2013.09.16 CC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hugo City Council Meeting Minutes for September 16, 2013 Page 3 of 7 that provides a half million dollars in services to Washington County and the cities of Stillwater and Bayport, who are not a part of the Washington County Library system because they predated the establishment of the County library system but are but under contract with the County to allow their participation in MELSA. The City of Lake Elmo has opted out of the County library system, creating its own library; therefore, Lake Elmo is not a part of MELSA. Marine on St. Croix also has their own library staff with volunteers, but they have remained a part of Washington County Library system Conley explained that a city may levy for a library but state law mandates that a county must. The City of Hugo pays approximately $350,000 to the County each year for its portion of the levy. Pat explained that there are approximately 7,600 Hugo residents who use the library, and approximately 3,500 books pass through the Hugo Library Express each month, which has been in the City of Hugo for 38 months. As part of the library system, a card holder has access to any library in Minnesota, including academic libraries, with the exception of six city libraries. Pat talked about electronic services stating that approximately 5% of items checked out were e - books and audio books. When asked what the future plans were for libraries and what the future library would look like, Pat explained that it is based on a population to build a 25,000 square foot building at .45 square foot per resident. Pat stated that the facility plan will need to be updated for 2018-2019. Hugo was on the radar but one question was when will the Forest Lake Library will be too small. Pat predicted that future libraries will not have as many books and their virtual branch will expand. The demand for e -books was increasing, but they are very expensive for the library. A recent survey of residents done by the Library showed that access to high-speed internet, e-gov services, and story time for children were important to them. Council Member Haas explained that the City of Hugo was not aware it had a choice on whether to be a part of the County library, and said the Council needs to be diligent in examining the pros and cons. He said he appreciated the information provided. Mayor Weidt stated the services provided were good, but he was concerned with the number of transactions verses what the City was paying. Hugo has a large children base, and the City needs to provide them services. The level of services the City has needs to be evaluated. Library Pat Conley stated that the County sees the need to establish a subcommittee to look at Hugo library services. The Council agreed that the City needed to work with the subcommittee to get this information for discussion at the Council's Goal Setting session in 2014. Update on CSAH7/CSAH8 Intersection- County Enizineer Wayne Sandberg CSAH 7 and the first 500 feet of CSAH 8 north of CSAH 7 are in need of resurfacing. In light of the pending CSAH 7 resurfacing project, Washington County has developed design options for the CSAH 7/CSAH 8 intersection, which was not completed as part of the recent CSAH 8 resurfacing project. County Engineer Wayne Sandberg was at the meeting to review the options with the City Council.