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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-10 LBOT MinutesBoard of Library Trustees Minutes: October 10, 2019 1 PALM SPRINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES MINUTES Palm Springs City Hall October 10, 2019 Large Conference Room 1. CALL TO ORDER President McBride called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL PRESENT Craig Borba Yes Harry Courtright Yes David Kelly Yes Ed McBride Yes Kathy Weremiuk Yes STAFF PRESENT: Jeannie Kays, Director of Library Services. CITY STAFF PRESENT: Lisa Brock, Library Operations and Collection Manager; Julie Warren, Library Services and Public Relations Manager; Donn Uyeno, Senior Civil Engineer. PUBLIC PRESENT: David Gray, Jim Gazon, Nanci Morrison, Robert Manon, Finley Manon, Naomi Soto, Shane Newell. 3. POSTING OF AGENDA: Jeannie Kays reported that the agenda was posted on the Library’s website and at City Hall on or before October 3, 2019. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF: The minutes of September 26, 2019 meeting were accepted. 5. ADDED STARTERS: None. 6. PUBLIC COMMENTS: None. 7. TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Kelly gave the report. Treasurer Kelly and Director Kays are meeting with the Finance Director on October 29th to discuss interest income and the possibility of taking the endowment funds outside of the City. The Library Trust Fund balance is $1,971,471.59. Some questions about the current financial reports came up; these will be discussed in the meeting with the Finance Director. Treasurer Kelly will email an update about the meeting to Director Kays for her to send out to the rest of the Library Board. 8. REPORT FROM FOPSL LIAISON: Julie Warren gave the report. The Friends will be hosting three events during modernism week: a house tour, a lecture, and an exhibit featuring mid-century modern pottery and dinnerware. Their next meeting is on October 8th at 2pm. 9. REPORT FROM LIBRARY FOUNDATION LIAISION: President McBride gave the report; he is the Vice President of the Foundation. The Foundation had a working session with the consultants, Library Strategies to develop a strategic/development plan. They have formed a nominating committee and have a goal of increasing their members from 12 to 24. They have created a job description, which clearly outlines expectations of board members. Treasurer Kelly said the building committee members are experienced and knowledgeable about the library and would be good to consider for The Foundation and the Board of Trustees. President McBride said he connected with a member of the Agua Caliente tribe at a Building Committee meeting and asked him to join the Foundation. The Foundation is working hard to get organized in anticipation for the next step after the Building Committee submits their recommendation to City Council. The Foundation will submit their annual report in April. Board of Library Trustees Minutes: October 10, 2019 2 10. LEGISLATIVE ACTION 10. A. Welwood Patio update Donn Uyeno from the engineering department gave the report. Director Kays brought samples of the pavers and gravel. A staff report is going to City Council on October 23rd with a request to go out to bid. Trustee Weremiuk asked about the request for a mature tree, Donn said they are looking into what tree is the right fit and it will be a mature tree. Treasurer Kelly asked about the drainage issues in the patio, Donn said he believes there was a new drainage plan but will check on it. Director Kays provided updates on questions from the last meeting. There is a 90-day maintenance period where the contractor would be responsible for the upkeep of the plants and replacing if they do not take, all plants will have a one-year warranty. They will bring the final plans to the Library Board. MOTION: (Weremiuk/Courtright, 5-0) To approve the plans to go to City Council with a request that the final plans are shared with the Library Board. 10. B. Request of Measure J funds for Welwood Patio project MOTION: (Courtright/Weremiuk, 5-0) To approve Measure J funds for the Welwood patio project. Motion Withdrawn David Gray from the Measure J Committee said that Measure J has approved $300,000 for Planning and $323,083 for the Frey Building. The money is available to spend and does not need to be requested again. They also approved $1.3 million towards a new building. Any additional requests would need to come from the City; nothing has been allocated for Welwood. President McBride said that when Dr. Ready came to the Library Board meeting he did not specifically say the money would come from Measure J, where the money would come from was not discussed. Treasurer Kelly asked about the process to spend the money set aside for strategic planning. David Gray said the for large amounts of money even though Measure J has approved it there is still a process to go through to get the money but that process does not include Measure J. Treasurer Kelly asked about 10. D. on the agenda and said it his understanding that the reason it is on the agenda is to alert Measure J that the Library Board is going to use the money set aside for strategic planning. David Gray said that Measure J does not need to know that beca use the money has already been approved. Director Kays said they wanted to make sure strategic planning would be considered planning, David Gray said it is. David Gray said that in the original Welwood plans $30,000 was included for ADA access. Treasurer Kelly asked if there was a discussion about whether the money for this project would come from City Council funds or Measure J funds. President McBride said there was not. Treasurer Kelly said this concerns him because there seems to be a lack of memorializing agreements. Trustee Weremiuk agrees that at our meeting with Dr. Ready we should have confirmed where the money to pay for the patio was coming from. David Gray said that often a request might be made to Measure J but the City finds funds in other places so it does not need to be spent out of Measure J. Previous motion withdrawn at this time. MOTION: (Courtright/Borba, 5-0) To request the City provides additional funds needed to finish the Welwood patio project and the $147,000 the Library Board has set aside for the project will be the last funds in. 10. F. moved up at this time 10. F. Request for Measure J funds