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Each district is required to have an advisory council, referred to as the DAC. Advisory councils are defined in § 141.22 (b)(3). DACs are made up of trustees and librarians from district state-aided member libraries. The DAC can be either a trustee and librarian from each library in the district or a representative membership. DACs that choose a representative membership are free to develop individualized plans, if the following criteria are met:
The duties of the DAC are to review the district budget and help develop the district plans, policies, services, and program. DACs must meet three times a year, though many meet more frequently. Many district library centers' governing boards lean heavily on the DAC to represent the needs of the district, but the DAC is not the governing board for the district.
In some districts, there is also a District Executive Committee (DEC) made up of member library directors. The exact makeup varies across districts and has no regulatory requirements, but the makeup is agreed upon by the district and OCL. The DEC does not replace the DAC, it is an entity that can be used for the purposes of the DNA as explained below.
The DAC (or in some districts, the DEC) develops the district budget annually through a negotiated agreement. The negotiated agreement is between the DLC, district member libraries, and OCL and outlines how state aid will be used to provide district services. As such, an OCL liaison will attend the meeting where the negotiated agreement is developed. Districts must follow the GAC’s Guidelines for Negotiating Agreements for District Library Center Services. The implementation of the negotiated agreement is tracked through the completion of the annual DLC report (see State Reports section). Typically, OCL sends out the annual instructions for developing the agreement in February or March. DACs must meet between March and May to approve the agreement and submit it to OCL for approval by June.
BLD recommends that negotiated agreements be renegotiated if the state budget is finalized at a different amount than what was projected during the initial process and there is no change threshold written into the DNA. Districts are able to use the contingency plan section to accommodate changes.