The Cottonwood City Council eliminated library late fees and declared the city of Cottonwood as a Bill of Rights Sanctuary City at their June 1 meeting.
Late Fees
The council unanimously approved the elimination of late fees at the Cottonwood Public Library following a brief presentation by Library Director Ryan Bigelow. The change makes it so that the library will no longer charge patrons late fees and will waive any existing fines.
Bigelow said the Library Advisory Board has already approved the change with the hope that it will bring the approximately 1,600 patrons who are banned from using the library due to late fees back to use their services.
Book fees cost 10 cents per day and cannot exceed $10 per item, but once a patron’s account has reached that maximum they are no longer allowed to access library resources.
“Unfortunately, many patrons will just choose to not use their library card versus paying these fees,” Bigelow said. “We would certainly like to welcome them back.”
Currently, over $28,000 in late fees are owed to the library, but it believes it would realistically only receive a small percentage of that. In 2017, the library managed to collect just over $5,000 in late fees and nearly $5,500 in 2018 and 2019. It received very little in 2020, as the library waived late fees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bigelow said the majority of libraries in the Yavapai County Library District have already eliminated late fees, including the CampVerde Community Library.
“This is a practice that’s pretty common around the country at this point,” he said.
The library will continue to charge for lost or damaged items. Should someone fail to return a book, it will be considered lost and that person will be charged for the item in question. An item is considered lost if it has not been returned within three weeks past its due date.
Bigelow believes that this action will improve the library’s customer service and the overall experience at the library.
“We will no longer have to haggle with patrons over 10-cent late fees, and instead we can focus our efforts on more impactful interaction,” he said.
Bill of Rights Sanctuary City
The council revisited the issue of declaring the city of Cottonwood a Bill of Rights Sanctuary City after it was rejected April 20 due to a tied 3-3 vote. Some residents were upset by the fact that the full council was not in attendance at the April 20 meeting, which resulted in the tie and, by law, killed the measure by default.
Councilwoman Jackie Nairn was absent at the original meeting as she said she was traveling at that time. After listening to the recording of the missed meeting and receiving multiple emails from citizens, Nairn decided to take a stance in support of the declaration.
“I’m landing on the side of the people of our town, who we all represent, and are asking us to take a stand and we are the voice of the people,” she said. “It makes sense to me to back up our citizens and take a stand to hold all governments accountable to the Constitution of the Bill of Rights and following the appropriate amendment process if there is to be a change.”
The goal of the declaration is to reaffirm the city of Cottonwood’s support for the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution and declare that the city will not condone or participate in any infringements to the Bill of Rights.
City code is devolved from the Arizona State Constitution, which is itself devolved from the U.S.Constitution, making the Bill of Rights and the entire constitution already the de facto law in Cottonwood and everywhere in the state.
While all of the council members expressed support for the Bill of Rights, some, including Mayor Tim Elinski, said the resolution won’t provide the city with any additional legal tools and expressed concern that it might be out of line legally speaking when it comes to proper governmental procedures.
“We’re going to leave folks with the impression that this is some sort of a legal tool that we can use to provide sanctuary to folks that don’t abide by the laws that come down from the national level. That’s tome what’s dangerous about it,” Elinski said. “Because of my respect for the Constitution of the United States and the three distinct branches of government, I can’t do anything that is unlawful. … It has nothing to do with not believing in the Bill of Rights … it’s simply the oath that I took that requires that I stay in my lane as a legislator and not as the interpreter of the Constitution.”
Councilwoman Tosca Henry said that she stands by her original vote of “nay” because she doesn’t believe that local politics should be partisan, and because the majority of her constituents don’t actually support the move. In fact, she said, most of the petitions that were signed were sent from people who are not actual residents of Cottonwood but come from the Verde Villages or another nearby community.
Henry, Elinski and Debbie Wilden voted no on the issue, while councilmembers Nairn, Michael Mathews, Helaine Kurot and Vice Mayor Doug Hulse voted yes, thereby approving the resolution.
