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CITY OF RENTON COUNCIL AGENDA BILL

Subject/ Title:Library Initiative

Meeting:Regular Council - 02 Apr 2012

Exhibits:3-28-2012 Memorandum from Jay Covington3-27-2012 Letter from King County Library SystemDirector Bill Ptacek3-27-2012 Letter from K&L Gates Attorney CharlesRoyce3-05-2012 Memorandum from City Attorney LarryWarren

Submitting Data: Dept/ Div/Board:Executive

Staff Contact:Jay Covington

Recommended Action:Council Concur

Fiscal Impact: Expenditure Required: $ 0 Transfer Amendment: $ 0

Amount Budgeted: $ 0 Revenue Generated: $ 0

Total Project Budget: $ 0 City Share Total Project: $ 0

SUMMARY OF ACTION:In February, 2012, the City received an initiative petition requiring that any library improvements for a downtown librarymust occur at the existing library location, and not at any other location unless the alternative proposed location for adowntown library is approved by a simple majority vote of Renton voters. The petit ion signatures were submitted to theKing County Department of elections for validation.In February of 2010, Renton voters approved the annexation to the King County Library System (KCLS). A condit ion of thatannexation included the construction by Renton of replacement facilities for both the Main and Highlands Libraries onother properties within the City . . . Subsequent to the annexation, the City completed site selection analyses for both theHighlands and downtown locations. In March of 2011 the City purchased the property known as the Big 5 site as thelocation for the new downtown l ibrary, and in May of 2011 issued $18 million in bonds to finance the construction of bothlibraries. In July of 2011, the City and KCLS entered into a new agreement, which obligated the city to fund the siteacquisit ion, design, construction and other related costs for both new library facilit ies, at the Big 5 site downtown and theSunset Blvd site in the Highlands. Design contracts have been approved and work is currently underway at both sites.The current agreement with KCLS requires the City to construct the new downtown (and highlands library) consistent withor superior in form, function and qualit y to other recently constructed KCLS libraries. Stopping work on the downtown site,and/or redirecting City resources to renovate the existing Cedar River building as the designated new downtown librarywould put the City in breach of contract with KCLS. Settling the contract dispute would likely result in millions of dollars in

additional costs to the City.In a March 5, 2012 memorandum to the Mayor and City Council, the City Attorney opined that the library init iative wouldrequire an unconstitutional impairment of the contract with KCLS, and an improper collateral attack on the February 2010annexation election. He also indicated that the initiative would be in improper infringement on the City s budget authority,and that it improperly t ries to direct administrative actions. His memo identif ied several other reasons the init iative wasnot valid or proper.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:The Administration recommends that the City continue its present course of action in constructing both the downtown andHighlands libraries, and that the City Council decline to place the library init iative on the ballot.


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EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

M E M O R A N D U M

DATE: March 28, 2012

TO: Rich Zwicker, Council PresidentMembers of Renton City Council

VIA: Denis Law, Mayor

FROM: Jay Covington, CAO

SUBJECT: Library Initiative

ISSUE:

Should the City Council place the Library Initiative on the ballot?RECOMMENDATION:Decline to place the Library Initiative on the ballot.BACKGROUND SUMMARY:The King County Department of Records and Elections has notified the City that theLibrary Init iative has obtained sufficient valid signatures. The Council must now decide if

the issue should be put on the ballot.Before the successful election where the majority voted for the City to join the King

County Library System (KCLS), it was necessary to obtain the approval of KCLS. As a

precondition of that approval, the City Council adopted an interlocal agreement (ILA)

with KCLS, CAG-09-136, dated July 13, 2009. That ILA required certain significant actions

be taken by the City, including in section 5 of the ILA replacement facilities for both the

Main and Highlands Libraries on other properties within the City Based on that

promise by the City, KCLS agreed to allow the issue to go to the ballot, where it passed.