for JC Frey Building project Donn Uyeno from the engineering department gave the report. Director Kays passed out a copy of the draft Staff Report that will go to City Council on October 23rd . The Library would need to ask Measure J to move $100,000 of the approved funds from Planning to Building. Treasurer Kelly asked why they do not ask for more money instead. President McBride said that since the money has already been approved by Measure J they were trying to stay within that approved amount. Board of Library Trustees Minutes: October 10, 2019 3 Treasurer Kelly brought up money for the consultants and asking the City for more money for the consultants. President McBride said they were not asking for more money for the consultants and Director Kays agreed. Treasurer Kelly asked if the $70,000 checks that were just written plus what is still owed to the consultants is less than $200,000. Trustee Weremiuk said that as we move forward with the strategic plan and hire architects costs will go up and we will have to go back to Measure J to request addition funds. Treasurer Kelly asked about the revised contract with the consultants. Director Kays said the abridged agreement was $23,500 and the current contract is $39,000. She said that these funds are not related to the $223,000 set aside for planning until the board request it be used for strategic planning. David Gray said Measure J is not telling the Library Board how to spend the money and as far as strategic planning goes, it is for the new building project. For the Frey building since they want to go over the approved amount it would need to go to Measure J for approval. Director Kays clarified that the reason it is on t he agenda is because the Library Board needs to tell staff what to do with the money. MOTION: (Courtright/Borba, 5-0) To allocate $400,000 towards the Frey building and the rest towards planning. 10. D. moved up at this time 10. D. Request of Measure J funds for reimbursement of Strategic Planning costs MOTION: (Weremiuk/Courtright, 5-0) Request to use Measure J funds for reimbursement of the strategic planning contracts. Treasurer Kelly said he suspects if we ever hire consultants again he will be more ready to propose memos or notifications so that when he hears a sense of urgency about consultants being paid that several months down the road it’s not a matter of having another public meeting to decide it when we have discussed it and approved it. 10. C. Building Committee update; Library Board of Trustees comments President McBride gave the report; he gave out the current version of the staff report going to City Council. They will include the Trustee’s comments in the final version or the report. The report shows what tools were used for evaluation. The committee was able to come to a unanimous decision to recommend the current site. Trustee Weremiuk said five members who thought College of the Desert was the second option. The public testimony was overwhelmingly in favor of staying at the existing site. Trustee Kelly would propose to accept Lot G as the site rather than Sunrise Park. Trustee Kelly proposes a committee of stakeholders of Sunrise Park to discuss a plan to renovate and perhaps repurpose the buildings and parking in Sunrise Park. Sunrise Park is a key component of the city with the stadium, Boys and Girls Club and Mizell. There was testimony at the meetings that indicated that all structures in the park require renovation. Trustee Kelly feels that the library is an anchor of Sunrise Park. Any change to an anchor draws fears about the r est of the tenants. We see this with shopping malls. Change becomes constant when an anchor moves. Trustee Kelly feels that the library vision is to be the cultural destination of Palm Springs. It can achieve this through a cultural campus anchoring the new downtown park with the Palm Springs Art Museum. Trustee Kelly feels that if the existing library as a site was a solution, it would have been done years ago. The primary reason it is being discussed today is because of the opportunity to build downtown where the city of Palm Springs has invested heavily in making it a destination. Trustee Kelly stated that some discussion has been made about branches. Following the construction of the new library on lot G, the Sunrise location could act as a branch, but this would be more properly decided in a discussion of Sunrise Park. Trustee Kelly stated that testimony during the Building Committee meetings discussed the accessibility of Lot G to residents. It was presented that public transportation lines could be redirected to the new site. Vans to senior centers like those at Rancho Mirage Library could be obtained. Free parking would be far more plentiful at Lot G. Trustee Kelly feels the residents of Palm Springs ought to take ownership of the new downtown. Perha ps keeping Board of Library Trustees Minutes: October 10, 2019 4 it on Sunrise keeps vacation visitors and day-trippers away. Welwood foot traffic is large because of its location. Trustee Kelly states that as a person-of-color he sometimes feels more comfortable in an urban setting like downtown because it is open to visitors and residents alike. Downtown is a place where residents and business aspire to show their best and behave their best. Moving the library to Lot G is a vote in support of our revitalized downtown. Trustee Borba personally attended most of the Building Subcommittee meetings. Trustee Borba is concerned about present site and its limitations. Trustee Borba is very disappointed in the site selection. Trustee Borba highlights that safety is an issue and is a strong perception of the current site. Trustee Borba also noted that locals use and volunteer at Rancho Mirage Library because of the safety issue perception. As a Foundation Board member, Trustee Borba is concerned about the energy of fundraising for current site. He feels we will be com peting with the Plaza Theater renovation fundraising. Trustee Borba is also concerned exterior architecture will not conform with the vision of a dynamic library. In his observations, Trustee Borba felt the decision was logical, but not very visionary. Trustee Borba is hoping we are not making a decision out of convenience but conviction. He questioned if we could keep the existing library as a branch and open Lot G site as a main library. What would be the cost? Trustee