In this blog entry, I simply want to document that the city information to the public has always presented the remodeling of the Cedar River Library as a viable option for meeting the needs of KCLS. Consider this presentation to the City Council Committee of the Whole in May 2011, fifteen months after the KCLS annexation election. Clearly, the city was continuing to consider the Cedar River location viable. KCLS representatives even participated in the presentation of these site options at the May 2011 council meeting.

Here is an excerpt:

Note that the first site option for the downtown library is the “Existing Library.” Since the city and KCLS were obviously still discussing site options fifteen months AFTER the KCLS election, and the existing site was on the list of options, there is simply no way that anyone can support a claim that voters knew they were choosing to move the downtown library when they cast a vote to join KCLS. No one could have “known” such a thing, because the council had not made the decision.

(The council, not the voting citizens, made the decision on the proposed library location in a 4-to-3 split vote, on June 21 2011–16 months after the KCLS annexation election)

I provided additional background on this event in this journal entry three years ago.

Often it works best to put controversial decisions behind us quickly, and move on. This approach can minimize times of conflict and keep things moving forward. This works well when everyone agrees that we reviewed all the information before we made a decision.

But powering ahead will not work when large groups of decision-makers feel they have not been given relevant information, or not consulted at all. This is why we find ourselves driving up on an August 7 library election. This is also why it is desperately important for citizens to have access to accurate, complete information before voting.

In yesterday’s Renton Reporter, the editor offered to help provide this information, and “to clear up any half-truths and untruths” regarding the library. I commend the editor for this, but I also issue him the challenge to truly investigate the issues.

The Renton Reporter has not had a perfect track record informing voters about this issue. For instance, three recent Renton Reporter editorials have claimed that voters have already made the informed decision to relocate the downtown library. Here are some quotes: (March 22, 2012) ” majority rules…the city administration was then obligated, legally, to carry out the public’s wishes and negotiate… the details of building two new libraries in new locations.”; (April 6, 2012) “We would argue that the public’s voice was heard two years ago, when a majority of voters decided to annex to KCLS, knowing that new libraries were on the horizon.“; (April 19, 2012) “The Renton Reporter has argued that the City of Renton and the King County Library System had already signed a contract to build a new library somewhere other than over the Cedar River. The plan was clear in election literature and in all the documents approved by the City Council”

But with all these bold (and controversial) assertions that voters two years ago clearly knew they were voting to close the Cedar River Library, had the Renton Reporter ever actually informed voters that a vote for KCLS was a vote for closing Cedar River library in 2010? No. The Reporter instead informed the public there might be a single new library, in the highlands, that the public would get to vote on. Here is an excerpt from the Renton Reporter editorial of January 27, 2010 a week prior to the KCLS annexation: “Renton residents will have some local control over whether the city builds a new library, perhaps in the Highlands, if and when a levy to do so is placed on the ballot. That’s a glimmer of local control, although the building would belong to KCLS.” Beyond this editorial, there were four special reports on the KCLS annexation issue, which you can find linked here; in these reports, the Renton Reporter never once mentioned that the Cedar River Library would be subject to closure with annexation to KCLS. Yet this possibility of closure is obviously an issue of paramount importance to thousands of trusting citizens.

In fairness to the Renton Reporter, I don’t think they knew anything different at the time. But this is an example of where the public needs to see some digging and investigative reporting before they make their decision in the upcoming August 7, 2012 election.

The last 20 percent of the city’s explanatory statement for the August 7 ballot is dedicated to re-purposing issues that go along with the library choices. These (admittedly incomplete) plans require “additional undetermined funding”. If the Piazza library site is chosen, this additional undetermined funding would be three to ten million dollars of one-time money, plus another million or two annually, for maintenance and operation of the Cedar River library building. The newspaper owes it to the readers to make an effort to scope this funding, and not simply refer to the Piazza site as the least expensive one.

As a council member, I am glad this is going to the voters for a decision, and I am happy to implement either location choice. While I prefer the Cedar River Library, I can see why some others like the Piazza location. My real concern is that everyone has the information they need for an informed choice and that they understand what they are signing up for. With less than 90 days before the ballots must be returned, there is no time to lose in terms of getting information out there.

