The Hellertown Borough Council called a special meeting the evening of Jan. 26 to discuss recent developments out of Lower Saucon Township and their effects on the shared Hellertown Area Library.

Council President Thomas Rieger read a statement which he later posted on his campaign’s official Facebook page, explaining the history of the agreement between Hellertown and Lower Saucon on the library’s funding and use.

Reiger said the library is a nonprofit organization initially founded in 1989 by borough residents, eventually moving to its current site on Constitution Avenue in 1993. Lower Saucon was brought in as a result of a 2010 task force which was initially put together to investigate the possibility of expanding service outside borough limits, he said. A two-year contract was then ratified, beginning in 2014, and has been renewed twice before the current cycle.

The township had been paying a $100,000 fee annually in order to assist with library costs in exchange for its residents’ inclusion in library services. Their decision to cut funding by 50 percent was due to what their council, led by a half-hour statement by President Jason Banonis at its contentious Jan. 19 meeting, characterized as being consistently shut out of decision-making by the library board of directors.

In addition to the now-$50,000 donation to the HAL, Lower Saucon Council also voted to donate the other $50,000 to the Southern Lehigh Public Library and asked officials to pursue potential agreements with other local libraries. Banonis has since claimed that the subsequent donation was unrelated to the quarrel with Hellertown.

In another motion on Jan. 19, Lower Saucon Council also pre-emptively voted to pursue legal action if the library attempted to bar township residents from library patronage. Despite this, the Hellertown Area Library Board voted at its Jan. 25 meeting to reject the halved donation and revoke library privileges from all Lower Saucon residents.

Mayor David Heintzelman, who has also shared public statements on the matter in opposition to Banonis and the Lower Saucon Council’s position, also spoke in support of Rieger, and the rest of council and attendees – Hellertown and Lower Saucon residents alike – largely supported his and Rieger’s positions through the remainder of the meeting.

Rieger also suggested that the relationship between the borough and Lower Saucon should be reconsidered on all levels. “It is my opinion that our community vision is no longer shared with Lower Saucon Township Council and that must be addressed,” he said.

The council ultimately voted to renegotiate a five-year agreement with the library before the current one expires at the end of January. When a new deal commences, Rieger also suggested the council consider an additional $75,000 donation from American Rescue Plan funds, with action on the matter set for a special meeting Jan. 31.