City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh the mayor is absent today so I'll be running this in herstead. Um will the clerk please call the role? Corass.

Hi Burton here. Morales here. Nash here, Ste here, Willletitz here, all present. Um, we this morning are going to hear about our library access and next steps in facility planning. I'll turn it over to staff. We have Jessica Dora and Lindsay Herb presenting today. Welcome, Jessica.

Madame Mayor, members of council, um it's always a pleasure to be here and uh sharing with you about the library. Uh, as you are well aware, we have a mission of providing access and opportunity for everyone in Boyisey by connecting people to ideas, information, and community. And this conversation is part of an ongoing discussion we've been having uh about the library's facility plan and really uh wanting to make sure that we will keep our current and future libraries welcoming, accessible, engaging, and comfortable spaces for everyone in our community. Um and just really want to call out today that our planning horizon that we'll be discussing is 20 years uh this morning and really looking for your direction uh in those 20 years. Um it is quite amazing to think that in 20 years it'll be 2046. Um but I did want to make sure that we were expanding our uh time horizon uh accordingly. Um I'm looking for direction from council this morning and really want to uh I I I will share this slide at the beginning and then we'll bring it back uh to make sure that I'm hearing from you the direction uh that you are expecting from the library. Um here's what I believe that we really need to focus on. Uh first we need to maintain our current facilities. U there is strong agreement and alignment on this priority uh between the library board between city leadership. Um, Lindsay and I will be able to talk to you about uh the MRM needs that we've identified, what is currently in our capital uh plan and what is not. Um, we'll talk about our own facilities and we'll talk about our two leased facilities. Next, uh, we need to look for opportunities to expand access. Um, as requested, I'm bringing back to you some, uh, projections and costs uh, for uh, expanding hours by adding library staff. Um, I've brought in a couple of

uh exciting um models of service that we've seen uh in other locations um that I think would be a good fit here in Boisee for consideration. Um and as we do that, that's really sort of that medium-term. And then obviously long-term we have been having discussions about adding new facilities, looking to increase our square footage in that 45 to 75,000 square ft of library space. um what would that look like in terms of the funding that we would need to identify? Um and particularly with the idea of moving to a two-mile proximity goal for new locations. Uh so I as I would love to start with our current state for our facilities. Um I have put these uh the five locations that we currently have and you can see um they are listed from left to right uh in order of when they became library facilities. So the downtown library in 1973 um and then really our branch system uh became a reality in 2008 with the standup of Kollister and Hillrest followed very shortly thereafter by Colon Hustik in 2009 bound in 2017 I'm calling this out in particular because we are coming up uh shortly on 20 years uh with Kollister Hillrest and Colonik um so the the forecasting that we will see for our M&R M RM needs really does take into account uh those 20-year leases, but then also some of the 20-year systems uh and the upgrades that we'll need uh to budget and plan for in those facilities. So, I want to start with our own locations. Uh and I want to start with uh where we are in our downtown library. Um, as I'm sure you're all well aware, uh, right now the entire first floor is

closed for some much needed MRM uh, renovations. And I'm going to take a moment here uh, to share with you, but really also want to share with the community. Uh, the first floor, actually the entire library uh, will be closed May 3rd through the 12th when we move over the electrical system. Uh so right now we are on one uh electrical system in the building. Uh we will be closed the week uh next all of next week and then a little bit of the following week to allow uh the electrical team and uh subcontractors to come in and swap over to an entirely new system. Um so we want to make sure that we that the public is aware of that. Uh the first question that we always get is about holds and where can I pick up my holds? um delighted to say that uh Jamie Heiserling and the team at city hall is welcoming us uh to the first floor here. So if you have a hold that you're expecting to pick up downtown on Monday morning, uh you'll be able to pick it up here at city hall. Um and we're also super excited because it's going to coincide with early voting. Uh so you can come to the library, you can vote, you can pick up your holds, you can get a new library card. Um just really want to thank uh Jamie and the entire clerk's office for how accommodating they've been uh especially knowing how busy that week will be um ordinarily. Um but we are we're so we'll have that obviously our other locations will remain open. Um and then of course um you can always uh access digital resources on our website. Um so like I said we'll be closed the 3rd through the 12th. Then when we reopen uh we'll be back to that configuration uh where we have library services on the second and third floor and we are continuing that renovation. Uh we uh anticipate this will be the last scheduled closure before uh we're

able to re you know close so that then we can reopen back to the public. Um but really want to thank uh Lindsay and her team uh for making this as smooth as possible and really want to thank my team for all the planning. Um, one of the questions I've gotten is what will library staff be doing uh during that closure? We'll have uh obviously some downtown staff that'll be here uh to support people uh picking up holds or getting new library cards. Uh but then we'll also be um having them go out to the branches and they'll be doing some interesting project work there. Uh getting a chance to meet with other uh uh meet with other uh staff members in the system. Um, but they'll be able to do some professional development. They'll be able to allow another team to do professional development. We're, you know, we need to make sure we always have those desks staffed. So, in some instances, we'll have a downtown staff person uh may maybe at Hillrest at this at the um, you know, doing the staffing there so that those Hillrest staff can do their own professional development. I'm I'm really excited about the opportunity for staff to connect to increase their skills um and then also to really uh work as a system across. So the uh I'd like to orient you with the slide that you have here. U the this slide shows you all the ongoing and approved projects at the downtown library. Uh so that first floor remodel and deferred maintenance as we as I mentioned this is the work that we are currently doing. Um we're excited that it'll wrap up um this fall and we'll be able to reopen. Uh we have right now out for bid the exterior facade improvements. Um that'll be a spring project. Obviously that is uh uh since that will be taken outside of the building. Uh need to make sure we're timing that with weather. Um and then we are shortly going to go out to the bid for the elevator upgrade. Um this is one

of the things I just really want to highlight the great work that public works has done um while we are under construction. They have thought about what deferred maintenance could they bring into this project um for efficiencies. Um the elevator project is is a great example of that. the elevator upgrade was in a a a future year and u since we are uh really under construction disrupted uh that they've been able to move that in so that we don't then have to do another project with that elevator uh upgrade. Um and then you'll see um in part of the FY 26 and 27 the parking lot update. Um that is a a what I would describe as an engineering project. Uh we currently our runoff goes directly into the Boisee River and so this project will rectify that um so that we are more responsible in our runoff and it will actually have a parking lot that I think will uh require less ongoing maintenance because it'll be better constructed. Um now I want to move on to uh uh sort of the upcoming uh MRM needs and potential capital. So I want to orient you on this slide. The column on the left are projects that are already in the MRM capital plan. So these are uh those ongoing maintenance needs that have already been identified and have been added to our capital plan. Um, and as you can see, this will be the ongoing, you know, how do we make sure that we are continuing to maintain that downtown library so we continue to use it. So, that's why you've got that 10-year horizon. Um, and that's why you start to just see as part of our facilities, we continue to make sure that we're uh

replacing the heat pumps when they're at end of life, that we're making sure that we're replacing fans and HVAC units as they reach end of life. um that we're in, you know, we continue to invest. Um that is, you know, one of those ways that we're making sure that we're keeping those buildings uh useful and used by making sure that we've got a replacement cycle uh that it matches the equipment um in the building. So that's the left side uh previously budgeted projects. The right column are uh projects that we propose be included in capital planning for future years. So this is where you see we have an estimate and we don't have a budget year assigned to them because these are things that we recommend uh be considered for inclusion. Um that includes the second floor interior refresh. We'll have a beautiful first floor. We would like to then be able to um re you know to have that same carpeting, paint, furniture, uh aesthetic look on our second and third floors. Um and then also we have the opportunity on the fourth floor for an interior refresh that would really aim have that uh section a more functioning back of house and um sort of shared space for a learning lab. Um, this isn't a project to move admin or courier off of the fourth floor since we don't have a place for them or for that those functions to go. This really is staying in the building. Current footprint, current usage. Again, those are the estimated budgets. As we said, we don't have a a TV the year the budget year for that would be, you know, funding dependent. And that is why we we we those are things that could wait. Those are things that we could do earlier. Um but they really are something that we recommend for

consideration. Madame Mayor. Yes, Council Member Woods. Um are you um are you comfortable with having questions as we go along or would you like them at the end? I think questions as we go along is appropriate. Thanks for asking. Go ahead. Thanks, Jessica. Um thanks for outlining what we're doing today and in the future. Can you remind us how much money the city has spent on refurbishing the library, downtown library to date before FY26? Uh, Madame Mayor, Council Member Willitz, I am going to bring up Lindsay Herb as my expert.

