The board of public library trustees of a county library district, appointed under section 3375.22 of the Revised Code, may consolidate with another subdivision in the county maintaining a free public library. Such consolidation may be accomplished by one of the following procedures:

(A) The board of public library trustees of the county library district may submit a resolution to the board of library trustees of such subdivision requesting such consolidation. The library trustees of the subdivision within thirty days of receipt of the resolution shall approve or reject such resolution; and, if approved shall forward the resolution together with a certification of its action to the taxing authority of said subdivision. Said taxing authority within thirty days of receipt of such resolution and certification shall approve or reject it and so notify the board of library trustees of the county district library and the board of county commissioners.

(B) Upon receipt of such resolution, under division (A) of this section the board of library trustees of the subdivision may request the taxing authority of the subdivision to adopt a resolution providing for the submission of the question of consolidation to the electors of the subdivision.

The taxing authority in turn shall adopt such a resolution and shall cause a certified copy of the resolution to be filed with the board of elections of the county prior to the ninetieth day before the day of the election at which the question will appear on the ballot. The board of elections shall submit the question to the electors of the subdivision at the succeeding November election.

(C) The board of county commissioners and the taxing authority of the subdivision, upon receipt of petitions signed by not less than ten per cent, or five hundred, whichever is the lesser, of the qualified electors in the county library district and not less than ten per cent, or five hundred, whichever is the lesser, of the qualified electors of the subdivision, voting at the last general election, shall adopt resolutions providing for the submission of the question of consolidation to the electors of the county library district and of the subdivision.

Each taxing authority in turn shall cause a certified copy of its resolution to be filed with the board of elections of the county prior to the ninetieth day before the day of the election at which the question will appear on the ballot. The board of elections shall submit the question of the consolidation of the county library district and the subdivision to the electors of the county library district and of the subdivision at the succeeding November election.

If under division (A) of this section the board of library trustees and the taxing authority of said subdivision approve the request for consolidation, or if under division (B) of this section a majority of the electors of the subdivision vote in favor of the consolidation, or if under division (C) of this section a majority of the electors of the county library district and a majority of the electors of the subdivision vote in favor of the consolidation, such consolidation shall take place. The taxing authority of the subdivision or the board of elections, whichever the case may be, shall notify the county commissioners and the respective library boards.

The board of library trustees of the county library district, the board of library trustees of the subdivision and their respective taxing authorities shall take appropriate action during the succeeding December, transferring all title and interest in all property, both real and personal, held in the names of said library boards to the board of trustees of the consolidated county library district, effective the second Monday of the succeeding January.

The board of library trustees of the county library district and the board of library trustees of the subdivision shall meet jointly on the second Monday of the succeeding January.

Acting as a board of the whole, the two boards shall become the interim board of library trustees of the consolidated county library district whose terms shall expire the second Monday of the second January succeeding the election at which the consolidation was approved. The board shall organize itself under section 3375.32 of the Revised Code and shall have the same powers, rights, and limitations in law as does a board of library trustees appointed under section 3375.22 of the Revised Code. In the event of a vacancy on the interim board the appointment shall be made by the same taxing authority which appointed the trustee whose place had become vacant and shall be only for the period in which the interim board is in existence.

At least thirty days prior to the second Monday of the second January succeeding the election at which the consolidation was approved, the board shall request the county commissioners and the judges of the court of common pleas to appoint a regular board of library trustees of seven members under the provisions of section 3375.22 of the Revised Code. The terms of said trustees shall commence on the second Monday of the January last referred to above. The control and management of such consolidated county library district shall continue to be under section 3375.22 of the Revised Code.

For the purposes of this section, whenever a county library district is consolidated with a subdivision other than a school district, the area comprising the school district in which the main library of said subdivision is located shall become a part of the county library district.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.29, HB 48, §1, eff. 7/2/2010.

Effective Date: 08-17-1961 .