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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPCC Minutes 1989-08-02SRCC MINUTES (Special Workshop) 8/2/89 Page 1 IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1989 AT 4:00 PM. Special Workshop Meeting: Present: Dorothy L. Breiner, Vice -Mayor San Rafael City Council Albert J. Boro, Councilmember Joan Thayer, Councilmember Absent: Lawrence E. Mulryan, Mayor Gary R. Frugoli, Councilmember Also Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager; Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk; Vaughn Stratford, Library Director 1. SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP ON CITY/COUNTY LIBRARY PROJECT -File 4-13-77 City Manager Nicolai gave overview/background by stating when she came to the City as Library Director in 1977, one of the first subjects discussed was having a joint library in the Terra Linda area with the County of Marin. Library Director Stratford stated in 1983 the six jurisdictions provid- ing public library services in Marin decided to do a cooperative plan- ning study to develop a plan of service for Marin County as a whole. The reason for planning in this way was that Marin County has a total pattern of library services but it does not take into account jurisdic- tional boundaries. Patrons use libraries based on need and accessibility without regard to jurisdictional boundaries. Consultants and library directors working on the planning study, came up with a plan of service that identified three types of libraries; 1. Community Library - which serves as a neighborhood branch that provides popular reading materials; convenient hours for that particular location; children's services, etc.; this library is able to meet the needs for the majority of the people in the immediate area, including homework support for students in the area. 2. Regional Library - serves a broader area; an example would be Mill Valley which serves not only residents but the larger unincor- porated area adjacent to Mill Valley. 3. Resource Library - which meets all of the needs met by a community library in terms of popular reading materials but with a greater depth of collection to meet more specialized and sophisticated information needs. He explained the concept of a Resource Library is not a research library, such as found at a university, but a public library meant to meet the public's needs for a broad range of materials and resources. Mr. Stratford stated that in the County -wide library service plan, recommendations were made for standards of service relating to collec- tion, size, staffing and the number of programs offered. He noted the standards for service vary by type of library. Recommendations were also made regarding facilities relating to certain types of services. Mr. Stratford noted each jurisdiction was given an individual plan of services that fit into an overall plan of service for the County. He stated the San Rafael Public Library was identified as one of the three needed Resource Libraries; (1) San Rafael, (2) Novato and (3) County Headquarters. It was felt that the San Rafael Library needed a Resource Library because of (1) population and (2) commercial center of the County having a large day -time population in the area. Another recommendation was that a community library was needed in north San Rafael, responding to the needs of residents north of the hill. He noted the Library Study identified the need, in general, for service north of San Rafael, indicating there are only two libraries serving from Puerto Suello Hill to Novato. SRCC MINUTES (Special Workshop) 8/2/89 Page 1 SRCC MINUTES ( acial Workshop) 8/2/89 1 ;e 2 Mr. Stratford stated a major recommendation of the study was that the existing San Rafael facility be replaced. He noted the facility is 80 years old, was constructed in 1908, is a 14,000 square foot brick building, having multiple exits and entrances, and was not designed to deliver service efficiently. Built originally for a community of 5,000 people, in subsequent years during the 60's and 70's, there were additions to the library. In general, the study concluded that for the size of the population of San Rafael, the services offered, the collection size and the seating capacity were inadequate. In recog- nition of this, Council authorized staff to hire Raymond Holt and Associates to develop a building program for the San Rafael Public Library. Mr. Stratford stated a building program starts with the library's program of service. He noted one library may emphasize children's services because of the large number of families moving into the area; another library may emphasize outreach services to the elderly. He stated taking the library program of services, the building program consultant, with staff, develops relationships of various functions within the library, including determining which functions should be adjacent to each other and how they should relate to the rest of the library. The next step is space requirements for each function as well as future needs. Mr. Stratford stated in the latter stages of developing the building program, the San Rafael Library was approached by the County to have a joint City/County Library project. He noted a committee was composed of members of the San Rafael City Council, Board of Supervisors, Library staff, San Rafael City Manager and the County Administrator to explore the idea of a joint venture or combining efforts. The reason for doing this is to achieve economies and efficiencies by combining efforts, including having available funding to run the operation. After much discussion, the committee felt it was a good idea and feasible. Mr. Stratford stated a report was then given to the City Council and Board of Supervisors and both parties approved a Feasibility and Planning Study to be conducted by Mr. Raymond Holt to look at concrete issues relating to the operation. Mr. Stratford stated the purpose of the Feasibility and Planning Study was to develop recommendations on how two operations could be organized, governed and administered. The final recommendation was that the City of