Great. Thanks, Mayor, Council Member Willitz. Um, we've spent to date approximately 9 million on the downtown libraries. It's about 2020. Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Council member,

um, thank you, Jessica. Uh, on these CIP proposals, these third and fourth floor interior refreshes, will this increase the square footage of usable space or is that a separate CIP proposal we could anticipate? Uh, Madame Mayor, council member, Madame Mayor, council member Nash, uh, they, uh, we have opportunities on the third floor to increase the public square footage because right now that's where the third floor is where our admin offices are in. Um, we would be looking at ways to move admin up to the fourth floor, uh, which would allow us to increase our square footage, um, on the third floor for public space. Um, the second floor is almost entirely a public space right now. There's a small staff room in it, so we don't really have the opportunity to increase square footage on the second floor. We definitely have the opportunity to improve user services without adding square footage. Particularly on the second floor, we have some very small study rooms that really precoid could, you know, one or two people would be comfortable in them and now they are really really cramped. And so we have the opportunity to look for ways of making the usage of those uh facilities more um in tune with how people are asking to use our library now. Uh but we really don't have a lot of opportunities to add public square footage um simply because we've maximized as much as we can in the current configuration. Madame Mayor Jessica, it seemed like a couple months ago when we discussed this there was a consideration of moving uh the administrative support out of the downtown location and I'm asking if that is in this plan or in these CIP

proposals. Madame Mayor, Council Member Nash, no, this is not it. That moving admin out of or Courier or back of office is not in this plan. We don't have a location to move it to. U we would need a location to move those to in order for us to then be able to put um a proposal in for CIP for reconfiguring the rest of the downtown location for expanded public access. Madame Mayor Jessica, I I just have a little pause with putting uh refreshes in the plan. Um if we're considering on completely relocating uh back office support altogether. So I'm just trying to square those two like how do we how do we ever get those relocated if it's not in the facilities plan to begin with? Uh madame mayor, members of council, if that is direction for us to prioritize that, we can take that forward. I do uh you know, I know that there have been city discussions about a shared um administrative location for back of office sort of, you know, needs that the library has and other city departments. I think that would be a really good solution for library. Um, and I would hope that we would be able to do that in conjunction with other city departments as opposed to library trying to solve that problem on our own.

And, uh, council member, I'll just add just to set some context for us. Um, this is this is staff's proposal and I think an attempt at giving us more information, putting some dollars next to some of the things on their radar. Um, but to uh Jessica's point, this is our opportunity to give direction. So, if the direction was to include that in the downtown proposal when they move to budgeting, I think that's totally appropriate.

Um, and I know that she has this slide for each of the other branches as well. Um, so once our questions are answered, it might be worthwhile seeing the bigger picture before we drill too deep into each specific branch. Thank you. Uh with that, I will move to uh the same format uh for information about colonic. And this is where we're really going to start to see that 20 year um investments that we'll need to be making in um Colon Stick is our uh oldest branch uh that we own. So you start to see things in the 28 29 and further budgets about upgrading the fire alarms, making sure we're upgrading our HVAC, replacing our interior lighting, replacing the roof membrane, uh heat pumps, uh you know, all the things all the systems that keep that building functioning as a library. on the left side. Uh these are uh the items that we propose that are not currently in the um CIP budget. Um we have prioritized two for consideration. Uh the first one is adding interior acoustic panels uh for noise dampening. Uh both uh bound crossing and colonic are beautiful essentially one room buildings. And one of the things we really heard in the uh the public listening sessions that we had about those facilities and certainly from staff feedback that work in them uh that conflict with quiet and loud activities and the noise level uh in both of these buildings. Um by adding some interior acoustic paneling. Um actually that's something that's being built into the first floor. Uh we will be able to uh reduce that noise. um so that people who

are studying um or who are trying to type an email uh are not necessarily as um impacted by say a story time or a a a child who is very excited to get their first library card. Um so that is one of the proposed projects. Um the other one that we've identified um and again this applies to both Colon Stick and Bound Crossing is in that sort in the larger shell of the building there are two each building has a a what was designed to be a youth programming space. uh it has never been able to be used as a youth programming space uh because we have out be because the number of people that we have attending youth programs is larger than that space accommodates. Um and so instead the youth programming moves into our meeting rooms uh which means that the meeting room is not available for the members of the public that want to uh have meetings. So, we've got a conflict in um how people are wanting to use the library and the space that we have available. Um by doing an interior remodel, we'd be able to flip that and really u would be able to make the inside of the building more functioning. So, with both Colon Ustick and Bound Crossing, we looked at, you know, these are buildings that we own. This is property we own. Uh are there ways of increasing the square footage in those locations? um we're not able to build out. Um there are um you know restrictions in terms of you know fire access and what we own um and how that you know how we can get people safely in and out of the building that would prohibit us from expanding on the ground floor. Um I don't think it makes sense to try to think about ways of adding a second story to those locations at this time. So really what we want to think about is in the square footage that we

have, how do we maximize usage of it? And really we've identified uh these two opportunities uh to make the building uh internally more effective. So that's Cole and UTIC. The next slide shows the exact same information for bound crossing. Uh, Bound Crossing has lower MRM costs at this point since it is a younger building. Um, so the we are continuing and have budgeted in the 10-year um, MRM CIP plan some of that ongoing maintenance. As you may notice, it it it costs us less money to invest now. Um, and we'll we will continue to do that um, so that we don't become a deferred maintenance project. And as I said, we've got those two identified CIP proposals. I think the the for me, my opinion is the most critical one is the interior acoustic paneling at Bound Crossing. Uh that location is right next to a school and I have, you know, every person who visits the Bound Crossing Library knows exactly what time of day it is and is are there students in the building or not students in the building. It is uh a very noisy location at this time after school is out. Um we have staff that'll wear earplugs. Um they'll wear earplugs in the summer when we've got a lot of kids for summer reading. Um this really would be to me a high priority because it would make uh the immediate usage of that building improved for staff and the public. Uh now I'll move along to our leased branches. Uh we have two of those and the slides will look slightly different because we have uh different needs with them and different opportunities. Um what I really want to call out is um

as we are coming up on the renewal opportunities for both Hillrest and Kister um my recommendation that we go ahead and start the lease renewal um process for both of those. Hillrest's uh current lease will expire July 31st of 2027 and the window uh to renew that with uh the property owner begins in August. So that's in four months. Uh we have two 5-year renewal options and those are uh they're not concurrent, they're consecutive. So the first renewal option would be from August of 27 to July of 2032 uh with another renewal option that will then be August of 23 to July of 37. Um those will be a fair market reset. So we can expect to see increased costs on that. Um but our recommendation is so in order to not interrupt service in the Hillrest neighborhood and in the Hillrest library uh that in August we begin uh the process to renew those to renew that lease. Hillrest also oper also offers us an interesting opportunity uh with what we are calling the Hillrest front porch. Um, this is a space that was previously subleasased uh to Step Ahead Idaho. Uh, and they closed in December of last year. The timing was very fortuitous for us as we closed the downtown firstf flooror library. We've been able to use the former step ahead space as our overflow u programming space while we've been closed downtown. So, a lot of the programming that we would have had downtown has moved out to Hillrest. This includes, you know, the

annual Taylor Swift dance party night. Um, but also a lot of the popup um uh programming that we have done uh that our uh community health, our community resource coordinator has done with our partners. Um so, this is where we'll have, you know, Jesse Tree and um uh Terry Riley Health will come out. will be, you know, doing a lot more. We've been able to do a lot more of that programming, our ultimate book nerd party. Um, we've been able to really take advantage of having this space. Uh, when downtown reopens, we'll be able to have programming downtown. Uh, but then also really we have the opportunity to look at what could we do with that library space at um at Hillrest and how could we think about integrating it into the overall library space? um what could we do to make it perhaps a teen space, perhaps uh you know a partner space? Um we've got some really exciting opportunities um that we could should we should certainly be considering uh for Hillrest. Uh and then Colister uh Kollister is uh slightly behind uh Hillrest in terms of when those that lease renewal is an option. It the current lease for Kollister ends February of 28. That renewal process will begin in June of 27. Um we'll have an op we again we'll have two 5-year renewal options. So the first one is March of 28 to February of uh 2033. The second one would be March of 2033 to February of 2038. Um and in this case we do have a preset rent rate. So we'll have a little bit better forecasting of what that rent increase will be. Um we have as you know been looking at how do we make sure uh

that we're considering um you know what what's our responsibility for MRM in those locations uh what is our u the person that we're leasing from um and really wanting to have some of those discussions so that we're able to enter a a new lease for both of those buildings again so that we're not interrupting services. Any questions about our current facilities and what we recommend um for that short term as we're building those, you know, five to 10year MRM and CIP budgets. Yeah, me

I'll do uh Council Member Hybertton and then Council Member Willlets. Yeah, just kind of a question. So when we're looking at the the different CIP things, we're sort of looking at those might be proposals that would fit in somewhere within the next 20 years. But when we're seeing the other side, we're looking at just the 10-year. Correct. Correct.

