CC MINUTES 11231993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I CITY COUNCIL MEETING 02 NOVEMBER 23, 1993 3 PAGE 6 4 5 the St. Anthony Shopping Center. He thought the library pulls people in because it is 6 there and should be a concern for property values. Mr. Haik indicated his frustration 7 trying to get through to the Commissioners who he felt did not even recognize St. 8 Anthony Village. 9 10 Dennis Cavanaugh discussed the possibility of litigation and Friends of the Library's 11 retention of an attorney in case the resolution wasn't voted in. He said he hasn't 12 received a written statement as to why the library is being closed. The facts which 13 have been presented regarding under-utilization are incorrect. He wanted to know if' 14 the Council would be interested in joining forces to pursue any avenues to obtain a fair 15 hearing. 16 17 The City Manager said Dennis Cavanaugh had telephoned him to request the City make 18 a donation to the Friends of the Library. Anytime the City gives a donation, the 19 Council must determine if it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers. He 20 indicated when the City enters litigation the taxpayers end up paying for it. The City 21 Manager discussed taking legal action with the City Attorney who indicated that it 22 would be very difficult to accomplish. They discussed distribution of equity of service *3 and the City Attorney said it would take some research to get to that point because the 24 City could be breaking new ground. The Northern Mayor's Association was using this 25 issue as an argument for some time with the development going on in the southern 26 metro areas compared to the northern metro area. Here we have a situation with the 27 County where all the development takes place west and nothing on the east side. The 28 City Manager did not ask the City Attorney.to begin the next step of research because 29 he did not have Council approval. 30 31 Councilmember Marks suggested thinking about alternative plans of reestablishing a 32 new library that might also involve litigation requiring the County to take the levy that 33 would normally go towards supporting the library locally and turning it back to St. 34 Anthony so that would cover part of the cost. He discussed operating costs of the 35 library and suggested the new location of the library could possibly be put into City M Hall. 37 38 Councilmember Fleming said she felt if they failed at all it would be in selling the fact 39 that the County library is the best return for the dollar and that is what she saw as the 40 most serious part of the issue and felt it was missed on all levels. 41 42 Bob Thistle, Vice President of Springsted, Inc., indicated the communities that have 43 their own libraries are exempted from making contributions to the County library �4 system.