Hellertown Council Plans Special Meeting to Discuss Library

Normally not a place where anything more chilling than a Halloween event is held, the Hellertown Area Library is at the center of an increasingly acrimonious funding debate, with officials in Hellertown borough and Lower Saucon Township seemingly on opposite sides of it. The library is located at 409 Constitution Avenue in Hellertown, Pa. (FILE PHOTO)

Residents of both Hellertown borough and Lower Saucon Township who are concerned about the future of the Hellertown Area Library may want to attend a special Hellertown borough council meeting that will be held Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall.

The meeting, which will be held both in-person and on ZOOM, was announced Friday.

According to the meeting invitation from the borough, its purpose is “to discuss and possibly take action on the current status of the contract/agreement with the Hellertown Area Library and Lower Saucon Township.”

In the fall, Hellertown council adopted a new five-year agreement with the library that took effect Jan. 1, however Lower Saucon Township Council members tabled voting on their agreement in December. They ultimately rejected it Wednesday, over the protestations of residents who said they value the small library’s materials, programs, staff and convenient location, and didn’t want the township to alter or end its relationship with it. Some of the same residents also implored council not to cut funding to or leave the Hellertown library at a meeting earlier this month.

Instead of approving the agreement that would have funded the library on a per-capita basis to the tune of about $100,000 a year, Lower Saucon Council members voted 4-1 to make a $50,000 donation to the Hellertown Area Library, to make a $50,000 to the Southern Lehigh Public Library, and to authorize commencing legal proceedings against Hellertown library officials if township residents are denied access to it.

Township council had previously authorized a one-month installment payment to the library so residents could access its resources while the agreement matter was settled. That money provides access through Jan. 31, and is to be subtracted from the $50,000.

Lower Saucon councilors and their solicitor argued that a donation in the amount that was approved is enough to classify the Hellertown Area Library as the township’s “home library”–even without an agreement–under state rules which regulate access to public libraries according to how (or if) municipalities fund them. But some HAL supporters dispute that assertion, and whether or not township residents will have unfettered access to the library beyond Jan. 31 remains unclear.

On Thursday, borough council president Tom Rieger expressed his disappointment in Lower Saucon Township Council’s actions as well as the township’s apparent willingness to possibly litigate the library matter, potentially escalating a dispute that has upset many residents in the municipalities that have a long history of working together. In addition to being geographically contiguous, the borough and the township share a school district.

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“Hellertown Borough Council has and will always commit to providing community focused services and will work together with the Hellertown Area Library and its leadership to ensure the immediate future is secure for the residents of Hellertown and the children of our greater community,” Rieger said in a statement in which he called the library blowup “a very unfortunate situation that will have serious and long-lasting ramifications on the once close relationship between Hellertown Borough and Lower Saucon Township.”

The following link may be used to access Wednesday night’s borough council meeting on ZOOM: https://tinyurl.com/mrxsed33. Borough Hall is located at 685 Main Street, Hellertown, and the council meeting is located on the building’s second floor.

Tell us: Did Lower Saucon Township Council get it right with their 4-1 vote to make a one-time donation of $50,000 instead of entering into a new five-year agreement with the Hellertown Area Library Wednesday? Vote in the poll below and share a comment.

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