No Open House, No Library Annexation for Now

There will be no open house this Thursday with regards to a possible library annexation into King County Library Services (KCLS) because the Enumclaw City Council on Monday voted unanimously to pull the item from the April 26 special election.

City Administrator Mike Thomas told Council during this continuation of last , which was made necessary when a disagreement over ownership of the library building came to the city's attention, that city staff had met with KCLS representatives last Wednesday and a draft of transfer agreement was ready. However, several details remained unclear including:

• Employee transition between the city and county systems
• Transfer of art, books and other material owned by the city

Thomas also noted that while KCLS still preferred to have ownership of the library building, they were willing to consider a lease agreement. 

On the whole, however, the process was "part of the way there, but not all of the way there," in regards to the transfer agreement, and with these outstanding items yet to be resolved, there was still "a few months of work to be done yet," said Thomas.

Consequently, Thomas said that administration recommended the city postpone the April 26 election to a future date.

Citing insufficient information from KCLS for city voters to have a clear understanding of annexation, Councilman Jim Hogan moved for Council to withdraw from the April 26 election; additionally for procedural purposes, his motion included direction for administration staff to draft a resolution that reflects this withdrawal.

City Attorney Mike Reynolds explained this resolution was necessary for historical purposes and record-keeping.

Councilman Richard Elfers seconded Hogan's motion, agreeing that without a final transfer agreement, the city can't go before voters in an open house with incomplete information.

Councilman Kevin Mahelona concurred, stating that though he had hoped the additional week would have given staff and KCLS enough time to come up with more complete information. "I was hoping we were in that situation, but we're not."

Mahelona and Councilman Sean Krebs further suggested that with this election postponement, Council could go back and look at other alternatives, including a city levy.

Councilman Jeff Beckwith pointed out that this change means that any improvements to the city library would be put off for at least another year. People would still have to work with early closures on Wednesdays, full-day closures on Friday, and no new books this year. "This, while not a perfect agreement, at least we have a general idea of where we're going with this."

However, in the interest of building consistency with his fellow councilmembers, Beckwith voted with his six colleagues in favor of withdrawing from the election.

"We can step back and look at all options -- start again," he said. "We do have the luxury of time, and why not?"

Thomas said in spite of the postponement, city administraton still feels that annexation is the proper course of action in the long run for the following reasons:

• it saves jobs
• it proves a service that is most affordable for taxpayers
• it helps to preserve the other services that Enumclaw provides within the scope of the overall city budget.

Going back to fully study the effects of a levy lid lift puts a heavy workload on city staff, Thomas said.

Mayor Liz Reynolds agreed that the study would have to look into long-term growth and impact and that caution would need to be taken to not max out the city's total levy capacity. The library needs to be self-sufficient, she said. "It's a huge body of work ... visionary work, to look ahead for the next 10 years."

Hogan asked for a primer from city administration on the city levy and how changes might affect other city needs like public works and police; Thomas said he would provide some more information in an upcoming City Council meeting.

The city has until March 11 to notify King County to remove the item from the ballot, Thomas said.

According to Mike Reynolds, the election would have cost the city around $20,000.

Role of Library Board

Elfers pointed out that in the past several weeks, the city's Library Board had taken its own initiative in speaking out about its for the annexation as it stands now and asked for clarification on the role of the Board.

He understood that the Board, appointed by the city, served the city in an advisory capacity, he said.

Both Mahelona and Beckwith came to the Board's defense, thanking them for speaking out and for taking such an active role in local government.

The appreciation went both ways. Board member Charles Sansone, who didn't necessarily oppose annexation but felt the city was simply moving too fast, paused and reflected, "I congratulate them. It takes guts to listen and act on it, and they stepped up."