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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-25-1996 Library Commission agendaSARATOGA LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING SARATOGA COMMUNITY LIBRARY September 25,1996 7:30 pm AGENDA I. Call to Order II. Roll Call III. Report of Posting of the Minutes IV. Approval of Minutes of August 28,1996 Meeting V. Oral and Written Communications a. Ann Marie Burger (IPA Council Representative) - Update VI. Old Business a. Revised Needs Assessment- Final Draft VII. New Business a Library Expansion 1. Educating the public 2. Commission- first steps VIII. Reports a. Susan Fuller, County Librarian b. Dolly Barnes, Community Librarian c. Irene Jacobs, City Staff Representative d. Marcia Manzo, Chair e. Cathy Foscato, Friends of the Library f. Sally Towse, Library Foundation IX Adjournment SARATOGA LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING Saratoga Community Library August 28,1996 7:30 pm Adia idinutes I. Call to Order. • The meeting was called to order by Marcia Manzo, Library. Commission Chair, at 7:30 pm. II. Roll Call: Commissianeritesent : Ceppos, Foscato, Grantham, Manzo, McLaughlin, Towse Conimissioneatbsent Sessler Otheresent Dolly Barnes, Irene M. Jacobs, Sarah Lombardo III. Report on Posting of the Commission Agenda: Persuant to Government Code 549542, the agenda was properly posted on August 23, 1996. IV. Minutes of July 24.1996: Commissioner Manzo pointed out that in Section V, Old Business it states that the chair "had notes of the detailed changes and edits to this document." The Chair wanted to clarify, for the record, that the recommended changes she had were general and not specific. Commissioner Towse made a motion to approve the minutes with the listed correction Commissioner Ceppos seconded the motion and the motion was passed with a unanimous vote. V. Old Business: • NeedAssessment: Dolly Bames provided the Commissiory(+vith the third draft of the Saratoga Community library Building Plan 1996 Update (aka. "County Report") There was discussion among Commissioners regarding how much of the Needs Assessment would be provided to the public since the document is lengthly and would most likely not be read in its entirety. The general understanding of the group is that the preamble would be used for general information regarding the Needs Assessment. Individuals who requested more information would be provided with the "County Report" in addition to the preamble. If members of the public still requested further details, the entire assessment package, including the original needs assessment, would be on file at the library for all to access. Commissioners Towse and Manzo volunteered to review the third edition of the document and and make any necessary editing changes. The edited copy of the Plan Update would be provided to the entire Commission at the regular September meeting for final approvaL The discussion turned to the subject of the title for the preamble that will be part of the the needs assessment package. Commissioner Sessler had, at an earlier meeting, proposed, The Year 2010- Where Are We Going and Where Will We Sit When We - Get There?". At the July meeting Commissioner Sessler suggested that perhaps the title be changed to reflect a more se ious tone. Commissioners were instructed to . consider another name for the °G�" and to share their ideas at the next meeting. Commissioners present at the August meeting disagreed with Commissioner Sessler and felt that the title he had originally proposed would catch people's attention and therefore simply shortened the proposed title so that it will now read as,"Saratoga Library in the Year 201a Where Wfli We Sit When We Get There?" VL New Business: Since the June regular meeting copies of the architectural plans that had been proposed for the library expansion by several different architectural firms in 1992, were circulated among the Commissioners. Copies of the designs that had been submitted by the three firms Weske, Spencer and Ripley were distributed to the Commission and the specific improvements recommended by each architect were reviewed and discussed. The group was reminded by the Library Chair, Commissioner Manzo, that during the lunch meeting held in June between the Commission and the Mayor, Harry Peacock, who was also present, had told the Commission that there was really no need to form another expansion committee. The Library Commission could simply choose to adopt the recommendations of the expansion committee that had been formed in 1991 After reviewing the architectural plans, Commissioner Ceppos made a motion to request that further architectural designs for the library expansion be reviewed since much time had elapsed since the designs had been submitted and that the Commission is not prepared to endorse the recommendations of the expansion committee formed in 1992_ Commissioner Foscato seconded the motion and the motion carried. The chair suggested that perhaps Council Member Burger, who is the JPA Council representative for the Library be invited to attend the September regular meeting, The Commission would take this time to share with