North Logan library board outlines fees, reservation policy and staffing plan for new facility

North Logan City Library officials presented a draft reservation and operating plan for the library's forthcoming facility and asked the board to provide feedback before presenting a formal policy to the mayor and, potentially, city council.

Library Director Trent Bateman said he has started drafting a fee schedule and an operating charter to define prioritization for reservations, hourly rates for rooms and deposit requirements. "This is built as an extension of the library," Bateman said, and he told the board he is consulting city staff on rates used for other municipal facilities.

Bateman said preliminary figures under consideration include roughly $20 per hour for classroom or conference rooms and a proposed full-day rental in the $900 range; he also proposed a refundable deposit around $250. He told the board the kitchen would not be rented separately in most cases and would only be available as part of a full-event rental or for contracted caterers with appropriate licensing.

Why it matters: the new facility is expected to be used for community events, classes and private gatherings. Establishing clear fees and a reservation process will determine how often the library can host paid events, how much revenue it generates to offset operating costs and how staff time must be scheduled.

Board members discussed tiered pricing for North Logan residents and discounts for nonprofits. Bateman said he supports some level of discretion and suggested a brief panel or staff review of requests for subsidized or mission-aligned nonprofit use. "If we feel the program fits our mission, we can partner or provide scholarships," Bateman said.

The board discussed staffing to support rentals. Bateman said reservation revenue should cover a new part-time coordinator position to manage bookings and to be present for most events; he suggested roughly 20 hours per week as an initial estimate. He also said the library's plan assumes having a library staff member on-site during rentals to manage AV equipment and monitor the space.

On reservations software, Bateman said the city is replacing the recreation department's outdated system and that the library plans to "buy in" to the new platform so rooms can be reserved online and payments routed to the correct library budget lines. He said the system demo resembled a commercial booking interface and would include separate interfaces for recreation and library reservations while remaining accessible from the city site.

The board and staff discussed a soft-launch approach: Bateman proposed that the library not accept external reservations for the first six months after renovation to allow staff to refine operations, host test events and gather photos for advertising. He also proposed offering a few promotional or reduced-price test events (for example, sample weddings or community events) to evaluate operations and signage.

No formal vote was taken. Bateman said he will bring a more detailed draft operating charter and fee schedule to the board at the next meeting and that, if the board approves, he would also present the plan to the mayor and city council for transparency.

Provenance: Topic first raised during the director's report when Bateman described fee-schedule work and operating charter drafts; related discussion and wrap-up appear later in the director's report and board Q&A.