Courtright personally managed libraries for over 45 years. Under his leadership, he built and renovated 17 buildings. Under his leadership, the library system quit renovating buildings because the cost to renovate was more than building new. It became clear to his teams they could not provide today's services in buildings built in the 1970s. Libraries today should be big, open spaces where people can see out and people outside can see inside. Trustee Courtright suggested the City should renovate the existing building for another purpose. He thanked the Building Committee for their work. He was disappointed that there was no library professional on the committee, with the exception of Trustee Ed McBride, who knows how a library operates today. He stated that you do not need huge spaces to store books anymore. Trustee Weremiuk noted the second choice was COD but the Committee found it to be a similar site to the existing location. Trustee Weremiuk also noted the Committee had several discussions about branch libraries in the future. Trustee W eremiuk stressed that without a Master Plan for the entire site, renovation of the existing site would fail. Trustee Weremiuk also spoke to the Committees' interest of the Tribal proposal, it was a strong offer, but more interesting as a branch library but currently the Committee felt it was too far outside the city core. Trustee Weremiuk strongly suggested that the City include branch libraries in future affordable housing plans. Trustee Weremiuk shared the Committee had a lot of interest in downtown site but not in the lot that was proposed. Trustee Weremiuk stated she felt the decision by the group was logical. Trustee Weremiuk felt the criteria took people in a certain direction and did not take into consideration about whether you could renovate the building. Trustee Weremiuk raised questions about cost and feasibility. Trustee Weremiuk noted there was a large, modernist contingency for renovation but it did not add weight to criteria. Trustee Weremiuk agreed safety is a big question for the community. Trustee Weremiuk explained the criteria addressed questions of traffic, size of property. Trustee Weremiuk felt the choices were uninspired. Trustee Weremiuk agrees costs to renovate and seismic updates are very limiting and cost prohibitive. Trustee Weremi uk agreed with the Committee recommendation of hiring a major architect familiar with historic architecture and include a hard look at programming. Trustee Weremiuk agreed the next committee should include more librarians. President McBride stated it was difficult to not think of the building but to focus on the piece of land. President McBride confirmed his opinions are covered in the report. President McBride said they will submit the report and will go to City Council on October 23 rd. Treasurer Kelly asked how President McBride felt about leading the group. President McBride said he leveraged the consultants when he thought it was appropriate. They led the discussion on setting up the criteria and setting standards. Trustee Weremiuk asked if the committee chose the site based on the building that is currently here or the location itself and President McBride said the location itself. Board of Library Trustees Minutes: October 10, 2019 5 Building Committee member Naomi Soto said many of the comments the trustees mentioned were brought up during the process. The idea of a larger vision, being bold, being ambitious, and being a cultural center was echoed throughout the process. The expectation for it to be a beautiful destination should not be dependent on location. She agreed that they chose the site not the building and that the vision should not be confined to the current building. This vision should be expanded beyond just the Library but the park as well. The committee was in agreement that if the park was more unified and cohesive it would dramatically impact the experience of going to the Library. The park master plan is a key component and should drive the process going forward. Trustee Weremiuk said that in the preservation community there were both ends of the spectrum: people who thought it was fine to renovate the building and others who thought the original building should not be touched. Naomi Soto said the community involvement was very strong and continued participation will be key going forward. Councilmember Middleton said the Library Building Committee meetings were very good and she was greatly appreciative of how many people came from the community to express their opinions. She strongly encourages the Trustees to come to the City Council meeting to share their commen ts and be available for questions. She said building committee members changed their minds throughout the process and she thinks the community conversations played a part in that. The Library at Sunrise Park is in a very good location because of the Pavilion, the Boys and Girl Club, and the Senior Center but there is no integration. If that is the site that a majority of the City Council wants to focus on she will speak strongly about looking at the park as a whole to start to integrate the park itself. 10. E. Request of Measure J funds for Strategic Planning contract extension for Building Project Covered in 10. D. 10. G. Request for Measure J funds for Main Library Project Trustee Weremiuk said we may have work to do once the City Council takes action on the report and we wouldn’t want to wait a month to figure out next steps. Treasurer Kelly asked about the $1.3 million approved by Measure J. Trustee Weremiuk said we will need to start working with City Council to figure out next steps. President McBride said City Council will not be voting on it until November 6th. Trustee Weremiuk suggested this be added to the November agenda. David Gray reminded the Board that they do not need to come back to Measure J they need to vote on what to do with the money. Director Kays asked about the long-term needs and David Gray said once a cost is known and after going to the Foundation and the Trustees and you know how much you are short then you go the City with how much is needed and over how many years. 11. REPORT FROM STAFF REPRESENTATIVE No report. 12. TRUSTEE COMMENTS & REQUESTS None. 13. ADJOURNMENT The October meeting adjourned at 11:53 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Jeannie Kays Director of Library Services