Yep. And so some of those additional projects, it doesn't necessarily mean that they would be happening in the next three or four years. It means means that we need to get them into this process now if we want to see them in the next 20 year period of time. Madame Mayor, uh, Council Member Hy Burton, that that is how I, um, see it as the, you know, the on the left hand column, those are things that are already in the budget. Those are things that are already planned. So, public works team knows and can schedule, we're going to do HVAC work at these locations. We've got to do roof work at these locations. Um, those are really time dependent on the um, the system and when they want to replace it. Um the other side, you know, those proposed projects really do the reason that we when we built the slide just put a TBD for the budget year because they are things that can be considered for prioritization and obviously um there are trade-offs in terms of which one we would want to have go first. Um I do know that with the leases coming up, I think that also is something that really is uh a critical uh decision to make so that we can make sure that we are um moving forward without interrupting service in those those two important locations.

Great. So when you're looking at some of those CIP proposals, some of the ideas may not be completely built out, right? Like things change over time. 10 years from now, we'll know that we probably still need a remodel on the second floor um or a refresh as you maybe called it, but maybe it looks slightly different than we're thinking about it today. So, do you see um in those CIP proposals like a very definitive plan or do you see it as like this is something where we know that we're going to need to do um something um but there needs to probably be some flexibility in what that may be or do you have it, you know, kind of already planned out? Uh, madame mayor, council member Hely Burton, I do think we need to have some flexibility based on what funding is available and when and you know what we can do really um to maximize the usage I think is really what we're trying to focus on. I do think you know to that discussion about can you know to get the most square footage added to our downtown facility without adding you know additional floors. It really is moving out admin courier back of house options. Since we don't have an integrated plan for where that goes, then it does become okay well let's make sure that the current footprint is as upto-date and useful as possible. Obviously if if there is a plan that is developed by the city for those functions then that would absolutely change uh timing and priorities. Um but but without that then it does become okay how do we do a refresh in those buildings to keep them more useful as some of those long-term uh plans come to fruition.

Great. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just kind of one more followup. That's kind of how I I see it as well. If you don't have it in that long-term plan, you know, it it's not in there. Um and once we get it into that capital improvement plan, then we can start actually putting a little bit more details into it. without it actually being there in the first place, it's kind of like is is this going to happen or not? So, I appreciate that flexibility. I think the the last question um when we look at especially like a building like the downtown library or some of our older you know branches that are 20 plus years old um should we expect to see $100,000 a year of maintenance you know on the buildings per year just because that's the age of the building and the amount of roof space and the amount of you know uh you know HVAC and everything else that that is in there. Should we kind of from my perspective since I've been on council that's about what we've seen you know at least about $100,000 a year going into the downtown library a little bit more because we had some big projects. Um but I would imagine that once you get this hold of a building that is a somewhat regular anticipated maintenance cost. Um a big number to look at up here but I'm just trying to figure out like is this something that is a normal at this point. I think uh Madame Mayor, Council Member Hallebertton, I think Lindsay would be a very good person to speak to that.

Perfect. Thank you. So much shorter. Madame Mayor, Council, yes, we anticipate approximately it's a range, right? It's not necessarily 100,000, but based on the asset and the age of the asset replacement schedule, we're looking at that for all of our facilities. And that's what we put into the budget that comes to you annually for review and is included in that MRM piece.

Yeah. Yeah. I think for, you know, for the general public or even for us, like you look at those numbers year over year and you're like, these costs a lot of money to, you know, maintain these buildings, but they're really large buildings and especially some of the older ones. Um, and I I guess I'm just, you know, to me that's been normal since I've been here. Um, and you know, I think that maybe the expectation is that that in that old vote building is probably kind of normal going forward.

Madame Mayor, council member, yes, that's uh an appropriate assumption. Uh, and we will be tracking that and like Jessica alluded, we are trying to get some of the deferred maintenance packed into this project that we're working on right now while it's the first floor iss. So yeah, we'll be consistently reinvesting in all of our city assets. But yes, the downtown library because it did sit for such a long time and before it came into our management, you know, they made some modifications um not necessarily the best practices of modifications, you know, for example, where they've cut around the bookshelves and then we've have to come in and move the bookshelves and actually do the flooring. So we're trying to take care of all of that and get everything up to speed.

Great. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Council member Wellets, while Lindsay's there, Lindsay, what is the total of the recommended to date cost of the remodeling of our current facilities knowing that inflation is real? Have you done the math on that? Madame Mayor, Council Member Willitz, you're asking for just the library systems. Yep. So all of the um figures that Jessica has put out between downtown Cole and bound, what is the total on that in terms of remodels cost?

I don't know that I have the total for you, but for each line item that we do include, we we do include inflation escalation cost. So but you are seeing numbers for 2026. So we will as we defer different projects and figure out our sequencing and figure out the funding as as it comes about, you know, we will need to include additional costs. Okay. So you've you have not totaled all the numbers that Jessica has pres presented to this point. Um, no, but we can certainly get back to you on that. That would be helpful. Thank you.

You bet. Um, I'll just add if nobody else has discussion at this point, I think that the um the CIP proposal projects make a lot of sense to continue to invest in the um infrastructure that we have and uh find the best utilization. So, I mean, generally speaking, I would say that I'm aligned to seeing these these proposed projects continue to that next step of um seeing how we could make a budget. Madame Mayor, um Council Member Corass and then Council Member Nash.

Madame Mayor, um I think this is a question for Jessica. Um, as we're looking today to affirm direction, I'm looking at the youth programming um, CIP activities. So, we have two libraries that we're looking at that for 5 million to 5.4 million potentially, but that understanding that's today's number. I guess I'm not quite clear. When we affirm, if we were to affirm direction, does that mean we're approving of that space to be remodeled in a future year as part of the library plan?

Uh, I can jump in on that for a second, Council Member Corless. Um, so in this meeting, we're sort of affirming direction on what we'd like to see um, come back to us in a proposed budget outline. Um, and we'll have additional opportunities at that time to continue to refine next steps. It could be that the budget comes back to us and there's additional tweaks we want to make to that. Um, so at this point, if there's specific youth spaces that you would be interested in highlighting, I think now is a good time to do that to help the staff continue to refine what will ultimately be the 20-year plan. And Jessica, please correct me if I am misstating that.

Uh, Madame Mayor, uh, Council Member Corass, yes, I I think it's premature. Um, I haven't gotten to the part about some of the future expansion opportunities. Rest assured, at the end of my presentation, I bring back the slide asking for direction. And at that point, I think it would be a good discussion. Uh, there's lots of options. There's lots of opportunities. Um, I'm excited about some of the things that we're going to be sharing with you next. Um, so I do think having a discussion right now about prioritization is a little premature. if I could add that. Thank you. We're all just so excited.

Yeah. And and thank you. It was just uh more of the clarification on the direction and I appreciate the information, Madame Mayor and Director Dor. Thank you.

Okay. Please go ahead.

