Although Robinson officials have formed a model partnership with neighboring Kennedy to share costs for weekly bookmobile service, their unusual scheme to pay for it has inflamed an already strained relationship with local library supporters.

Township Commissioner Dan Tallon last month asked if the annual $6,000 bookmobile fee could be paid out of the nearly $140,000 Robinson has collected in taxes from the referendum passed last year requiring the township to establish a public library.

Robinson Township Library Association President Keith Schmidt said last week the commissioners have no right to use that money to pay for a bookmobile service run by the Allegheny County Library Association.

"It's them flexing their muscle," Schmidt said of the commissioners' attempt to use money his organization has been entrusted with for the purpose of creating a library in Robinson.

Schmidt said the township library association wants to use the money as the basis to seek other funding through the Allegheny County Library Association, which has agreed to help the nonprofit group establish a library.

Earlier this year, the two sides seemed to have reached an accord when the township library association agreed to the creation of a township-appointed library board if commissioners chose the seven members from among its 11 active board members.

But when the commissioners gave one of the spots to Fran Burke, the association refused to convene the new board saying the commissioners broke their promise. Burke is not a current board member, though she had previously served as both a Robinson commissioner and on the RTLA board.

At their meeting Monday night, Burke told the Robinson commissioners she had no intention of resigning from the township library board. She said she has been an active member of the RTLA and was instrumental in the group receiving its 501-C3 non-profit designation.

"I'm not going to resign," said Burke.

Burke added that she remains committed to bringing a library to Robinson and that it is ridiculous for the RTLA to refuse to convene just because she has been named to the board.

Meanwhile, the stalemate continues with Robinson commissioners refusing to turn over the library money and the library association members refusing to serve on the library board.

Both sides say they are motivated by their obligation to the township residents. Schmidt said the township association, which championed the referendum, won it with the understanding that the money was for building a library. He does not believe the commissioners are as committed as they should be to the project.

"What they don't seem to understand is, it's not their money," said Schmidt.

Tallon argued, meanwhile, that it is his and the other commissioners' job to safeguard all township tax dollars.

"We have to answer to those funds," he said.

Tallon said turning the money over to the township library association could create an oversight problem similar to that involving the Clever Park playground. When the volunteer board there disbanded, Tallon said it left behind a maintenance fund of nearly $10,000 that no one is overseeing.

Tallon wants the library board to report to the commissioners in the same way that the township zoning or parks and recreation boards do.

But Schmidt said his group should be treated like the volunteer fire department or Robinson Emergency Management Service. Those are separate entities to which the township allocates funds each year.

"We should not have to acquiesce to the board of commissioners," he said.

Both sides say they are going to seek legal advice on how to proceed. In Kennedy, meanwhile, officials are satisfied with the continued use of bookmobile services.

Commissioners there unanimously approved the $6,000 bookmobile expenditure for 2005.

Kennedy manager Paul Bingham said, "Our residents use this service and we feel a responsibility to keep it there."

This year was the first that Robinson and Kennedy agreed to share the cost of the bookmobile that now comes to Clever Park every Saturday from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Before 2004, Robinson and Kennedy were each paying $8,000 a year to have a one-hour bookmobile stop in their respective communities. The bookmobile visited Robinson Towne Center every Friday evening and Kenmawr Plaza every Saturday afternoon.

In part because the Kennedy stop had become so busy, officials there suggested the creation of a combined stop.

Formally known as the Bookmobile, the county association's Mobile Library Service provides services to three groups -- senior citizens, preschools and general municipal libraries.

Bookmobile visits to 40 senior care centers and 50 Head Start and other large preschool programs throughout Allegheny County are paid for primarily through Regional Asset District funding.

Municipal services, such as the one in Robinson and Kennedy, are fee-for-service arrangements that are paid for by a municipality, school district or in some cases by another public library.