The Library Initiative would require the City to repudiate a key provision of the ILA,

which was a material part of the vote to join KCLS. As opined by the City Attorney in hisMarch 5, 2012, opinion to the Mayor and Council, the Library Initiative would require anunconstitutional impairment of the contract with KCLS and an improper collateral attackon that election.In September 2010, subsequent to the annexation vote, KCLS, with input from thecommunity, completed a Library Service Area Analysis to analyze and recommend themost optimal distribution of library services within the greater Renton area, now that


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Rich Zwicker, Council PresidentMember of Renton City CouncilPage 2 of 3March 28, 2012

Renton was part of the King County Library System. That analysis reviewed costs,revenues, population t rends and forecasts, demographics, t ransportation, and otherconsiderations. Based on those key trends and conclusions, KCLS proposed the

following recommendations for the Downtown Library:- A facility of up to 20,000 square feet with a civic presence in the downtown core- Be oriented toward public transportation and transit- Correspond to the economic development goals of the City of Renton- Provide information resources and increased space for computers, meeting

rooms and other programmable spacesTo meet the conditions and goals of the interlocal agreement and service analysis, theCity conducted an analysis of several potential downtown sites. In March 2011, the fullCouncil approved the purchase of the Big 5 site for the new library facility.

Subsequently by ILA CAG-11-130, dated July 11, 2011, with KCLS, the City agreed insection 3a to two new City of Renton library facilities consistent with or superior in

form, function and quality of (sic) other recently constructed libraries in the KCLS

system. After running the current Cedar River library site for some time, KCLS has

informed the City that the Cedar River library can never be brought to the functionality

or quality of other recently constructed KCLS libraries, and would not meet the goals of

the 2010 Library Service Area Analysis. The Library Initiative would again require the

City to unconstitutionally impair the second ILA with KCLS.

KCLS has also expressed concern about the precedent of a City violating the agreementupon which KCLS agreed to allow the City to annex to KCLS. KCLS is currently reviewingthe annexation to its system by another city and is negotiating a contract with that citysetting the terms upon which KCLS will agree to allow the annexation to proceed. KCLSis very concerned about the integrity of that process if there is a precedent of a cityrepudiating its agreement after election to join KCLS.Before settling on the new Downtown site, there was an analysis done about the cost ofredeveloping the Cedar River Library or building a new library. The study showed that anew library building would be cost effective, and would provide the best flexibilitytoward meeting future library service needs for the community. Also redeveloping theCedar River Library would require renting an interim facility and moving the library,assuming a suitable site could be found during renovation.While cost estimates are rough, the Administration believes that renovating the CedarRiver Library building with its higher costs and temporary relocation requirements, andconsidering the acquisition costs and architectural costs already invested in the Big 5site, could result in the Cedar River Library costing millions more than developing the Big5 site (see accompanying letter from KCLS). To meet our contractual obligations to KCLS,this would require City Council to identify a funding source to meet the revenueshortfall.


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Rich Zwicker, Council PresidentMember of Renton City CouncilPage 3 of 3March 28, 2012

Another concern is that the Council, by taking this action, would be allowing itsbudgeting authority to be infringed upon by the Library Initiative, which is an improperuse of the init iative process.

Finally, the City Attorneys opinion of March 5, 2012, sets forth several additionalreasons why the Library Initiative is improper including that the initiative is really an

untimely referendum and that it improperly tries to interfere with the Administration in

executing policy adopted by Council to build a new downtown library and acquire the

necessary property.

It is worth restating in this staff report thatin addition to the two new library

facilitiesthe City has always intended to keep the building over the Cedar River in

public ownership and accessible to the public. Since September 2011, the Liberty Park

Library Steering Committee has been developing recommendations for the City Council

to consider. The committee has completed its work and is scheduled to present itsfindings and recommendations to the City Council next month.

CONCLUSION:Beginning with the annexation vote in February 2010, the City Council andAdministration have taken a number of actions that have contractually committed theCity to complete a downtown library at the Big 5 site. We acknowledge the publicsentiment regarding the current location of the library over the river, and the time andeffort taken to submit signatures for the initiative. But suspending or reversing previousCity decisions and actions would place the City at considerable legal and financial risk,and would not meet the goals and objectives of the analyses done to determine the bestway to provide library services now and into the future for the City of Renton.

Therefore, the Administration recommends that the City continue its present course ofaction. The City Council should decline to place the Library Initiative on the ballot.


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