Okay. Um as I promised, I'm now moving to uh the section where we are talking about ways to expand access. And I just want to make very clear to uh to to help with inform the discussion, nothing in the the next slides are anything that is in a current budget. Um they are not in the CIP, they're not in the library budget. So this is all stuff that would be new. Uh but these are some of the options that you have requested that we bring back to you in terms of uh opportunities to expand services. um first by just increasing our staff so we can increase the number of hours. Uh where are some examples that we've seen um from other libraries of ways of u without adding staff necessarily or large amounts of facilities? How could we think about prioritization or innovative ways of expanding services? Um and then some of the costs of what should the city be thinking about that it would need to budget uh for new locations both leased and owned. Uh so again uh I mean these are some things that I think uh could really uh have impact here in Boisee. Uh but again these would be things that we would need to have direction to have these budgeted for. Uh so first one obviously um is uh the expansion opportunities of increasing the hours that we are open. Uh adding staff allows the library to be open more hours. Uh it doesn't add space for books for meeting rooms but it does allow us to serve more people. Um, I've been asked, um, would this mean that the same people that are coming to the library would just come more frequently or would this allow new people? Um, by adding extended hours on nights and weekends, we would be bringing in people who are

not currently served by our hours, but then also, of course, um, giving opportunities for people who are served by our hours. So with the FY24 budget, we've highlighted a new staffing model at Cole and UTICK. Um that has proven to be a really good way of increasing our impact in that area. Uh we have staff that are now able to do more programming, to do more school visits, uh to have more partnership opportunities. Um we could uh with an additional six positions or five FTE, we could expand that model at all of our current locations. Uh we think the annual personnel cost is about $270,000. Obviously that's, you know, a number that would be refined um by roles and individuals. Um and then there's other ways that we could, you know, without expanding our footprint uh add impact by adding hours. We could right now we only have, you know, all five locations are open six days a week. Downtown and Cole and Eustic are open seven days a week. um we could add staff so that we could have all locations open all seven days a week. Um that would be sort of the 12 positions. Um that option exists as well as it's really what I would call maximizing the hours that we'd be available which would all all locations open seven days a week with longer nights and weekends. Um and that also would be you know 20 positions. So, we've got that uh here as an opportunity and an option as well.

Madam Mayor, Jessica, a quick question. I think that was Cole Music the last one that we expanded ours for. Correct. Um what did you see as a difference as far as the people coming into the library? Um what services were being able to offer? You know, what changed? Was it more teens coming in? Was it more adults? Was it the same folks coming in? Was it a whole new group of people? um describe a little bit of the impact that that had on that neighborhood and that community.

Uh Madame Mayor, Council Member Halle Burton. Well, we have only had the Sunday hours at Poland since February and I think people are still finding that it's open. Um but it so we are starting to see that trend in usage. We expect that in a full year we'll know who's coming in and what they're using it for. Um I think for us having you know the immediate impact we have seen is in the additional staff that are able to do uh the work in the community. You know we were previously at Colon used not able to do um really library um you know school visits. We've been able to do a lot more school visits. We've got you know opportunities for our staff to be out in the community. uh we'll do a lot more um uh part uh partnership work there. Uh the learning lab has been able to do classes there. We've got, you know, the senior centers coming. So, we're able to staff um those community events and those community uh partnerships in a in today in a way that we just weren't able to do. We were constantly turning down requests from local schools, local head starts, um you know, the groups that wanted us to be either coming to the event or hosting event, we just weren't able to do that. And now we are able to do that. I think when we have a year of data on the usage of people coming in the building, uh we'll really be able to see sort of what that has meant in terms of the the increase in usage.

Great. And then when we did our um recent strategic plan and facilities plan, what did we hear from the community as far as them asking for extra hours? Um was that in high demand? Was it in high demand at specific locations? All the locations.

Madame Mayor, Council Member Helbert. Yeah, you're correct. That was one of the things that and that's why we really proposed this to pilot the new staffing model at Colonic because of the feedback that we heard from the community. um you know if you're if the library isn't open on Saturdays and Sundays I mean there are people that just aren't able to come to a library unless it's open on a specific day of the week. So that's why us trying to make sure we have as many locations open seven days a week gives our community um really what they have asked for. And so that was we heard that in the strategic plan. We also heard that in the facility plan. You know you can add more hours um and then you can serve more people that way. Great. Thank you.

Uh now I want to move to two examples uh one from California and one from Colorado of um uh ways of expanding access through an innovative and new service model. Um and the first one I want to share from you share with you is the Pacifica Sanchez uh outpost. This is in California. Um I actually think this would be something that would be really uh well suited for Boisey. Um this is a flexible outdoor programming and uh pickup hold pickup space. Um so as you can see this is set up so that there are places where people can meet. Um there is a hold locker where people can pick up books or they can drop them off. Um and it it would allow for 24 access to holds. Um, but it would also be something that we or uh potentially a partner uh could program that space as well. Um, I think this would be a great way to activate a park. I would love to think about how we might be able to do this in conjunction with parks and wreck. Um, this has uh, you know, a one-time budget where we would need to have that footprint built and the shelter uh, and then obviously the equipment in it and then it would have ongoing costs related to the technology courier to it and then uh, programming it as well. Uh, and the the second example that I have uh, this is in Colorado. Uh, this picture is particularly in Colorado. Um these are uh staffless uh sorry unstaffed self-s served libraries. We see a lot of these have uh come really came out of Scandinavia. Um but you're starting to see some of these in the US where a smaller storefront uh location uh really allows for access from the

public um but it is not theft. Um, so it really serves as a holds pickup but also has a small browsable collection, self-check kiosks, uh, computers with Wi-Fi and internet access. Um, it is something that you would need sort of a a second tier library card. um you know, you would probably need to restrict it to over 18 um because they'd be financially responsible for any damage and then it would be monitored um by security cameras. This would have a a a higher one-time cost and higher ongoing um but certainly a model that we're starting to see uh in the US um and I think is something that we might want to consider here as well. The downside on this one is it doesn't have the programming capability um because you really are trying to minim you have a small footprint and you really are uh focusing on uh the collection holds pickup drop off uh and some uh public computers. All right. And then uh the the third piece on ways of expanding access uh that we've been discussing and are now bringing back to you uh some of the uh costs that you have requested. Um this in particular is that idea of with moving uh to a library proximity goal of two miles that we would need to be looking in West Boisey for that location. Um, we've got options for both a leased space and a city-owned facility. Um, there is sticker shock on this. Uh, Council Member Nash went through that when he was our, uh, board leaison. U, so he can help you work through it. Um, but we do have this as, uh, requested

sort of on the estimated costs for a new leased branch. sort of what will we be looking at in the range of a 23 to 24 million. This these are allin costs. So really looking in today's dollars of what are the hard construction costs, soft costs, what would need to be a contingency but then also what would the collection size need to be? What would be furniture, fixtures, equipment? Um, so really the table that you see before you has that one-time and estimated costs as footnoted. These were really priced out in 2024. Um, public works has built uh, I think a really good uh, formula so that it will be continue. They can update it based on uh, inflation as we start to see some of those costs adjust. Um, and then I just want to call out some early costing on what the M the ongoing M would be for the for this location. Um, in this scenario, we'd obviously have ongoing rent, library staffing, collections, and programming. Um, this wouldn't include some of the other MRM, MEQ, uh, operations from the city side. I really focused on what would the libraryies budget need to cover. Um but obviously you know depending on the location size um and year that this would be sort of what we would want to think about budgeting for and then have that discussion with some of you know how the other city departments would support it. Uh and then lastly the um this would be the estimated cost for new cityowned. Um so in this we added uh uh land cost. Um, and so this is sort of what our current market um, for a a facility that size would be. Um, so that would increase the one-time cost but decrease the ongoing M

because we would be taking out the rent on that. Um, but again, you know, we're seeing, you know, how expensive it is to construct new facilities in 2026. And unfortunately as you know watching some of the discussions you all are having about uh facilities uh from other departments uh construction continues to be challenging uh here in Boisee. Uh and with that, um I as I promised want to come back to we've got lots of opportunities, lots of places where we have opportunities to invest in what we currently have. Um ways to think about expanding um but really are looking for direction from council on, you know, where we should be prioritizing. I'll just review what I shared earlier. Um, I think we do have the strong alignment on making sure that we are maintaining our current facilities. Um, they are heavily used buildings. Um, and we want to make sure that they're safe and welcoming and we are maximizing the square footage as much as possible. Um, but then really thinking about, okay, what happens next as we're building so that we can make sure that the library is growing as the city of Boisey grows. And so that's where we have sort of these options for expanding access um in the short term as we're looking at adding facilities um because of the costs involved in those. Obviously those are longer term uh projects.

