The finance committee of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library board of trustees met briefly on Tuesday to discuss the 2025 budget.
Chair Ray Boles has previously bragged about working with county commission and city council leaders to bring in more funding for the library, but said during the committee meeting that the board will just ask the governing bodies for level funding.
The members of the committee—Boles, Vice Chair Rachel Daniels and Treasurer Logan Strock—made no mention of how the board expects to account for legal fees. When the board hired Laura Clark as its attorney, it voted to shave $2,000 off its advertising budget to pay her. That would only buy Clark 10 hours, as the board announced her rate as $200 per hour.
The board has never stated what it is paying Bryan Taylor, former counsel to the Alabama Republican Party and Gov. Kay Ivey, to defend the board in its litigation with terminated director Andrew Foster. Clark could not represent the board in that lawsuit due to a conflict of interest.
It also appears the board will be shelling out more money soon, as it voted last week to put Daniels in charge of finalizing the details of a settlement with Foster that could be voted on as soon as the board’s next full meeting on Thursday.
The board will ask city to continue its allocation of $350,000, while the county gives $215,000. State funding also contributes about $70,000, which continues automatically as long as the library remains eligible for state funds.
The library relies on state funds for the purchase of new books and materials, while almost all of the money from the city and county goes towards operations.