Council Member Burger what the Commission is currently doing and planning in addition to requesting Ms. Burger's opinion regarding the library expansion in light of recent JPA developments and from her perspective as a Council Member. • Commissioner Towse made a motion to invite Council Member Burger and to table item # 133 Educating the Public and item #B. 5 Formation of an Expansion Committee since these issues would be better discussed once the Commission had more information as a result of the meeting with Ann Marie Burger. Commmissioner Foscato seconded the motion and the motion carried with a unanimous vote. VII. Reports: a. Susan Fuller, County Librarian- Ms. Fuller was unable to attended the meeting but,. she provided the Commission with some materials. regarding Proposition 218 via ; . Dolly Barnes. b.DonyBarnes, Librarian- Ms. Games reported that the new computer terminals had arrived at the Library. c. IreneJacobs;CityStaffRepresentative-Ms. Jacobs revisited an issues that had previously been discussed in order to clarify some questions that had arisen during the July meeting Ms. Jacobs reported that she had spoken with a representative of the city s Planning Department staff in order to verify that the future proposed plans for the Library expansion would not be subject to Measure G. City planning staff had clarified that under the current conditions, the Library Expansion would not be subject to Measure G requirements. Ms. Jacobs also requested some clarification regarding a meeting that had been scheduled with the City Manager and County Library staff members regarding library expansion issues and questioned why there had not been any notification to the Library Commission prior to the meetings. Since Susan Fuller was not able to attend, Dolly Barnes addressed the issue and explained that meetings had been scheduled with City Manager's throughout the County to discuss library expansion issues and that the meeting with Saratoga staff was simply one of those scheduled meetings. d. Marcia Manzo,C hair -Commissioner Manzo shared with her fellow commissioners that she had been asked to represent the Library Commission and present certificates to school children who had participated in a reading program through the libray. e. CathyFoscato,1riendsottheIibrary-Commissioner Foscato reported that the Friends of the Library had given the library $48,800 for Sunday hours (2 year period), $1,000 for the Chidren's Department and 511,E for periodicals, books and CD ROms among other things. f. SanyTowse,Ii'braiyFormdat on -Commissioner Towse reported that on the first Friday in October (4th), the Foundation would be hosting an educational event in order to inform invited parties of the Library Foundation and how the Foundation planned to assist with the Library Expansion once the idea had been approved by the city VIIL Oral and Written Communications: None IX Adjournment There was a motion made by Commissioner Ceppos to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Foscato seconded the motion and the motion was passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9.30 pm. Respectfully Submitted By. Irene M. Jacobs Administrative Analyst S BRIEFS lagers will be able Drk at the polls ie first time Pete Wilson has signed a bill gcounties to hire 16- and 17- Id students to work at the t Election Day. till accomplishes two goals: :s students a chance be :d in the democratic process .ovides counties with an final pool of Election Day rkers. sties throughout the state ore then 100,000 poll work- :ach statewide election. ork at the polls. students ,e citizens of the United find seniors with a minimum le -point average. son trial lawyer Lak in Saratoga Clara University law pro- iierald Uelmen. one of the mpson trial lawyers and lithe hook Lessons from the he People vs. O.J. Simpson. ' e hook and a play he ?n the life of William is before Friends of ltoga Library. neeting. open to the public. 7 at 7 p.m. in the communi- 1 of the Saratoga Library, aratoga Ave. es evacuated after ers crack gas pipe Louses were evacuated after ction workers digging -ound on Saratoga Road I open a gas pipeline on 1, spewing out fumes and an underground gas leak. on the stretch of road t Herriman and Highway 9 ed one side of the roadway ast few weeks. The gas leak, r, forced the city to close the npletely for an hour. ly, the gas leak was rela- inor, and only the two hous- tly in front of the gas line ected, said Sgt. Van Lieden tratoga Fire Department. had been a gas main, we ave responded a lot differ - aid Van Leiden. "But, luck - wasn't the case." re department was notified :ak by construction work - smelled a strong odor in at about 1 p.m. Saratoga ;ineer Tom Alley said that ine companies secured the r -If a fire, while PG&E ily repaired the one - an hour of repair, PG&E secured the gas leak, and ors returned to their station eriff's deputies reopened ter -mile stretch of road. &rat.