Madame Mayor Council member

uh Director Door, thank you for your presentation. I wanted to ask you, you know, we just reviewed these past couple slides, these options lease by and those are sole city of Boisee um initiatives or efforts. Um can you I think I think it's important as we're affirming direction and we had this conversation last time with the the joint board meeting of indicating getting this on a runway somewhere so we can start working towards it. And as it's laid out now, it's it's a then um new facilities. Can we get that closer to us in the the near future if we exploit explore uh joint partnerships? And I guess I kind of want to get your feeling for our neighboring partners. Um, if you have an idea of where say Midian Library District is at and opportunities where we could serve, you know, East Meridian and West Boise um in in a way that helps, you know, us with with getting those resources to do something sooner. Has that been pursued or would that be a potential uh conversation of interest if, you know, after this affirmed direction? Uh, Madame Mayor, Council Member Morales, could I ask you to clarify? Are you thinking about a shared facility with another

Yeah. library? Joint library. Yeah. And I guess also just your initial thoughts on how that could or could not work for us. Um, Madame Mayor, Council Member Morales, I am not familiar with a model where a district library which has a specific, you know, taxing base would then, you know, have a shared facility. That said, I haven't done research into it. Um it would be an interesting discussion uh either between myself and the director of Meridian and ADA and then potentially the boards of those organizations. Um I do know of more partnership models which span um either you know other city facilities. So, you know, where a library is in say a neighborhood branch where they have uh other city services or uh a a partnership where they're with a different type of library, maybe a school library or academic library. more familiar with those because I think you you have the opportunity for an overlapping footprint in a way that is not as easy to navigate with uh district libraries, but certainly would be an interesting conversation.

Awesome. Thanks for noting that. That would be interesting. Thank you,

Madame Mayor. Council member Willlets. Uh Jessica, thank you so much for this um this slide because I think it's very insightful. So what we see here is that your recommendation is to remodel every current facility. Expand staff by at least 20 full-time people. So fully staff the entire thing, bulk it up. Then we can talk about a little um a little other facility somewhere else. and then maybe another facility somewhere else. So, so remodel staff up and then we can look at other areas. My question is is what's your timeline on the then? What would you see when that would be? Is that post 2046 or do you see that as sometime sooner? Can you give us a sense of that? Uh, Madame Mayor, Council Member Willitz, uh, what I'd really like us to have is a discussion about the priorities that you all see for the library's direction. Um, I'm we wanted to come in with options and opportunities so that you could have a discussion about sort of what what would you like us to prioritize. I do, you know, and and having, you know, had lots of conversations with the budget office and with the public works, adding a new facility is a long-term project. Um, you know, finding locations, raising money, uh, construction, making sure we've got, uh, money for staff and for operations. I do see that as at least a 20-year project. Uh, and so I want to not lose sight of that, but

also provide shorter term opportunities for investments that you all can consider. Um, but this is a discussion about prioritization and tradeoffs. Um, I do think that, you know, some of the pieces, particularly the work that we've done to try to get as much as possible into the MRM budget, I do think, you know, a roof on coal and USIC that doesn't leak should be a high priority. So really, that's why we made sure that everything on those slides in the lefth hand column were the highest priorities, but everything else really are options for consideration. And we're really looking for direction from council.

Madame Mayor, um, how, Madame Mayor, how would you like this to go? Are you still opening for questions? Are you wanting comments? What what would be your preference? Yeah, I think we can, if uh, I think we can move into comments. I haven't seen quick hands for questions, so sorry. Okay, let's do let's do a round of questions first. Uh, council member Willlets and then we'll move into discussion. So, let's stick to questions first. I see council member Morales and then um anybody over here? Okay. Council member Oh, Council Member Morales, Council Member Nash, and then I think maybe we can move into discussion.

Yeah, Madame Mayor, thank you. Just to follow up on that, I appreciate council member Wilt's question on or um kind of maybe concern about uh runway here when on the next piece where it says expand innovative innovative models of service. Those could be in underserved areas and those are those examples that you were sharing with us as well. Right, Madame Mayor, council member Alice? Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that Yeah, I guess I'll have comments on that later. Madame Mayor, Jessica, could you go to those slides that show the the um kind of innovative alternative? Which one would you want? The California Colorado one.

This is Colorado.

So, I'll just offer a little commentary. I appreciate you um like helping us get focused on what what you're expecting of us here, and I appreciate what you've what you put forward. I'll have some more comments about what what further I'd need to see later, but when I think about timeline for a new location, that's that's the strongest public sentiment that I've gotten outside of the feedback that you've gotten in in a lot of your surveys and work. I I hear those same things as well, um about service needs and so forth. But the the most vocal and consistent public feedback I get is about new location. So, when I I think um the feedback that I'll likely get after today uh from my constituents is that a 20-year horizon on a new library is is pretty long. Um I recognize the realities of how much this costs and how much money we don't have. Um, so I I guess kind of my goal as a um is trying to meet these public expectations is how can I demonstrate some progress towards this? And I think land acquisition in my mind was a way that we could do that. Um, I see you put it as 3.9 million in here for land acquisition. That that feels like something that could be doable over a couple years. I I think the question that's come up in my mind is seeing this presentation today is is land acquisition for a $30 million library make sense if there might be a better stop gap measure that would deliver value sooner to a place where we might entertain a future location. So, um, do you see something like this innovative access express library as something that could,

uh, be a band-aid for, um, a community that or a neighborhood that might, uh, want a full library, but maybe 20 years just feels too long.

Madame Mayor, Council Member Nash, I I really like what you're grappling with because it's what we're grappling with, right? the we have heard very clearly the desire for a new you know really standalone sufficient space in West Boisey and in you know that is not a short-term project for all the reasons that you listed. So, while we're working towards that, you know, I was asked to bring back what could be a short-term solution um that would allow us to establish a footprint to start doing some service in a different way um with a shorter um and quite frankly less expensive standup cost. Um they're not exclusive. Um and it is a question of what should where where should we be prioritizing? Is it really land acquisition for that standalone library in West Boisey or should we be prioritizing, you know, finding a place where we could do a shorter term? Um, they're all, you know, they're all equally uh good options for providing access. They don't necessarily meet people's expectation in the timeline uh that they want that expectation to be met. Um, but I would like to think about how we are trying to build, you know, how we're thinking about acquiring a a location and putting together how we would finance uh the construction and the ongoing costs. And at the same time, you know, it's my job to really be serving the people of Boisee as best I possibly can in the facilities I have today. Madame Mayor, um Jessica, would if if we indicated support for something like this in a

place like West Boise, would you see that as a substitute for a long-term facility planning or um could could there be a dual track with something like that where we have a facility like this in the short term while we're building towards something in the long term? Uh, madam mayor, council member Nash, I think that's the direction I'm looking for from you today is to what you know as as the I'm a city department council oversees the budget um both you know my M and then also the the city's overall capital. This is really you know me standing here for library uh but looking for direction for both library but then public works for their planning finance for their planning as well. uh this really is your opportunity to make sure uh that what we move forward on is meeting is delivering the what you expect.

Madame Mayor, I guess I've got one more question. Can we go to the last slide that kind of has your our different steps there? So if in the then aspect of today we decided that there was um wanted to put into a CIP plan an additional branch and it was a standalone branch that branch is going to cost over $30 million. At what point does it trigger if we put it into a plan that it's going to have to go out to a vote? Um is it if we purchase a piece of land? I mean, at what point does we can today say that like, yes, we're going to put this in our plan, but at some point people have to vote on it. What can you do you have any insight on how that would happen if we were to put that in there today?

