The city administration seems anxious to put the past six months behind them.  Voters were told in a July 2 letter from Director Ptacek of King County Library System that renovation of the Cedar River Library would cost $13.1 million. Reportedly, KCLS architects have been burning the midnight oil since the Aug. 7 Proposition 1 victory, and this Monday will unveil a plan to do the job for 30 percent less, followed by an open house at City Hall on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, the city has provided no assurances that the library our residents expect is what KCLS will deliver. Cost is not the only issue — KCLS has a self-serving interest in minimizing library services, and in the June feasibility design by Miller Hull, presented to the voters the 22,000-square-foot Cedar River building was laid out so as to reduce user content by dramatically expanding foyer and internal foot traffic spaces. In what would have been a body blow to most residents, the bridge entrance was also eliminated. And regarding cost, these updates should get your attention: first, since April, Renton has paid KCLS another $200,000 plus for design services site over the objections of voters, money that apparently will not be reimbursed to the library fund. The city was billed after the council decided to give the final decision on downtown library location to the voters, including $67,448 for schematic design and another $81,304 for design development on the now-abandoned Piazza site, according to city records.

Equally interesting, KCLS is tapped out for its current fiscal period to the tune of $400,000, and when asked about this shortfall by his trustees, Ptacek stated to a room full of witnesses that it was no problem. “We have lots of contingencies in lots of projects, and when we need $400,000, we can find it somewhere.” One such contingency was the $400,000 miscellaneous “mitigation” cost included in Ptacek’s $13.1 million estimate for the Cedar River refurb, as revealed in supporting documents obtained by FOI from KCLS, documents that have been transmitted to PDC as part of ongoing electioneering complaints arising from the July 2 letter.

Kal Lambert

West Hill