Council holds off on library vote

By Meghan Erkkinen

Fife Free Press
merkkinen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: June 19, 2008

Fife residents will not see the question of a library on their November ballots.

The decision not to put a possible annexation into the Pierce County Library District was reached by the Fife City Council at its meeting June 10. As the main reasons for postponing the vote, the council cited a timeline that was too short to inform citizens and divided opinions on the council, as well as what many perceive to be a lack of public interest in a library.

“I’d rather err on the side of conservative than rush into this,” said Councilmember Dick Godwin. “I like the idea of a library but…I don’t hear an overwhelming scream” for it.

If the council had agreed to go ahead with a November vote, it certainly would have had to move quickly. An interlocal agreement with the library system would need to be approved at a meeting June 24, and the county council also needs to take action by Aug. 12 to get the issue on the ballot.

Councilmember Butch Brooks, who said he was neutral on the outcome of a citizen vote, said moving forward, especially with a council that had no strong opinion one way or the other, would not be a good move.

“I think this is just a recipe for failure,” he said.

Councilmembers Rob Cerqui and Nancy de Booy both felt it was not a good time to proceed. Cerqui cited the city’s arrangement with Puyallup and Tacoma – where Fife citizens can be reimbursed for library cards – as adequate for the time being.

De Booy questioned whether a library would be a beneficial asset to the city, citing the small number of people who take advantage of Fife’s reimbursement program. She also said she didn’t feel comfortable with the city’s businesses shouldering an extra tax burden that would not be of much benefit to them.

“I would not support it (annexation into the library system) in any way right now,” she said.

Even some council members who were strongly in support of a library in the city had some reservations.

Mayor Barry Johnson, who said he was very much in support of getting a library in the city, called the timeline

“a little bit too crunched” to put it on the ballot in November.

Glenn Hull was the sole council member who was still in support of moving ahead.

“I think we’ve had plenty of time to talk about this,” he said, adding voter turn-

out would be significantly higher this November due to the presidential election. He said he was not in favor of having a special election for the issue, as voter turnout would be significantly lower.

The council agreed to go ahead with the surveying of citizens and to continue working on a shared understanding with the Pierce County Library District as to what it would offer the city.

The lack of enthusiasm for a potential library among some members of the council has left some citizens frustrated.

“It’s just disappointing because I had heard that people in Fife were in favor of the library, so I had expected it would be coming soon,” said Jennifer Wells, who moved to Fife last fall after spending eight years in Milton. “Living in Fife, it feels like there’s not the quality of life, and I think that’s an embarrassment for the city.”

When Wells lived in Milton, she said she frequently visited the library and was active in the branch’s Friends of the Library program.

“I was really a happy member of the Pierce County Library System,” she said.

Wells called Fife’s reimbursement program inadequate, citing the distance to the Puyallup and Tacoma branches, and the time it takes to be reimbursed the large expense for a card, something not everyone can afford.

Wells also said a library in the city would have benefits beyond that of a bookstore.

“When you belong to a library system you have access to more than just a book and I think that’s where a lot of the public doesn’t understand the difference,” she said. “A library system is so much more. It’s also a community gathering place. They put on programs…You also have access to millions of pieces of information, magazines, articles, movies, DVDs, CDs, and of course books – books that aren’t always available (at bookstores).”

Mike Seeger, owner of Fife Flowers, lives just outside of Fife, in unincorporated Pierce County. He said he visits the Milton library at least once a week, if not more often, checking out biographies and books on business and using the Internet.

As a business owner, Seeger said he’s usually the first one at the council’s door when tax increases are on the table.

“Several of the council members don’t feel that the cost is warranted because the library is funded through property-tax billing,” he said. “As a business person, I think it is. It’s one of the few times I’d say, ‘take the money and build a library,’ because our children above anything need a library. If you can read, you can teach yourself anything.”

Beyond the benefits to children, Seeger said a library would benefit the business community as well.

“One of the complaints businesses have had is schools are graduating students who are not ready for the work force,” he said. “We need educated students and children and adults and without [a library] we’re not going to get them.”

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