Library issue looks bound for ballot

Like a kid who thinks his parents might let him open presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day, Spokane Valley library fans were within reach Tuesday of a hope they’ve voiced for almost a year.

The Spokane Valley City Council was close to suspending its normal rules and doing its part to put annexation to the Spokane County Library District on the May 17 ballot. But, at the urging of one councilman who wanted to follow normal procedures, the decision won’t come for at least a week.

“There’s no emergency here to do this,” Councilman Steve Taylor said. “Let’s just go through the normal process, and we’ll finish this up next week or the week after.”

It seems all but certain, though, that an annexation vote is the direction the council plans to take.

“If this is something that’s basically going to happen, let’s make this happen and let the public have their say,” Councilman Mike De-Vleming said while urging Taylor to change his mind.

Library services have been a heated issue in Spokane Valley since late 2003. The city contracts with the district so that its citizens have the privilege of checking out books, using computers and taking advantage of all the services at the district’s 10 branches. Negotiating the 2004 contract took longer than expected because the council and the district didn’t agree on how the contract’s dollar value was to be reached.

For the 2005 contract, the council asked private companies to compete for the job. The district beat the lone private bidder, but the debate over how to calculate the value of the contract was repeated. At one point, the district warned that if an agreement couldn’t be reached, jeopardizing a major source of its funding, it would have to close the Valley branch. In addition to letters and phone calls to City Hall, more than 160 citizens attended a council meeting last fall to support the district.

The council eventually agreed to the district’s version of the contract, which is worth about $2 million.

All along, though, many library patrons urged the council to annex to the district rather than contract with it. Doing so would get the city out of the library business. The money taxpayers give the city for library services would go directly to the district instead, just as it had prior to incorporation.

To put annexation up for a vote, the council, the district and Spokane County commissioners have to OK it. If it’s on the May 17 ballot and the majority of voters pass it, annexation will take effect Jan. 1, 2006. The May election is a mail-in ballot only, which is something the state periodically requires.

For the first time in recent memory, one citizen spoke against annexation Tuesday. Tony Lazanis, a meeting regular, worried about giving away control of library services.

“This new city, down the road, is going to have to take the responsibility to take some things in-house,” he said, as a couple of audience members who have been following the library issue shook their heads.

The council’s delay of a week or so in finalizing its role in the annexation issue didn’t bother Mayo Sayrs.

“I’m thrilled they’re moving ahead as fast as they are,” she said.