Jamestown Council Authorizes Mayor, Administrator to Sign Revised Library MOA with County

The Jamestown City Council unanimously authorized Mayor Dwaine Heinrich and City Administrator Sarah Hellekson on Feb. 2, 2026 to sign a revised Memorandum of Agreement for joint library services with Stutsman County. The move advances a months-long negotiation over funding and governance that began after voters combined city and county library services in 2008 and survived a 2024 city notice to withdraw.

The revised MOA had already been approved by the Stutsman County Commission prior to the council action, and council agenda materials included resolutions to approve the MOA as approved by the county and to authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign it. Council materials also noted that approval would open a City representative position on the James River Valley Library System board, with a term expiring July 2028, and that applications will be accepted to fill that slot.

The authorization follows a contentious funding dispute. City officials in 2024 gave a two-year notice to withdraw, saying the county was not providing its fair share of financial contributions. Stutsman County provided 4 mills when the joint system began; the county reduced the library system’s budget by $60,000 in 2021. The statutory framework for joint library boards requires the MOA to specify each party’s funding share. "The state statutes that govern the creation of a joint library board stipulate that the memorandum of agreement should indicate the funding share by each party," Mayor Dwaine Heinrich wrote in an email earlier last year.

Library governance and finance remain central issues. Library board member Gail Martin said the revised MOA is "an opportunity to do a more budget-based formula rather than a formula with mill levies." Councilman David Schloegel, an appointed nonvoting member of the library board, previously urged continued cooperation, saying, "We will see what happens in the conversations in October. Whatever happens in October, we can work out maybe some sort of new memorandum (of agreement) at some point in that two-year period before things would be split."

Operationally, the library board has been managing a dissolution process triggered by the city's 2024 notice, ensuring bills are paid and assets are separated between the City of Jamestown and Stutsman County. City Administrator Sarah Hellekson, who serves on the James River Valley Library System board as a county appointee, told the board in December that the revised MOA was awaiting attorney review and that Mayor Heinrich was hoping to deal with the revised MOA "before the new year."

Council documents also highlight a procedural provision: the agreement contains an automatic five-year extension in March unless either the city or Stutsman County provides a notice of intent to withdraw; council materials did not specify which calendar year that March references. It remains unclear whether the Feb. 2 council authorization constitutes an official retraction of Jamestown’s 2024 two-year notice to withdraw, or how the final signed MOA will treat the funding formula and transition provisions.

For Jamestown residents, the council action preserves joint library services for now and opens a seat on the library board that will shape implementation of the revised agreement. Expect library finances and the precise MOA text to be focal points in coming weeks as officials produce the finalized agreement, publish meeting minutes, and set a timeline for board appointments and any changes to how local tax levies or budgets support library operations.