Timberland library committee to recommend that capital facilities proposal be rejected

Three Timberland Regional Library board members who make up the library’s facilities committee said Wednesday they will recommend to the larger board that the recently released capital facilities proposal be rejected.

The Timberland Regional Library board Thursday scheduled its next meeting Wednesday.

The facilities proposal, which was posted on Timberland’s website last week, has caused a stir throughout the library’s five-county service district. It proposes sweeping changes, including rural library branch closures, to address projected budget deficits of $700,000 in 2019 and 2020.

Why the deficits? Expenses continue to rise, including salaries and benefits, while revenues are down. Finance manager Eric Lowell reminded staff, board and audience members at Wednesday’s facilities committee meeting that the library system has limited control over some revenue sources. Property tax increases, for example, are capped at 1 percent a year, he said.

The committee consists of three board members — Corby Varness, Brian Zylstra and Brenda Hirschi — but they also were joined by administrative staff. Although no public comment was allowed at the meeting, about 20 people attended.

Early in the meeting, Varness read a letter she had received from a patron concerned about the proposed closure of a library branch in Montesano. The writer said it would devastate the charm of downtown Montesano and has “created a tight lump in my throat.”

Varness urged those in the room to take these kinds of stories seriously.

“There has been a tremendous breach of trust in our communities,” she said later in the hourlong meeting. “And we have a lot of work to do to regain that trust.”

She asked whether the release of the capital facilities proposal had been handled in the right way. Staff defended the decision to post it on the front page of the website, saying they wanted to be up front and transparent with the public.

Zylstra thanked staff for making a good faith effort with the plan, but said he could not accept it as is.

Under the proposal, several rural library branches would close, while new branches were proposed in Olympia and Lacey to address overcrowding. That’s not fair, he said. Libraries in smaller communities fill a much larger role because they act as community and youth centers.

He said the capital facilities proposal has elements worth considering, but overall he can’t support it.

“We should not pass the plan as is,” he said.

Hirschi said the plan has raised so many questions that she believed it would be wise to take a step back.

“I’m not sure where we can go until we get these questions answered,” she said.

Varness was more blunt, saying she rejects the plan as it stands. That led to a clarifying question about the committee’s role.

She later said they should use the current proposal as a reference document and get to work on something new.

The special board meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Administrative Service Center, 415 Tumwater Blvd. SW, Tumwater.

This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Timberland library committee to recommend that capital facilities proposal be rejected."