Petition to stop Magrath public library relocation falls flat
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MAGRATH – A petition by a group of Magrath residents for Town Council to repeal a decision to relocate the public library was deemed insufficient Tuesday (Oct. 25) night.
The Town’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Wade Alston, stated at the beginning of the Council meeting that it did meet most requirements, and appreciated everyone’s participation in the democratic process.
However, according to section 233(1) of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), a petition to repeal a bylaw or resolution must be submitted with the CAO no later than 60 days after the original motion.
Council made the motion to move the library to Magrath’s school in December 2014, but the petition was not handed in until earlier this month.
Mayor Russ Barnett explained that Municipal Affairs and a lawyer were consulted, but the decision was ultimately out of their hands.
Petition supporters Roch Demaere and Linda McKinstry, agreed that they weren’t surprised by the outcome, with McKinstry particularly feeling that Council has been “rather narrow minded” on the issue.
“I guess we made our point that there’s people upset about it,” noted Demaere. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, we’ll have to talk about it. I don’t think it’s over yet.”
The library will remain at it’s current location along Main Street for the next two years, but the petitioners continued to express some frustration that Council still plans to move ahead while not having a solid plan in place for the old building.
“There might be another Town Council with different people on it by that time… Leaving it as a library might certainly be a platform for somebody to run. That might be the next step,” said Demaere.
Mayor Barnett stated that the current library is severely underutilized since the majority of residents don’t own library cards.
“It isn’t accessed, it isn’t used. So we’ve said ‘Let’s change that.’,” he said. “The Chinook Regional Arch will still continue to supply books like they do now. There’s a state-of-the-art [playroom] for kids to go to, a meeting room is part of it, they’ve talked about a 3D printer… Libraries kind of change how they look and how they function, so that’s the plan.”
He added that Council has done its due diligence with numerous public forums, adding it’s a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that will make big improvements to the public library.
While he confirmed that there are no plans at this time to renovate the nearly 20 year old building, he did note that Council will be open to community input on what direction to take it.