Uh, Madame Mayor, Council Member Hallebertton, you're correct. One of the things when we were when we were doing the forecasting for a new standalone branch, uh it was really apparent that at some point we will need to address uh the requirements of Prop 1, which would require us uh to go to the voters uh for approval for any library project over 25 million. It in would include um all the all the project costs. So both, you know, those soft costs, those hard costs, that uh purchase of land. So if that, you know, if direction from council is that it should be our number one priority, we would need to come back to you with a realistic plan of how we address Prop One because it would be um I I do believe we would need to make sure that we were respecting the will of the voters from that uh 2019 decision.

Great. Yeah. And I, you know, honestly, I would anticipate that even if we were doing a lease space, by the time that we would do it, we'd be hitting close enough to that mark that we would be may not be a good idea to even move forward knowing that cost might go over and then you have maybe built something without going to the voters. So, I guess just a couple of comments here. Um, first, um, I agree with the priorities that you've laid out here, what we need to do first, um, and the deferred maintenance 100%. Um, I think we should all be celebrating our ability to take care of some deferred maintenance in the next few years. So, um, I absolutely agree with that and I abs and I absolutely agree with renewing the leases um, and getting your proposed projects at least into the CIP. I don't think we know exactly what those are going to look like yet today. Um, but getting those in there now gives us some flexibility to begin planning for them whether it ends up being the admin office in there or not. Um, having it there gives us the ability to plan for it. As far as expanded access goes, to me, what I heard from the community was that the library hours was going to have the biggest uh fill the biggest need that they were seeing um in the community. Um whether that's additional ability for the librarians to get out to where they need to go or to be offering services at that location. And I think that being open on the weekends is a huge deal for students who may need to be doing their homework, who don't have a place to do that at home. um and who lack different access to resources to be able to use those things on the weekend. Um the innovative models of service, if we have the ability to look into a model of service that stills allow engagement between librarians and community members and to activate a space, even the one that was sort of like the remote one that looked like a bus stop, if it can be combined with programming, great. Um, I would say that I don't know that Boisey is a place that is, you know, walking into a robotic store in a library is the type of things that I really heard people asking for. Um, and when I think about our youth

road map, I think about um our being around uh I think about addressing social isolation and a library that, you know, doesn't necessarily address the social aspects that you all do so well. Um, frankly, doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to spend money in the millions of dollars um both initially and ongoing for a model um that we know could be applied to other areas. So like the idea like the innovation don't know in my opinion if that's a great fit for Boisey. And I guess I would just say for the last one, um I don't have a problem with saying that we need to put a um location in the farterm CIP so that we can get a process rolling where people could eventually figure out what they would have to do to go out to a vote because we could do all this planning and then the community could just say no. Um and I'm not 100% sure what they will say. Uh, and so to me it still makes sense to add that into a CIP. Um, knowing that that's something we're going to have to do someday to get it going. And I guess the only other comment that I would say is um, you know, I think I was on the record last time. I'll be on the record this time. Uh, the two-mile proximity goal to me doesn't still doesn't necessarily make sense. We had a three-term goal for a long time. We were moving towards that. I think you still it doesn't mean that their library isn't in West Boyisey or wherever it's going to be, but I think that there's a talented enough team at the library to understand where the biggest need is in the community and where that location is that shouldn't be addressed by a gap that we see on an empty spot on a map, but really a very strategic spot to put it. So, that's I think my last comment. Uh, but I appreciate all the work that's gone into a really really hard thing to navigate. Um, but when I look at what what's next and the ability to add some additional services to these places and taking care of deferred maintenance and still making sure we've got something to include in a

long-term plan, I think that's a good path forward. Madame Mayor, Council Member Corass.

Yeah, thank you. I have um two questions and then I can provide comment. Um, Director Door, thank you very much. I know we've had so many meetings on libraries and and putting together a 20-year plan is um certainly not an easy task when we have own buildings, lease buildings um and others that we're looking at. Uh my first question is just getting back to the youth programming space that we had for colonic and bound. Is that considered in this category of first proposed to be included in CIP or the then under expand existing branch locations? Madame Mayor, uh, Council Member Corass, I for the purposes of this presentation because I thought it would be easier uh to conceptualize them, I put them under first. Uh, those could be moved. Uh again, this is where we're looking for uh your direction. Uh I recommend those because they would improve the services in our current facilities. Um this really is, you know, the opportunity for you to share with me what you would prioritize.

Yeah, I guess I struggle a little bit. I mean, I know we want to conceptualize and put these in there for the future as it is a 20-year plan. I guess I haven't really grappled with or thought about would that be a higher priority in the first than maybe having um which is a really great I love these innovative solutions whether or not we move forward with them as some additional options uh for the city to consider uh versus that expanded innovative model of service. Um so that that's kind of where I where I keep coming back to with that just so to understand my thinking there. Um, you know, I guess kind of going back to Council Member Morales's thought is when I um under the next when I think about a new facility, I agree with Council Member Halle Burton also. I think having some programmable space is really nice. I really like that expanded innovative model where we saw was an outside as kind of a bus stop kiosk, but yet there is room to program. I think that would be perfect inside um one of several city parks that we have. So, we already have the land available. It's just maybe looking at where that would be best fit and then we can provide some more services besides um just a kiosk there, but also additional services for the community. Um I think we should also keep considering um I have a hard time thinking about spending $30 million on a new facility. Um be it first, then or next. I think we really need to when we look at a facility, it needs to have a share purpose like either be within the park that we can um partner with, maybe have a police substation, maybe we partner with the Y, something or or the school district. Um a shared cost I think is what we're going to need to see there is what I'm hoping that we explore in this roadmap going forward.

um what we have prioritized as first. I absolutely agree. We we spent a lot of money on our standalone buildings. These are assets and resources we need to protect um and that CIP and the maintenance needs um agree that we need to prioritize those first. I would also include in there of course is the um uh acoustic panels. Jessica, I've been in both those libraries. I know what people are saying and I think that as soon as we could pull that into a sooner your year budget, I happily support that as well. Uh I do support the outpost building that we shared and looking at maybe in the next phase where we could look at that within a park. Um I love the idea of increasing our library hours. I I've personally stopped at Hillrest many times on a Saturday afternoon realizing I missed my cut off by an hour or two.

Yeah. Um so I think that's really good use of resources as well. Um, and again I for the programming, the youth programming at both locations, I might be good supporting one within the first and maybe one within the next. But again, I'd have to I think we should really consider that against maybe that innovative model also as costs are very similar. Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Oh, wait, one more. Sorry, madame mayor. Just sorry, council member. thought from council member Corass and then we'll go to council member Willitz and then I saw council member Morales with his finger on the mic there.

I appreciate this. I just want to bring up in our last joint meeting, we talked about these lease facilities and that we wanted as a city to do our due diligence to look at other potential places to move those. And I know that the city has done that. It's just not reflected in this presentation. So, just to get that on the record, Jessica, can you just talk through what the city has done done there to look at these additional spaces for lease?

Uh, Madame Mayor, Council Member Corus, thank you for that. Yes, we have looked of the uh city really benefits from having a person who really helps us uh in public works at on who does that uh really focuses on leases and knows what uh opportunities are coming up in terms of uh potential buildings that might be applicable. I think for me the biggest takeaway that I've had in this is that um leasing a a space for a commercial or a library purpose is very different than say a house lease or you know the first apartment that I had where you can expect to have a functioning you know kitchen and HVAC really the we need a large amount of square footage for a library. It has some very specific needs in terms of accessibility, um, windows, egress, access, and they're very few spaces in Boisee that would even meet the needs of a library coupled with um, how much of that actual structure we would be responsible for as the tenant. Um, so we have been, uh, Adon has been taking us out to, uh, potential locations, locations he knows, um, uh, a property owner may be interested in making available. Um, they tend, you know, in that refurbished space. Uh, we are seeing locations where we would need to, uh, do the entire plumbing, electrical, uh, making sure that we've got a a functioning space. uh just the systems let alone then having the renovation or uh how it would be used as a library. Um so that is work that he continues to do that we're part of. Um but that is a longer term uh finding a location u making sure that we've got

funding for all those upgrades both for the building but then also for library usage. Um and that's really where the in the short term um particularly knowing how quickly those Hillrest and Kollister uh locations uh that lease is available to renew uh that I really recommend that we go ahead and do that.

