Item A: River Road/Santa Clara Transition Project

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In the long-term, a library cooperative might also generate the capital for the expansion of physical libraries, although in cooperative examples identified in Oregon, the individual co-op members retain primary responsibility for their own capital needs. Advantages: Eliminates equity issues of city or non-city residency, everyone would be citizen of the cooperative; the potentially larger tax base, broader population demographics, and larger geographic area of the co-op may facilitate taxpayer support; at least initially the co-op can be formed and grow through intergovernmental agreements (e.g.: a new special district does not necessarily have to be voted in) Challenges: It is not within the authority of the City to create such an entity on its own, negotiations with multiple groups could be protracted; in Lane County it may not be a simple as to start with intergovernmental agreements “binding” together existing institutions covering most of the possible new service territory; formation of a co-op would not necessarily lead to library branches being physically located in River Road or Santa Clara (or anywhere else for that matter). ? Option No. 2:City Branch Library - Probably most central to the perceived library service needs and aspirations of the River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods is the lack of a branch library in either of these communities. Nonetheless, with only three library facilities in the City, it would appear to be hard to argue that the lack of a library branch in these neighborhoods is any greater inequity than other parts of the City currently experience. In any event, the capital or lease cost of a new library branch, combined with an estimated (by the City) annual operating cost of $600,000, does not appear to bode well for new branch facilities in River Road or Santa Clara (or anywhere else in the City) in the near future. Furthermore, the library co-op model discussed in Heritage Option No. 1 above would not in and of itself solve this problem. Advantages: “Solves” the most central issue in one action; provides the physical facility for what will probably be the “ultimate” library service provider; provides a potential neighborhood “center”. Challenges: Prioritization of a new branch would probably have to be an outcome of a City- wide process; even if prioritized, the capital or lease funding (and operational costs) of a new branch library may not be available What Another Community Has Done In other regions, multi-jurisdictional library co-ops have been most typically formed where there is an existing county service and a multiplicity of city libraries. This is not the case in Lane County, where there is no county system, and few city systems. The Washington County (Oregon) Cooperative Library System is a long established (mid-1980’s) example of such a cooperative. It must be cautioned that the Washington County co-op is distinguished from the Lane situation in that the co-op came on the scene with a full roster of member city library departments and library buildings already in place. Nevertheless, a co-op may be something to consider, especially as it could draw in county taxpayers to the library funding picture. Clackamas County (Oregon) has also formed a city/county library cooperative and been successful in securing taxpayer support in the past. Both these cooperatives have recently, however, had funding measures rejected by the voters. 16 River Road/Santa Clara Transition/Heritage White Paper DRAFT 11-24-05 Service provider Review