San Rafael would administer the public services of the Downtown library and the County would administer the branch in Northern San Rafael. Mr. Stratford stated approximately three weeks ago, a report on this study was presented to the City Council who agreed to move forward with a building program for a joint facility. The County of Marin is paying for the revised building program for the joint facility at this point. Councilmember Boro stated one of his concerns was that the quality of San Rafael's library service will continue and be improved upon. He referred to page 7 of the Operating Budget and stated a comment made was that it would cost more even though they are consolidating. He noted in using an average of $16 per capita, currently money being spent in San Rafael averages $21 or $22, which would mean the operating budget would go up $200,000 to $300,000 per year. He felt this needs to be addressed and asked how this was to be paid for. City Manager Nicolai stated one of the questions they started out with on this whole process was if they only had the operating money now for both the Civic Center Library and City Library, and studying the capital expenditure once the facility was located, could it be operated with what we have? The report stated if a bigger facility is built it would cost more theoretically, because it probably would be twice the size of the combined two facilities we now have, and would be more expensive to maintain for heat, electricity, etc. However, she noted you have look to at the specifics of the two facilities operating separately and the fact that San Rafael's design is deficient because of the three different entrances, two circulation areas, two separate children's rooms from the rest of the library, two technical services departments, etc. She also noted staffing is the most expensive part of the service operation and it has been proven in both facilities that staff cost is 65 percent of their overall operating budget. She noted over the last two weeks, staff has looked at certain assumptions SRCC MINUTES (Special Workshop) 8/2/89 Page 2 SRCC MINUTES (' acial Workshop) 8/2/89 1 e 3 on what it would cost to operate a new facility with a branch in the Terra Linda area and what they thought would be reasonable staffing levels. She noted it would not be expanding the hours but adjusting the same number of hours to more public usable hours. She said the Civic Center Library is only open one evening per week and is not open on weekends. She stated it was felt both facilities could be operated for the same combined operating budget we have now, which would reflect an improvement in service to the public. Mr. Stratford stated the assumption they planned on was starting with staff at both facilities. In allocating the present staff, they would have sufficient staff for both libraries given current activity. For instance, having the North San Rafael Branch located in a more accessible location and open in the evening hours would provide a higher level of service by virture of the hours. Councilmember Boro stated the numbers have changed, and noted if they could build a library through Redevelopment or whatever the case might be, there is still an operating shortfall, and asked how this would be addressed. Ms. Nicolai stated they could potentially man the facility that would have more improvements such as expanding the hours. For instance, if there is a new facility but operating with the staff they have now, they still think there would be an improvement in the service level. Councilmember Thayer mentioned the figures given in the original report predicated upon optimum service, 7 -days a week for a total of 72 hours. Ms. Nicolai stated this would be expanding the service level, not inherently required by a new facility. She stated it would be ideal with a new facility, having more hours to remain open, but if this cannot be done the library could still operate and improve the services by having a different location. The program within the next month will be to look at developing the formulas and to find ways the joint venture will work on a financial basis. There is the Capital Campaign cost and where those funds are coming from; and once the facility is obtained, what is joint ownership, what is the formula, how does the concrete building work as well as the ongoing operating commitments and their relationships and what is the best way to proceed? She noted they are evaluating different alternatives on how to establish the relationship, including working out the running of the North San Rafael Library. In response to Councilmember Thayer's question if staff knew the time frame for obtaining Proposition 85 Funds, Ms. Anne Appel, County Libra- rian, stated the deadline was the end of 1989, but noted it would be moved forward. She explained the State got involved with doing the Building Standards Regulations first, hoping this process would be completed in time for the new Standards to be included in the Supple- ment to the Code coming out in January, 1990. At this point, the State will then look at the Administrative Regulations which will deal with the process of applying the application process, which should be accom- plished by the middle of Spring, 1990; therefore, applications will probably not be due until mid -year 1990. She indicated a Notice of Intent will be required by either the end of 1989 or January, 1990, which describes the project, the site and source of local matching funds (350 of the project cost). Ms. Appel stated although not official, the State will base the requirements at the time of application on the indication of interest when they receive the Notice of Intent. Councilmember Boro stated it is important that no matter what the formula is, that with the 60-40 split of total dollars spent and going forward, it looks like 80 percent of total dollars will be spent on the Resource Library, and 20 percent on the Branch Library, and he wanted to be sure the people do not forget that four or five years later, what the formula started out to be. He noted there have been good and bad experiences with Joint