Yeah. Uh Madame Mayor um Director Dora, thank you very much for explaining that. I know we've seen that work um come across. We just hadn't seen that in the proposal. And I wanted to make sure that the public was aware that the city had actively been pursuing looking at other potential options that may be a lower cost or may provide additional square footage. Um, and just want to confirm my support with the renewal of the leases. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I think Mayor, is my turn? Yep, it's your turn. Go ahead.

Thank you. Uh, Jessica, thanks for the information. I know that you've put a lot of time and effort into it and I appreciate it. Um, you know, sometimes I think it's important to name things. Um, we can try in government often to to kind of talk around issues, but today I'm I'm going to name it. I I think this plan ignores public feedback and it specifically ignores public feedback from West Boyisey. It is a charade. Uh the plan proposes $30 million to remodel every facility and then get at least 20 new staff and any other nebulous improvement and then only then it we might talk about a library in West Boise. That is not what people asked for. Four years ago they attended the budget meeting. A whole host of people attended the budget hearing the only ones. and they came in and they said, "We want a library in West Boyisey." And since then, it has been rope a dope and it is rope a dope even now. There is no plan to put a to put a library in West Boyce. There's no timeline to put a library in West Boyce and it ignores them completely. If this plan is approved without any specific timeline for a library in West Boise, West Boise should consider itself shafted.

I'm going to I'm just going to add a little context to that. I guess I don't see and there's no timelines associated with any of this other than what has already been programmed. Um, I hear Council Member Willlet's response and it's I think it's part of the direction that we can take today as we move forward to those next steps of timelines and programming. Uh, Council Member Morales, go ahead.

Madame Mayor, director, thank you. So, I think I am reticent to, you know, put advance uh priorities that may be um, you know, more remodeling uh, updating F. If furniture needs to be updated, great. But I I think when we're talking about maintenance, that should be prioritized. That is the number one thing. Um we can't rob Peter to pay Paul. We need to take care of the facilities we have. But I I would caution us from investing to make floors look the same when we have needs for expansion, whatever that expanded access or new facilities are. And so I think I'd be I'd be cautious about that. Um, and then I just want to to kind of expand on um the thought of that new facility and trying to pull it a little bit closer on this runway and maybe that next and then needs to be a a a single box uh to be able to help with this because I don't think right now we can have a specific timeline um for all of these things, but they need to be considered and they need to be considered creatively. And so akin to um what I asked earlier um you know it's not just west boy residents that don't have great library access out there. It's also East Meridian residents and it's Ada County residents and so on our you know heat map of libraries Unbound does a little bit of work for Meridian but it's it's a it's a unique space and I think we need to see what kinds of creative crazy things we can do because if I think about um you know generations from now it just doesn't seem um like a it it I would hope that there would be a library branch somewhere between Murdian Road and Cole and Victory Road and Chinden. And so trying to figure out how to do that because the price tag is enormous is going to take the partnership. So looking into that um you know collaborative joint partnership opportunities I think is really

important just to run it out run out that ground ball. Thank you. Council member Nash.

Yeah. Um thank you Jessica and thank you council for your comments. Um, Jessica, I want to thank you for putting this together. I think even the things that are in here are things that we asked for. Um, even if it is frustrating to see distance between where specific priorities might lie, um, these are things that we did ask for. Um, and I think, uh, on that note, um, I think we have good information on like the costs of things that we need now. Um, and maybe some things in the near future. uh and then we might have good ideas on costs of things at the end. Um inflation contingent. Uh I think what I would need to see further would be um expansion of space, the costs around that. And I think the one thing I have not seen, I was really happy with the anticipated costs of um adding square footage at the downtown library, but I have not seen costs related to what it would cost to relocate um uh administrative support for the library. Um so I I would want to better understand that really that 45 to 75,000 square foot of library space before I could put a priority after that. I would want to know what's in between. Um, I think uh like the political question that I'm dealing with is um uh balancing what's been presented here today with what I expect the public feedback to be on it. And I think I would probably akin to what council member Morales has said, I would probably need to see more progress towards um public expectation for a space in West Boise sooner than later. That does not mean a full $30 million library in the short term, but that would mean some type of progress. And I

would invite um public feedback and council feedback and staff feedback on what some uh intermittent solutions might be like diving deeper into those options that you presented today about a a a something in a public space like a park or the Colorado model. Um, and I would add with council member Hi Burton's uh comments about uh even exploring um some type of programming in spaces like that. I will say a facility like that if it were in my neighborhood, we get most of our books at the library by putting them on hold and um you know sending my son down to the library kiosk to go pick up some books that he was interested in would would be a value ad to my neighborhood if we weren't so close to Cole stick right now. Um so I would invite public feedback on if there was a solution like that in the short term. um if if we feel like that would be progress towards what we want to see long term in in West Boise. And I would even add um when you're building in ongoing costs like that into the budget, it makes it a lot easier to um stomach that when we need to add all the staff to a facility down the road, too. So, um something like that may help. And that's not something I've seriously considered before today. Um, uh, I think the Colorado model is is something that's kind of piqued my interest today, but I would invite more council, public, and staff feedback on what something like that could like to help demonstrate some progress and commitment to our neighbors in West Boise, even if we can't do a $30 million library overnight.

Okay, I'll add my own comments. Um, I think this has been a really good discussion. and I appreciate all the council's feedback. Um, real quick, just for um logistics. We have a 12:00 meeting scheduled. It's not meant to um I'm not expecting it to take very long. So, we'll just finish out here as we need to and then start that meeting um once this one's finished. So, um okay, let's see. I first of all, Jessica, thank you so much for all this work and to you too, Lindsay. I know that this was a big lift to get to this point um for this consideration. I also want to acknowledge the work and celebrate about the work that's going on downtown and the partnership that you have with city hall and doing that pickup here um to try to uh be as least disruptive to the public as we can be and offer them solutions. So, thanks for all that work. Um, I uh agree with the first, next, then layout of things, the way that we're um beginning to look at this. And um I actually like the outpost idea as maybe an interim solution as was mentioned up here as maybe something to offer to the public um in being more quickly responsive to their interests and especially if there was an opportunity to um incorporate something like that in an already existing future um capital plan. like I'm thinking either, you know, some multifamily housing or that be the a community pool or a park as was mentioned by council member Corass. Um something like that I think would be interesting. Um I also like the idea of expanding weekend hours particularly. Um and I do think that long-term planning towards additional square footage makes a lot of sense. we c we'll never get there if we don't start here.

Um so I like the idea of that flexibility as was mentioned. It may not be something that gets passed in a vote or um perhaps there's a you know I don't I don't know that it needs to be decided today that that's a leased or an owned facility. Um but I would like to see us working towards that one way or another. Um those are the those are the immediate notes that I had. I do want to be um responsive to the feedback that we've had over the years and with and and encourage more of that on based specifically on the conversation that we've had today. um you know there I think if we don't start we I've seen other facilities in the city reached sooner because of things like um land donations or private donations things like that and um and I would love us to be to have the ability to be flexible by having started this planning so that whether something like that came up or not we are able to execute on additional square footage at the kind of as the end of this plan. Um, I guess I wonder from staff, do you guys do you feel like you have I have some notes too that we can go over afterwards, but do you feel like you have information from council that you need to reach those next steps? Do we need to narrow any of it? Uh, Madame Mayor, uh, I really appreciate you, uh, asking that question because I do want to make sure I am hearing and and and you know, I did present a lot of different options. Um, as Council Member Nash um, alluded to, that was what, you know, we were requested to bring back um, different options. Some of them have lower price tags, shorter time frames, some of them have longer. Um, so what I'm hearing,

uh, I've got, uh, you know, you've affirmed commitment to, uh, what I would say on the first, the M, MRM needs that are in CIP and renewing the leases because that is, um, going to keep us in those two locations. I'm also hearing that we really need to put something in uh a plan that would allow us to add a location in West Boisee. At the same time, continuing to explore how to finance it. Um that idea of can we finance it with another partner, either another library, another city department, or another organization. um how do we staff it? Putting a marker in that I think you you've you've phrased it really. We need to start here. That is a longer term plan. And then I do think, you know, part of um what I appreciate is how the city is moving to having these five-year um facility reviews because that would give us the opportunity to come back with where are we in terms of understanding uh what we can fund um and it are there places where some of these shortterm solutions have a location and have public support for as well.

