TR Library to retain law firm for Fabius contract negotiations One month remains until current contract expiration

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

THREE RIVERS — With just 31 days to go before their current library services contract with Fabius Township officially expires, the Three Rivers Public Library will be getting legal representation to help negotiate a new contract on their behalf.
Following a near 40-minute closed session at their monthly meeting Tuesday, the library’s Board of Trustees approved retaining the law firm Foster Swift to negotiate with the township on a potential new contract. In addition to that, the board also gave guidance to Interim Library Director Erin Zabonick on what guidelines to give the law firm for negotiating.
The move comes as the current contract between Fabius Township and the library is set to expire on March 31, with not much progress having been made thus far between the two sides.
Fabius Township Supervisor Dan Wilkins said in the township board’s Dec. 11 meeting he anticipated negotiations would start in January, but according to Zabonick in an interview following the meeting, an apparent miscommunication has led to no actual negotiations thus far.
Zabonick said she was told the township would reach out in January for negotiations, but had not heard from them in that timeframe. After reaching out to Fabius’ legal counsel, Roxanne Seeber, Zabonick said she was told the township reached out to the library’s attorney on Jan. 8, something she said she was “confused” by.
“They assumed we were using T.J. [Reed], our city attorney, and in the letter, she stated she sent it to his office, and he told me he never received it,” Zabonick said. “So [negotiations are] just now starting.”
Zabonick went on to say that this situation led to the library board considering legal counsel, and that normally the library would reach out to a lawyer – she didn’t mention Reed specifically – to draft contracts and handle other matters. When asked if it would be reasonable for Fabius to have reached out to Reed first, she said while Reed is the city’s attorney, the library has “our own governing board” and that Reed “doesn’t do our library law.”
From all prior indications and statements from Fabius’ side, the township, since their December meeting, had been anticipating negotiating with a lawyer from the library’s side. Back during the Dec. 11 Fabius Township meeting, Wilkins had said, when discussing the township using Seeber for negotiations with the library, that if they used Seeber, she would “simply relay whatever I tell her to the library’s attorney, and their attorney will relay it to the library. It basically keeps it professional, and it keeps it legal and professional and simple.”
When asked why the library didn’t inquire about retaining legal counsel before now, given what the township had previously anticipated, Zabonick said, “I told them my board is more than capable of doing the negotiations.”
It should also be noted that Tuesday’s meeting was the first for the library board since Dec. 16 due to not expecting a quorum to have been met for their regular January meeting.
The library’s board has indeed been at least a part of negotiations over the past few years for library service contracts with two surrounding townships, which have had varying outcomes. In 2021, Park Township completely withdrew from funding the Three Rivers Public Library after contract negotiations fell through between the two sides, and last year, the board came to an agreement with Lockport Township on a new library services contract for $20,822.16 in the first year, with 2 percent increases every year, re-negotiations after three years, and a clause that the contract can be terminated by either side by six months prior to the end of the fiscal year.
Library board members said they were also in favor of retaining the legal counsel.
“I think since Fabius is working through their lawyer, it would be easier if we were too,” board member Nikki Smith said. “I don’t understand legalese and I don’t want to misread anything or misrepresent either what they’re saying or what we are thinking. It would be good idea to start working through a lawyer just to make things hopefully quicker but also just make sure that no one’s miscommunicating and we’re all on the same page.”
“I’m not an expert by any means in library law. I know what I’m told and what I’ve researched and read, but obviously [the lawyer] knows how things are supposed to be by the state,” Board President Linda Munro said.
“I think that’s the best way to go given just how things are going,” Board Secretary Desiree Horrocks said.
The approval of retaining Foster Swift was unanimous.
Following the approval, some discussion was had about what guidelines to give the law firm for negotiations with the township. The township, according to correspondence Seeber had with Zabonick earlier this month that was reviewed by the Commercial-News Wednesday, is currently proposing a contracted amount of $29.56 per cardholder, which would total $33,757.52 the township would pay based on 1,142 cardholders in the township, with 100 percent of penal fines deducted from that base amount amount, and automatic renewal with a six-month notice of termination.
Munro said she felt that it would be a “really good idea” to go with guidance for their law firm based on what she said the State of Michigan recommends, the 3/10 of a mill of township taxable value, a base that has been challenged or rejected by the townships in previous township negotiations.
“That’s their guideline, that’s their best practice,” Munro said.
However, board members also decided to present a “second option” as well as a guideline for the lawyers. Smith suggested taking an average of how many cardholders in the township there were over the last five years, and then pay the rate of that, plus penal fines.
Horrocks said she also agrees with going by the 3/10-mill state guidelines, stating that in her opinion, it would be “less work” to figure out for the library and “we both are able to know more what to expect” every year.
“That was one of the main sticking points or issues, that they need to plan their budget, we need to plan our budget, and it doesn’t specify how often we need to be looking at each individual card holder based on this formula,” Horrocks said.
Munro said she understands the townships’ “frustration that it looks like one township is paying much less than the other,” but notes that the current contract with Fabius credits them the penal fines, and noted it could be a “good faith” measure to keep the penal fine credits in any new contract. Smith said they could start with that “and go from there.” Munro added that whatever guidance they give, it would be “a good idea to respect” whatever’s presented by the township.
Zabonick said that if the township wants to go by the cost of the card, which she said is their initial negotiating position, the township should “pay at least the millage rate if they don’t want to go by the 3/10 mill,” which she calculated to be $41.33 per cardholder, a stark difference from Fabius’ proposal. That proposal was the guidance the board ultimately agreed to send along as well.
In the end, Zabonick said the negotiations will ultimately come down to “fairness.”
“It’s not fair for the city to be subsidizing townships for cardholders,” Zabonick said. “But I understand it’s money, but if you see the value in libraries, that’s nothing compared to what it is.”
In other business…

• Munro, Smith and Horrocks were nominated by their fellow board members to be the president, vice president and secretary of the board respectively. The board will vote on the slate of officers at their March meeting.
  Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.