[Adopted by Ord. No. 605, 1/22/2020[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Part 6,
Free Public Library, adopted by Ord. No. 109, 2/27/1969.
As originally established by Ord. No. 109, 2/27/1969, the Township
of Northampton, under the provisions of the Public Library Code, passed
November 1, 2012, which is a continuation of the act of June 14, 1961,
known as the "Library Code,[1] hereby establishes a free, public, nonsectarian library,
to be known as the "Free Library of Northampton Township," which shall
operate under the provisions of this Part and of the Library Code
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or any versions adopted thereafter
by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
[1]
Editor’s Note: The Library Code (24 P.S. § 4401
et seq.) was repealed by 2012, November 1, P.L. 1683, No. 210, §
3(2)(i), immediately effective.
The affairs of said library shall be under the exclusive control
of the Township of Northampton, with input from an Advisory Board
of Library Directors composed of not fewer than five nor more than
seven members who shall be appointed by the Board of Supervisors;
said Board of Supervisors shall have the right to fill any vacancies
occurring from any cause. All appointments shall be for a term of
three years. Any vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired portion
of the term.
The Board of Library Directors shall elect from its membership
a President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and such other officers and
agents as the Board may deem necessary. The Treasurer shall give bond
to the Township of Northampton with satisfactory surety in such amount
as the Board of Supervisors may direct. No member of the Board of
Library Directors shall receive any salary for his services as a member
of said Board.
The Board of Library Directors shall be authorized to prepare
and adopt its own bylaws, rules and regulations, subject, however,
to the prior approval by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Northampton by resolution before any such bylaws, rules and regulations
or amendments thereto shall become effective.
The management and control of said free library shall be vested
in the Township of Northampton. The Township of Northampton shall
be responsible for all reporting on its receipts and expenditures
and the accounts of said library. The accounts shall be audited as
in the case of other municipal expenditures.
The Free Library of Northampton Township shall be free to the
use of all the residents of the Township, subject to such reasonable
rules and regulations as the Board of Library Directors may adopt.
Said Board may exclude from the use of the library a person who has
willfully violated such rules and regulations. The Board may extend
the privileges of such library to persons residing outside the limits
of the Township of Northampton upon such terms and conditions as the
Board may prescribe.
1.Â
The Township of Northampton is hereby authorized to accept any funds
raised by popular subscription, any appropriations made by the Board
of Supervisors of Northampton Township, either from current revenues
or from special taxes levied in accordance with Acts of Assembly.
2.Â
The Library Board of Directors may accept gifts, devises, grants,
endowments or benefit performances and fund-raising activities as
may from time to time be sponsored by said Board of Directors.
3.Â
The Friends of the Library, as a separate nonprofit charitable group,
operating under its own governance and bylaws, but in accordance with
the Board of Directors and Northampton Township, may also accept gifts,
devises, grants, endowments or benefit performances and fund-raising
activities as may from time to time support and enhance the mission
and strategic plan of the library.
The Free Library of Northampton Township shall occupy such portion
of the building and site owned by the Township of Northampton located
at 25 Upper Holland Road, Richboro, PA 18954 for library purposes.
The Board of Supervisors of the Township are authorized to execute
and deliver leases for such portions of said building for a rental
not to exceed $1 per year. The Board of Supervisors is further authorized
to expend funds or to appropriate funds to renovate, maintain and
equip the building.
In the event that any section, sentence, clause, phrase or word
of this Part shall be declared illegal, invalid or unconstitutional
by any court of competent jurisdiction, such declaration shall not
prevent or otherwise foreclose enforcement of any of the remaining
portions of this Part.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent herewith
or in conflict with any of the specific terms enacted hereby, to the
extent of said inconsistencies or conflicts, are hereby specifically
repealed.
