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Franklin council authorizes negotiations to make library librarian a village employee leased back to library
Summary
Council authorized staff to negotiate a lease arrangement so the village would employ the Franklin Public Library librarian and lease the position back to the library; HR and legal committee review and detailed contract terms were requested before final approval.
The Franklin Village Council authorized the village administrator and village attorney to negotiate a contract that would make the Franklin Public Library librarian an employee of the village while the library would pay the librarian’s compensation through a lease/statement-of-work arrangement.
At the meeting Rachel (village staff) and a library representative explained the proposal’s goals: to support the library by providing employment administration and to reach a staffing threshold that can lower health-insurance costs. "What we would like to do is hire the Franklin Public Library librarian to be part of our village staff, and then lease that employee back to the library," said a staff member involved in the presentation (speaker 10). The proposal would have the library reimburse the village for the librarian’s salary, benefits and an administrative fee.
Council members raised legal and HR questions about reporting lines, benefits parity and indemnity. A library representative said the library would retain budgetary control and that the arrangement would not change the library’s millage or governance; "We have a separate millage... we're still responsible for the budget aspects of that," the library representative said (speaker 13). Trustees asked staff to ensure the contract addresses reporting relationships, whether retirement or 401(k) participation becomes required if the librarian is a village employee, indemnification, and whether the village would be added as an additional insured on library policies.
Chair moved and council seconded a motion to "authorize the village administrator and the village attorney to enter into contract negotiations with the Franklin Public Library to provide for a lease arrangement for the village to employ the Franklin Public Library librarian and lease her back to the library." The motion passed; council directed staff and legal/HR committees to draft and review the detailed contract, then return it to council for final approval.
What’s next: Administration and the village attorney will negotiate detailed contract language with the library and present the draft to the HR committee and then the full council; staff said they aimed to return a finalized agreement for council action next month.
