The contracts with the MBLC for MPLCP grant money are held with the municipality unless a library corporation has been designated and empowered by prior legislative action to conduct capital projects, in which case the corporation can be the contracting authority.
The MPLCP requires involvement of municipal officials at several points in the process:
- Letter of intent
- Mandatory application workshop
- Application
- Votes required for the application and the construction phase
- Contract documents for both phases
- Executing contracts as the contracting authority with OPM, Architect, and General Contractor
- Final reporting for both phases
While the municipality is the contracting authority, the contract manager for the municipality is typically the library director, who is the main contact for the MPLCP Construction Team staff for both phases.
For the construction phase, the owner of or responsible party for the library building, if a renovation/expansion project, must be the municipality. If the MBLC contract is with the municipality but a library building is owned by an association or corporation library board, a memorandum of agreement or understanding must be crafted between the library and the municipality. The municipality must assume responsibility for the building throughout actual construction.