The City Council has initiated a request that its April 22, 2013, Business Session include an item to consider whether to accept an offer from the Masonic Lodges of Billings and the Grand Lodge of Montana to lay a cornerstone at the new Billings Public Library.  The Masons made the offer in a letter dated March 22, 2013 (attached), and in person at the City Council work session of April 1, 2013. 

Billings Administrative Order 103 requires that any donation to the City with a value of more than $500 must be accepted by the City Council at a regular meeting.

At its April 1 work session, the City Council asked the Library Board of Trustees to make a recommendation whether or not to accept the donation.  At their April 11 meeting, the Library Trustees voted 5-2, with two absent, to recommend the cornerstone offer made by the Masonic Lodges on the following conditions:

1. The Library Board, project architect and City Council must approve the proposed location, size and text of the cornerstone;
2. The cornerstone is to be installed without cost to the Library and the City; and
3. The installation and/or unveiling of the cornerstone is to be honored in a separate ceremony scheduled by the Masonic Lodges in coordination with the Library and Library Foundations boards so as not to interfere with any other events or ceremonies that either of those groups have scheduled.

The City Council may:

• Accept the Masons' donation;
• Defer action on the donation; or
• Decline the Masons' donation.

The laying of the cornerstone would have no financial impact on the City or Library, if the Library Board of Trustees' recommendation is accepted.

The Library Board of Trustees recommends acceptance of the cornerstone donation under the conditions listed in the Problem/Issue Statement.