Powers Agreements. Councilmember Breiner agreed with Councilmember Boro and referred to page 8 on - The optimum size of the North San Rafael Library, stating there is a certain vagueness in that section that would need to be more concrete and a statement with timeliness built in so the people north of the hill would know what is happening. SRCC MINUTES (Special Workshop) 8/2/89 Page 3 SRCC MINUTES ( ecial Workshop) 8/2/89 je 4 Ms. Nicolai stated whatever happens should happen simultaneously, but the second one was not worth spending a lot of time on if the first one was not feasible. She commented that is the reason they constantly mention it so no one feels they are ignoring downtown San Rafael, stating the Resource Library would be workable. Ms. Nicolai referred to Capital Funding, mentioning the grant and State funding from the Bond Issue and the Davidson Bequest which has been set aside for this purpose. She indicated the County Library also owns the space in the Civic Center, noting an appraisal is being done, because the County would need to purchase that space from the library which is a separate entity; they use the tax break to help fund the building, so they literally own it as a District. This will be some source of capital money. The reason Redevelopment is listed, is because it is a project of mutual interest to both the City and County; San Rafael does have bonding capacity greater than what they have sold bonds for in the Redevelopment Agency and this could be used if needed as matching funds with the State or if the State's grant becomes inaccessible to the City. She noted one of the problems with the State's grant is they are interpreting the Ballot Measure to say, whatever project they fund, it must be at 65 percent. She indicated staff feels it is an important enough project and wants to negotiate with the County to expand their existing bonding capacity within the Agency if the library is located in the Redevelopment area. Ms. Nicolai referred to a drawing of where the library site could be, stating she, Assistant Executive Director Ours and Library Director Stratford looked at alternative sites to see whether they could be acquired. She pointed to the existing library site, stating it is too small and asked Council what they wanted to do with the historic building? She mentioned the former Honda Building which now houses Bananas -at - Large, and the area across the street, stating the two sites are on Fourth Street at the crest of the hill, noting they look good because they are half way between east and west, close to downtown, City Hall and major arterials. Third site is the parking lot next to the Blue House which is owned by the Redevelopment Agency and has been looked at in the past as a public safety building site, but is too small. Fourth is a block the Agency is in the process of acquiring for housing on "C" Street. This is listed because the City has primary control over it and in looking at it as an alternative, the priority is for it to be a housing site, but noted it is on east/west arterial, is close to downtown, is on a slope lot and could have beneath level parking and close to a residential area. Fifth, is the site of the Safeway Store on "B" Street next to the San Rafael Community Recreation Center, but the City would have a problem in relocating Safeway. She noted it is close to east/west arterial, getting closer to north/south, close to residential area and near the Recreation Center. She noted it could potentially be big enough for this one site to have a major library. Sixth, the PG&E site Office Building; advantages are that there is a single owner. It is large enough to accommodate a facility of the size we are considering, it is in the middle of east/west arterial, it will be a part of a major link between the PG&E development and the Downtown Area and could add a dynamic corridor, including being close to a residential area, close to the north/south/east/west arterials. Problems are toxics in the soil on the site. PG&E has indicated that this is a very under-utilized facility and stated they do not really want the size office they have and might be willing to negotiate. She noted if after acquiring the PG&E property they still wanted to own it and have a lease arrangement, that would defer a major capital expense; however, there could be a monthly rent factor. Seventh is the block where the A & W, Kragen Auto, and others are located; problem would be a major acquisition with multiple property owners and potential toxics. SRCC MINUTES (Special Workshop) 8/2/89 Page 4 SRCC MINUTES ( ecial Workshop) 8/2/89 = ie 5 Vice -Mayor Breiner left the meeting. Ms. Nicolai mentioned the City Corporation Yard as another site which the City has control over, but stated it is somewhat remote and has the potential for higher and better uses. Council and staff preferred the PG&E and Safeway sites. Mr. Stratford referred to the schedule/timeline and stated they would miss out if they did not put in applications and Letters of Intent, noting the next step would be a modified building program for the joint facility. He noted staff will be sending out Requests for Qualifi- cations for Architects and Requests for Proposals after the Building Program is developed sometime in September, 1989. Ms. Appel stated the Requests for Qualifications would be going out this Friday, then the Requests for Proposals would be sent out on September 8, 1989. The list would then be shortened for interviews scheduled for October 19 and 20, 1989, and final decision will be made by the end of October, 1989. If all goes according to schedule, a contract should be ready to come to the City Council and Board of Supervisors in the middle of November, 1989. Councilmember Thayer stated many things would be going on concurrently, stating a site is needed as soon as the architect is hired, noting the allocation of expenses between the County and City. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. JEAN M. LEONCINI, City Clerk APPROVED THIS DAY OF 1989 MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL SRCC MINUTES (Special Workshop) 8/2/89 Page 5