Judge: Moniteau County Library District's illegal

In this photo submitted June 5, 2016, instructor Paulette Fischer teaches English to a small group of English as a second language students at the Moniteau County Library @ Wood Place in California, Mo.
In this photo submitted June 5, 2016, instructor Paulette Fischer teaches English to a small group of English as a second language students at the Moniteau County Library @ Wood Place in California, Mo.

The Moniteau County Library District never was created legally and should be dissolved, Senior Judge Donald Barnes ruled Tuesday.

"The total number of votes in favor of passing the District in 1997, between both subdistricts, was not a majority of the individuals who voted," Barnes noted in his 11-page judgment and order. "Therefore, the entire measure failed, and the MCLD should not have been 'considered established.'"

Barnes ordered the "Moniteau County Library District and its Board of Directors shall be entirely dissolved (and that) a receiver shall be appointed by the Court in order to ensure that the tax funds and other assets in the possession of the Moniteau County Library District and its board (are) protected."

The judge gave both sides five days to suggest people qualified to serve as a receiver and "who have consented to serve" as one - and he urged both parties to agree on that appointment.

Barnes' ruling came on a lawsuit originally filed in October 2015 by the city of Tipton and three area residents, who argued the library board was spending some money illegally and questioned the district's existence on the eastern side of the county.

Judith Ann (Annie) Willis, a Jefferson City lawyer in Kent Brown's firm, filed the original suit.

"We are pleased with Judge Barnes' decision," she told the News Tribune on Tuesday evening, "but also understand there is a great deal of work yet to be done on the part of all parties and the courts to craft a solution that benefits equally all Moniteau County residents."

Barnes agreed the commissioners legally placed the original proposed district on the 1997 ballot, and the subdistricts proposed then lined up with the two private libraries - Price James in Tipton and Wood Place in California - that were "being operated through private funds for the benefit of citizens," and "no public library district existed."

However, he noted: "There is no provision in the statute for the contingency where one subdistrict passes (a proposal) and another does not" or that would allow a district to be created in areas that didn't vote for it.

In 2004, with a library tax being collected only in the western subdistrict, the library board asked California city residents if they would support a library tax to be used only for operations of the then-private Wood Place Library - and they did.

However,, Barnes wrote: "There is no statutory authority for a library district, without (county) commission authority, to create a new subdistrict with different boundaries than any earlier proposition and initiate a vote for it."

Barnes also said the library board had no legal authority to direct "all funding solely to a private library."

In 2013, the county library board accepted a donation of the Wood Place library to the district and since has been operating that library as the library serving the entire county.

However, the judge said, since the district never was created legally and "was never valid, the donation of the Wood Place building in California was not a valid transfer to the (district), and the (library board) is not a valid board."

Barnes agreed with the original lawsuit's claims the board was using tax money paid in the western subdistrict for expenses and operations in California and "is still retaining all western subdistrict tax funds and has thus been unjustly enriched by its actions."

Neither the library board's attorney, Stephen Grantham, of Tipton, nor library Director Connie Walker responded to an email seeking comment for this story.

Willis said it's possible Barnes' decision would be appealed to the state appeals court in Kansas City once the ruling becomes final next month.