King County Library Board votes to go ahead with library remodel

Published 3:51 pm Thursday, October 30, 2014

Last evening, after a discussion about whether the Mercer Island Library remodel could be paused to allow for more time for community input, the Board of the King County Library System (KCLS) voted 3-2 to go ahead with the plans as they currently stand.

Concerns over the changes proposed by KCLS for the Island library, introduced in January, changed to alarm and then outrage over the past few months. After several negotiations between KCLS and the Mercer Island library committee and Library Board, both sides made concessions, but some Islanders say those changes weren’t enough.

A group called the Concerned Citizens for the Mercer Island Library organized this year to oppose the project. Members say that the remodel would waste taxpayer money and compromise the beauty and function of their community library. Islanders voted on a $730,000 bond in 2004 for necessary updates. The proposed KCLS remodel would cost $3.4 million.

At the Oct. 29 meeting, KCLS Board President Jessica Bonebright said that it might be a good idea to wait for Mercer Island’s City Council to meet and give a clear statement, and reassess the situation at the board’s next meeting on Nov. 19. Board member Rob Spitzer, who lives on Mercer Island, agreed. The board’s next meeting will occur after the new KCLS director is chosen.

“I feel personally that if the Mercer Island government spoke in a clear voice about concerns about the plan, then that would be reason enough for us to take another look,” Bonebright said. “Giving it one more month would give us a better perspective of the position of the city government.”

Other board members thought pausing the project would send “mixed messages” and could harm the fiduciary health of the library system. KCLS interim director Julie Acteson said the decisions about what to do with the library are KCLS’s, not the citizens’ or the City Council’s.

“We’re at the point where we need to go ahead and renovate,” Acteson said. “The Mercer Island Library is part of the King County Library System. It doesn’t just serve Mercer Island residents. It serves residents across the entire county.”

Bonebright said she has sympathy for Mercer Island’s perspective about the remodel, that less may be more, “if that’s truly what the city speaking in a clear voice is saying.”

“Up to this point, there’s been a lot of anecdotal communication around that,” Bonebright said, referencing the stances taken by individual councilmembers, including Dan Grausz and Mike Cero. The Council has not taken an official position on the issue yet, and decided to work through the Library Board.

At the KCLS Board meeting, Grausz said that opposition to the library model has been “mainstream.”

“There are people opposing it now who I have to tell you, I never thought would have opposed this project,” Grausz said. “Even those of us who have been out there working to find common ground with KCLS threw in the towel last week after almost all of the Mercer Island Library Board’s pretty modest requests in regard to the children’s area were summarily rejected. I have to tell you that was really disheartening.”

Twelve other Islanders, including many Concerned Citizens, also addressed the KCLS Board, asking for a moratorium on building.

Greg Smith, KLCS director of facilities management services, said that if directed to put the project on pause, he would have to withdraw his permit application from the city and cancel the bid process. The permits are set to be approved on Friday Oct. 31, with bids coming in Tuesday Nov. 4, he said.

Development Services Group Director Scott Greenburg said on Oct. 31 that his staff still had some questions about the permit.

There are other points of contention. Repairs that are needed for the building, including a sprinkler system, are not part of the remodel plans.

Grausz said that not having a sprinkler system is a safety concern. Smith said that the plans can be modified to include sprinklers, but that installing them could extend closure time from seven months to 12 or 13 months.

After the vote, the Islander group was surprised and disappointed by the result. They discussed the option of de-annexing from the library system. A petition to establish a city library, with 170 signatures, was sent to the State Attorney General in mid-August.

In anticipation of the Attorney General’s ruling, the Concerned Citizens are looking at Islanders’ annual property tax payments to KCLS. The library costs about $2.9 million a year to run and Islanders pay approximately $5 million, according to a press release sent by Cero on Oct. 14.

If the Attorney General approves the de-annexing initiative, the library issue may be on the February 2015 ballot. On the current schedule, that will be after the library is closed and construction begins.

“Governments exist by the consent of the people, and at least on Mercer Island, that consent is being sorely tested,” Grausz said. “Unfortunately despite the give-and-take, our community is in open revolt, and public safety may be compromised.”

Spitzer said that he appreciates the number of compromises made, but that the community is “up in arms.”

“As a system, we’re going to face public backlash,” he said. “I don’t want to see us in the news with an important community within the district saying, ‘we want out.'”

The Mercer Island City Council will discuss the library issue during a study session at 5 p.m. on Monday Nov. 3.