By Violet Li
Connected Libraries will transition to a charity under the Local Government Act 2020, a council report notes.
The Local Government Act 2020 stipulates that all existing regional library corporations in Victoria must become a “beneficial enterprise”, a not-for-profit entity, and the current library corporation must be dissolved by July 2030.
Casey Cardinia Library Corporation, trading in the name of Connected Libraries, currently operates as a library corporation with Casey Council as the sole partner.
Council officers proposed a new structure of “company limited by guarantee” that had members instead of shareholders and Casey Council would be the sole member with the possibility that other councils could become members at a later date.
A constitution will be developed for the new corporate entity to outline the membership and governance structure.
Further key transition steps will include registration of the new corporate entity as a company with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
City of Casey chair of administrators Noelene Duff PSM said the transition would be “an administrative shift” and the community would not be affected with operations and services continuing alongside the ongoing use of the Connected Libraries trading name.
