Valley library service will stay

Betsy Millar had never come to City Hall to stand up for an issue. But the possibility that the Valley library could be closed got her out Tuesday night.

“It’s just a basic need. You have to have a library,” said Millar, 58.

It seemed that no one at the standing-room-only meeting disagreed. The council voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a contract with the Spokane County Library District based on the district’s method of calculating the contract value.

Without a contract, the district warned it would have to close the Valley branch, reduce services to its patrons countywide and deny Spokane Valley residents privileges at other branches, starting in January. Layoff notices that had been scheduled to go to a third of the district’s staff today will land in the trash instead.

“This district has served this area for over 60 years,” district board member David Sani told the council. “We are very excited and … hope to be able to serve it for at least another 60.”

The council also voted to consider allowing citizens to vote to annex to the district later next year. If that issue is put on the ballot and voters approve it, the city would get out of the library business. Instead, residents would pay a tax directly to the district, just as they did before Valley incorporation.

At least 160 people packed the council chambers, many spilling into the hallway and watching through windows that are behind the council members’ seats. Throughout the discussion, two library supporters hoisted signs in those windows, reading “Save our library.”

When Councilman Mike DeVleming moved to approve the contract, the room erupted into applause.

“If you want to say that Spokane Valley city is an improvement over Spokane County, then you’d better make it such,” retired Freeman High School librarian Norma Trefry told the council.

Three students from Summit School suggested that without a library, Spokane Valley might become a place where people don’t read.

Contract negotiations with the district broke down when the council said it wanted to base the value on the amount residents actually use the library system. The district wanted a contract based on property values, which is how its other patrons pay for the services.

Council members said they never intended to threaten library services. They wanted to use taxpayers’ money in the most responsible way.Diana Wilhite, presiding over her first meeting as mayor, criticized the district for giving the city an ultimatum with its well-publicized warning that libraries would have to close.

“Rather than articulating this argument in a formal notice to the city council, the library board communicated through the media,” she said.

More than 250 library supporters circulated information via e-mail during the library campaign. Those messages, which weren’t initiated by the district, sometimes carried falsehoods and hurled harsh insults at council members.

“When you’re directly attacked … you tend to dig your heels in,” Councilman Mike Flanigan said.

Although the council’s vote was good news for library supporters, some details of the contract aren’t finalized.

“I’m feeling very positive, but I’ll feel much better when the ink’s dry,” district employee Ellen Miller said.