° (1) a News Plans to expand the library hit stalemate over tax issue City's book keepers need more room By SARAH LOMBARDO As if the bookmark had fallen from their book, members of the citv's Library Commission are finding difficultly in picking up plans to expand the Saratoga Com- munity Library where they left off. Before they can proceed. com- missioners must update their reports to reflect an even more crowded and busier library; they must stress to the City Council and the public the urgency of the library's need for more room: and they must do it all with the utility -users tax looming on the November ballot. Irene Jacobs. city staff member for the Library Commission. said the commission can do little until after the election. "They are not going to do any- thing until the utility -users taxpass- es," Jacobs said. "Because if it doesn't pass, there's not going to be a lot to work with, and the public's concern will be on other issues." The idea for an expanded library is not a new one. In 1991, the com- mission set the ball rolling for expansion and the plans got far enough that the City Council chose an architect for the project. But, abruptly, the expansion and the bond measure proposed to fund it were abandoned in 1993 after coun- ty budget cuts left the libraryscram- bling to maintain its services. "The funding from the state went bye-bye all of a sudden, and [the Library Commission's] main focus had to be on keeping the library open, let alone expanding it,"Jacobs said. Now, the commission is ready to try again. With the 1994 passage of Measure A, the initiative that added a parcel tax of $33 a year per household to communities being served by Santa Clara County libraries, the library was able to return to normal operation. "We were able to open more and buy more books and materials," said Dolly Barnes, community librarian supervisor. "With the return of library services, the com- mission could say, 'OK, the prob- lem hasn't gotten any better, it's gotten worse, so we need to do something about it." For the past few months, the commission has been holding infor- mational meetings with city offi- cials, according to Jacobs. Phologruph nv Rohm Scheer Community Librarian Dolly Barnes stands watch over her domain a/ the Saratoga Library. "They've brought in officials and kind of thrown out ideas," she said. "Nothing is concrete; they've just put feelers out." Some of those feelers include where the money will come from to pay for library expansion. Accord- ing to Jacobs, one of the first ques- tions the commission asked was if they could rely on any city funds. The answer was negative. "There aren't any city funds to be had," she said. Jacobs said that left the commis- sionconsidering abond measure and garnering enough public support to pass it. And that, Jacobs said, is why the commission is treadingsosoftly. "The last commission put a lot of work into the expansion project," Jacobs said, "and [the current com- mission] doesn't want it to fail because should it fail, they know it'll be a while before they can pre- sent it again." The commission has jumped otie major hurdle toward recommending an expansion plan to the city: Com- missioners recently completed work on updating their needs assessment report from October 1991. The report contains some star- tling statistics. "Seating in the library is in very short supply," the report states. "While more than 1,000 people visit the library each day, there are only 61 adult seats, 31 elementary and 14 preschool seats." According to the report, foot traf- fic in the 18,000-square-foot library has increased from 277,660 people between 1990 and 1991 to 350,338 people between 1995 and 1996. Barnes said she has no room for more hooks, and the bookshelves are too high as it is now. Commissioner David McLaugh- lin said the needs assessment report shows that the library situa- tion has gone from had to worse. "We grossly underestimated how desperately we need a new library now, let alone five years ago," he said. "Are we willing to throw away a hook each time we get a new one?" In addition to space for books, the report calls for technological advances in the library to keep the publicuptodate,room forquietstudy areas and group study areas, better lighting and a drive -up book drop. With the needs assessment report completed, the commission now has to decide if it wants to go hack to the old plans, architectural drawings and architect from 1992, or begin all over again with new committees and another architect interview process. "I don't want to close off any options," Commissioner Karen Ceppos said. Ceppos, who was a member of the expansion commit- tee in 1992, said the commission should explore as many options as it can right now instead of going hack to plans and decisions made years ago. Jacobs said the commission needs to find out if members will he allowed by the City Council to he involved in choosing an architect, or in deciding whether an expan- sion committee will need to he formed, and what kind of support the city will offer. At Wednesday's meeting, the commission decided to table any discussions of further action until they got more information. Jacobs predicted the commission would probably make a recom- mendation for expansion to the City Council before November. Should all go as planned, a bond measure could go before the public as early as November 1998. SEPTEMBER 4, 1996 SARATOGA NEWS 7