committee and the new board chair, I’m confident that the relationship will go beyond those six months.”

He felt the members of the current CRL executive committee wants to listen to the City and to open dialogue that will keep Swift Current as part of the regional library system. According to Switzer there will be different views about the City’s approach to consider leaving the CRL system before the changes within the organization.

“I think you’re going to get a lot of opinions on that,” he said. “We’re looking at ways to improve the operations, not just here in Swift Current, but finding efficiencies and doing the right thing for the small-town libraries and giving them good consistent service as well.”