CC MINUTES 11231993 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I CITY COUNCIL MEETING •2 NOVEMBER 23, 1993 3 PAGE 7 4 5 Judy Makowske wanted to bring to the Council's attention the fact that the people felt 6 slighted because no notification of the closing of the library was given prior to the 7 newspaper article. She felt politically the Council should have been first notified so 8 they didn't have to learn of it from residents calling or the newspaper. She felt Bob 9 Rolfe, the library director, was using this issue to put something unpopular on the 10 chopping block to get extra money out of it. The library system and the County are 11 getting more money this year. The library budget has increased by four percent. She 12 stated there was no conceivable reason why they should take something away when the 13 usage has increased and the population hasn't changed. Mayor Ranallo indicated he 14 had indicated his displeasure to Commissioner Hilary on how the library closure was 15 communicated to the Council. 16 17 Mr. Cavanaugh requested the Council instruct the staff to have the City Attorney start 18 doing legal research regarding other libraries. He would like to know what policies 19 and procedures the County uses to make decisions. The City Manager felt that the 20 Friends of the Library attorney would be better suited economically to perform the 21 research. 22 03 The City Manager indicated some research had already been performed but it would be 24 a matter of assembling the information and he thought both the City and Friends of the 25 Library should get an estimate on how much additional work would cost. Mr. 26 Cavanaugh indicated Friends of the Library had collected about $650.00 in 27 contributions. 28 29 Mary Ann Kofski, a resident, said she was disturbed that other business owners from 30 the shopping center were not involved and wondered if all the business owners had 31 been contacted. She felt the larger stores should be urged to go to their home offices 32 for support. Tom Jaszewski, another resident of the City, said he did talk with many 33 of the local businesses in the shopping center but not their corporate offices. 34 35 Brad Bjorklund, a resident, urged the Council to take more effective ways to alert the 36 community of the serious nature of the library closing. He said he didn't receive any 37 notification of the library or any meetings regarding the closure. He said he was 38 informed of the library by the article in the newspaper. 39 40 Councilmember Marks suggested getting press attention at the next meeting perhaps by 41 bringing children in on school buses to attract the media's attention. 42 43 Mayor Ranallo indicated the St. Anthony library was used more than other libraries. Q4 Dennis Cavanaugh said the the St. Anthony library has 61,000 circulations per square 5 foot. He felt St. Anthony was not the library which statistics indicated should be