Did that capture Uh, Council Member Nash, Council Member Her Barton, Madam Mayor, uh, Jessica, what would you say your takeaway is um, maybe I'm trying to figure out what the takeaway should be, uh, as far as some of those um, alternative uh, solutions um, uh, that the innovative models that you discussed? What do you feel like your takeway is? Uh, Council Member uh, Nash, I would love to turn that question back to you because I think I've now that you've posed it, I think I heard different things from from um, different members. So maybe that would be a if I could have some clarity because

that would that would change, you know, these are all good ideas. They're really no bad I didn't bring you any bad ideas. I'm sorry. I didn't make it didn't make your discussion easy by giving you a clunker. These are all things that I think um I've heard, you know, the public is interested in them. I've heard um you know, that what can we do quickly? How do we take care of the buildings? This really is, you know, how do how do we prioritize um because we don't have an unlimited budget.

Yeah. Uh I the way I would probably Council Member Oh, Council Member Corass is back. I think council member Corass uh mentioned her interest in what do we want to call these two different models so I can just speak to them the California option and the Colorado option. I think they're labeled as the outpost and the express library. So we could I think it's okay that we could use that terminology. So the outpost is more of the kiosk style and the express library is a, you know, is a facil capital is a facility unstaffed with computers and pickup.

I think what I heard today is council member Corass expressed interest in exploring an outpost uh in a in a park and really like the idea of programming there. Uh I think I heard council member Morales express interest in both potential models. Madame Mayor, I think I am interested in in that direction. I do have concerns and and maybe I heard this from council member Hally Burton as well and in the sta like I actually don't know if a empty library space is what helps be our community needs. Staffing I think is important. So I have have some concerns but I do want to investigate that more.

Um I think I heard a little curiosity from council member Ste about an outpost. Uh I have probably an interest in express uh and I have also have an interest in in um the in the public's feedback on if they would feel like this is a step towards demonstrating a commitment to a particular part of town. Uh I think that's what I am trying to take steps towards. Um, and if I I know prior to this meeting, I probably would have said that would be land acquisition in the next couple of years, but I if my if I want to demonstrate that progress and my choices between vacant land for 10 to 20 years or um something that could add more value to the community, even if it's not everything we want, um, I would lean it towards that direction towards an outpost or express. Um, but I want to hear community feedback on that. So, I think my direction to staff would be, could you come back to us and bring either one of those models a little more to life to see what kind of value that they could add in a part of town like West Boise um to help council better reconcile this and give an opportunity for the public to weigh in on is this something that they want to see or is this um not consistent with their goals and expectations for our facilities plan. So I I guess my direction to staff would be come back with us, bring this to life a little bit more and the public weigh in on if you see this as us demonstrating progress uh on these particular goals. And I would also be interested in council member Willitz's opinion on on that if she's cares to share.

Yeah, thank you. I think that um that is good next step. I mean we've it's west boy scenes have been very clear that they want something you know and you have an entire group of thousands of people who are interested in this. I think if we can give them something specific to react to they will uh I think right now without specificity it's too nebulous. So if the question is is is a short-term solution in by this year better than waiting 40 years then that I think it needs to be asked that way with that kind of simplicity.

Yeah, Madame Mayor, I I think that sometimes, you know, it's challenging. You got a bunch of different opinions, different directions, and you know, they may not all be the same. Um, we all have to approve a budget every single year. Um, and we can give some direction in some of these things, but we're probably not going to approve, you know, 12 new FTEEs to get the library up to full hours this very year. Um, but giving you direction that that's something that we're interested or a priority, I think, is really helpful. Um, I think that there's a challenge between your innovative models of service because they're not cheap. You know, they're multi-million dollar projects. And I think council should really weigh on whether or not that's something that they want to invest in whether or would rather they look at expanding our regular hours and then looking at new facilities. And I would say that it may be um a mistake for council to not give explicit direction that they want to see an additional facility in a long-term capital plan. Um because we don't know what that would look like. we've heard that we want partnerships or we might want to see some shared spaces but to not give direction that that is area that we want to go. We sort of limit ourselves in what those options may be and maybe it is purchasing a land, maybe it is combining it with a police substation. Either way, it's going to cost $22 million. It cost $22 million just to lease a space and to bring that space up to um up to snuff. So to me, I see a weighing between do we really want this new facility and if we do, we're going to probably have to make some sacrifices on the cost of other capital um shorter term projects. And to me, I would rather put it into um give the staff permission to really start exploring what a new facility looks like um whether it's in West Boyisey or somewhere else. I don't want to give that specific direction. I think you all can figure it out. Um, but I do think that in my opinion that's the area that I would want to see us invest to rather than another, you know, a couple million

dollars in an area in a different direction.

Council member Ste or Madame Mayor, uh, just to address Council Member Hallebertton's comments. Yeah, I uh I apologize if I haven't been clear. Uh, I think it would be a mistake not to include a library in West Boise in a 20-year plan. Um, I think the conversation that we we've probably gotten ahead of ourselves today and I think the conversation that we've had uh has been a little bit about where something like that would fall in our priorities and uh how we could demonstrate progress towards a goal like that. So, uh if it wasn't clear before, that is my that is my direction that I I could not support or affirm direction on a plan that excluded a library in West Boisee. Uh and I think there are further questions about how we can demonstrate some uh re uh progress towards a a reasonable um short-term and long-term solutions and progress towards that.

Okay. Uh how are you guys feeling now? Any more clear? uh my understanding uh so in the short term and you'll see this you know in upcoming you know the budget with uh for FY27 you'll see parking lot money in that we will continue to build out you know you'll see in these upcoming years that CIP that has those MRM needs uh and then we will be coming back with okay what would be a realistic time horizon for a new facility facility in West Boisee with some of the tradeoffs in terms of all right that may cost this with this time frame and here are some of the other things that may be a short-term fill but you know again these are the prioritization discussions that you'll need to continue to have um

I think that's right I mean there's still more work to do I think that this is another step in that direction and um when we put you know hard numbers next to some of these dreams that we've been, you know, that we've talked about today. Um, it'll help us to continue to make those decisions on prioritization. Madame Mayor, if I could ask, what additional numbers would you need knowing that we've given you a pretty clear, you know, here is costs that are built by square footage either for renovating elite like what could you help me with a little bit more about additionally what you're what you need for these conversations?

Yes, thank you, Jessica. I know that council member Nash asked for the numbers around the administrative move if that were to add additional square footage what that could look like for us. Um, and then I think it's the to me I guess it's the timeline then built into some of these numbers if we're to your point if we're trying to get a new facility on the books by the end of those 20 years are we for do we have to forfeit um something like the outpost or express idea or are we forfeiting those other proposed ideas of the sound mitigation or you know how does that I think th to me those are the next steps in the conversation. about, okay, now if this is how we're building up to where we want to go, um, are we prioritizing getting there as quickly as we can or are we prioritizing maybe extending that out while we check some of these other boxes on the way? I think that's how I see.

Madam Mayor, thank you. That that's really helpful. Great. That that gave me a good concept of what you're looking for, Madame Mayor. Council member Corass.

Yeah. Thank you. Um I I just want to add on there um and just reiterate something that council member Nash had said is that we've had some new ideas, really good ideas presented here today, um including some extended hours for nights and Saturdays, extended hours for full weekends, uh the outputs or outpost and others. And I don't know if I'd like to see some additional public feedback on that as well. Um to see what are they prioritizing. What would be more of a prioriti priority for them and and what would they like to see? Is it the extended hours? Is it outpost or putting those at bay for a new facility? So I think we do need to do some public outreach there.

Thank you Mayor. Council member Kis. I think actually that's a nice way of connecting your uh timeline options with public feedback. So maybe that is the step is to say here's the accelerated time frame. Here is you know plan A which you know frontloads uh as much as possible plan B you know again trying to come up with something realistic and maybe if we've got those scenarios then that could be the public feedback if I'm connecting those two comments.

Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Um, okay. With that, I think we can wrap this meeting. Thank you so much to our library staff for all that work and for the being in the spotlight for this long meeting. Thank you. Um, we need to take a quick um technical break so that we can switch over systems and we'll come back uh with our noon meeting in about two minutes. Thank you.