At the suggestion of Mayor Denis Law, Renton City Council members may delay a vote on whether to move forward with issuing bonds to construct two new libraries in Renton.
Law sent a memo to the council members Thursday afternoon urging them to take time to study the matter further and get additional public input. Council President Terri Briere added in an interview that several members were going to be absent from upcoming council meetings, the mayor has a lot on his plate and the public is still expressing concern about the downtown library location at the Big 5 sports store.
Briere said she would bring up those issues at the council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday (May 16). The council would then have to vote on whether to move forward with issuing the $18 million in 10-year bonds.
The council at its meeting on Monday approved a Finance Committee report, calling for selling the bonds.
Discussion on the interlocal agreement with the King County Library System was canceled as a topic from the Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Monday. The interlocal agreement clarifies who is going to do what if plans move forward to construct a new downtown library and a Highlands library.
Here is Mayor Denis Law’s memo to the City Council:
DATE: May 11, 2011
TO: Council
FROM: Denis Law
Dear Council members,
Following weeks of debate and recent developments, I want to propose that you consider postponing any decision regarding the location of a new downtown library.
Given the importance of this topic and the impact of this decision to everyone in our community, I believe it is important that all our council members be present and participate in the library debate and ultimate decisions. Councilmember King Parker will miss next Monday’s Council meeting due to a business trip, and Council President Terri Briere will be out of town the following week. In addition, some of our council members have expressed their desire to have additional time to seek input from a broader base of our community, beyond those who have expressed their view at recent Council meetings.
Yesterday, we rolled out a comprehensive downtown safety initiative that includes additional police officers, rigorous enforcement, cameras, lighting and more in downtown Renton and the Transit Center. Unfortunately before we could implement this program and put these strategies in place, we had a gang-related shooting in downtown last night. Postponing this decision will allow us to fully implement this plan, which we believe will dramatically improve the sense of safety in our downtown area.
We are confident that there will not be any significant impact to the library decision if we decide to take some additional time to study it further and get additional public input. However, we do recommend moving forward with the design and financing of the Highlands Branch.
If you agree with this option, I also recommend that you delay the second reading of the bond ordinance and your decision on the Inter-Local Agreement.
If you feel this idea has merit, it needs to be discussed in an open meeting on Monday. I wanted to send this to you now so you would have a couple days to consider this option.
