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the School Board that the library would be part of the third phase of construction. County Commission Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson voiced concern about comments School Board members made last week, wanting assurance the county is committed to the library. Commissioner Joe Barbetta also spoke of his worries on that point. "I want to make sure that they're on board with this fully and embrace it before we go too far down the road." Kalajian said she and her staff are working with the Office of the County Attorney on an interlocal agreement with the School Board "that basically outlines we're going to commit to work together." A copy of a draft interlocal is "bouncing around now," Lempe told the News Leader. The understanding he had last week from School Board Chairwoman Jane Goodwin and board member Caroline Zucker, Lempe said, was that they want to make sure the county remains dedicated to sharing the library. The interlocal agreement, even of a general nature, he pointed out, would be a good sign of that. Kalajian explained to the commissioners that an earlier shared library project in which the county expressed interest involved a middle school. "There is such an advantage to hav- ing this plan for a college campus," she noted. "So many of those concerns [involving county library patrons at a middle school], I think, have been just really eliminated." During a recent meeting of Sarasota County local government representatives, Barbetta noted, "Scott Lempe was very excited about [the SCTI library project]. So from a staff per- spective, it seems like it's going forward." "We're very appreciative of the school [dis- trict] staff and how they're keeping us informed," Kalajian told the board. She is scheduled to make a more detailed presentation to the commissioners in August, Kalajian pointed out. Her June 25 remarks came during a discussion of her department's Fiscal Year 2015 budget. Robinson and County Administrator Tom Harmer noted that the School Board and County Commission have a joint meeting set for Sept. 30. Robinson added that she felt the August discussion would be appropriate in advance of that. Now it is up to district staff, Lempe said, "to help [the commissioners] understand [the potential costs]." % Sarabeth Kalajian is the county's director of libraries and historical resources. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader June 27, 2014 Page 47