For this reason, I’m going to post some blogs on this topic with the facts as I personally know them, and I’ll ask readers to give them peer review by affirming or challenging them in my comment section. I will be sharing opinions too, and trying to remain disciplined about keeping facts and opinions separated– please feel free to agree or disagree with these opinions. As long as there is a public airing of all the issues, I’ll be pleased with the election outcome. I am confident that this is a feeling city-wide.

Please let me know if there are any specific topics you would like to see covered.

My wife Cathy and our mustang Zeus on the Honey Creek trail in Renton Highlands

On our sunny spring days, like we enjoyed last weekend, the Northwest can seem like the Garden of Eden. I only have to walk a few blocks from my house to reach a well-maintained trail that meanders along Honey Creek, through a quiet, steep valley deeply shaded by fern-covered trees. Simple old wooden bridges enable the trail to criss-cross over the creek below, keeping hikers (and bikers and horse-back riders) feeling close to the flowing water.

I’ve been enjoying these trails with my family for 26 years, and they have changed very little over the years. The City of Renton does a great job of maintaining them (in part because of utilities buried in the trails). When guests visit from out of town, if the weather is at all permitting, I take them down the Honey Creek trail. Anyone who wants to experience it can find it by parking on the street near Kennydale Memorial Hall, where Edmonds Ave. NE meets NE 27th Street. Walk eastward down the hill and enjoy the paved trail that used to be “Devils Elbow Road”. As the road crosses May Creek, at the bottom of the Elbow, walkers and bikers can access the Honey Creek trail which is finished with compacted gravel.

A maple tree adorned by ferns leans over Honey Creek in Renton Highlands

Here is the ballot title we approved on Monday:

The Renton City Attorney’s Office has published a memo with a proposed library ballot title for council to consider on Monday. Council President Rich Zwicker wants the public to have a chance to review this proposal and make comment before council discusses at our Monday night meeting. Here is a link to this memo.

In addition, Mayor Law has published a memo with an explanation of the cost approach used to evaluate the costs of renovating the existing library. Here is a link to this memo.

I would encourage citizens with an interest in the ballot title wording to review these two memos, and email your comments to the city council at the city website here

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Late Friday afternoon the Renton Reporter ran a story on the topic, which can be found here

While I am glad that Renton Reporter ran a story on this topic to get the word out, I did feel compelled to comment on the story’s headline which read: “Cost estimates show Piazza library downtown is less costly.” Here is the comment I left on the story:

Comment from Renton Councilman Randy Corman:

I feel that the headline is misleading as it currently reads: “Piazza library downtown is less costly.” This headline gives the false impression that because I am a council member who favors keeping the library over the Cedar River, then I am trying to spend MORE money than my council colleagues who wish to move the library to the Piazza. But as an earlier commenter pointed out, construction of the Piazza library would also include remodeling and re-purposing of the existing library, which has not been accounted for in the cost figures. Given no other data, it is reasonable to assume that this remodeling for another purpose would be similar to the cost of remodeling the building as a library. For instance, the cost estimates of roughly half a million dollars for roofing, half a million for new plumbing, half a million for electrical, etc would not change if we did something else with the building.

Hence, this is a more accurate full accounting of the costs:

Library move to Big 5 costs:
New building costs: $9,337,159.
Costs to repurpose CR bldg: $10.1MM.
Total costs to tax payers: $19.4MM.

Remodel existing bldg: $10.1MM.
Temp relocation: $400M.
Total: $10.5MM

It is significantly less costly to the tax payers to keep the library at it’s present location. Put another way, the Piazza library will cost the taxpayers almost twice as much money.

As a final note, I think if we built the new highlands library first — nearly tripling it’s size– we could avoid temporarily relocating the downtown library during construction– we could simply close it temporarily. This would save another $400,000 with the remodeling option.

I don’t normally do my debating in the newspaper comment section, but I just do not want the public to get the false impression that remodeling the Cedar River library is the expensive option, or that I am being careless with their money just to preserve a beloved library building.

(End of newspaper comment)

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As a final note, the city has been receiving Freedom of Information requests for library cost and remodeling data, and my understanding is that our City Clerk is working to provide the requested data and get as much data posted to the city’s website as quickly as possible.

But before the council chambers cleared, there were conciliatory overtures and mutual expressions of desire to resolve this– no one felt comfortable with so much division in our community. And by this afternoon Mayor Law was working with KCLS, city officials, and councilmembers to find a way to put the location of the library on the ballot.

I’m relieved to see us all pulling in the same direction again, and I know other Renton officials feel the same. We are an amazingly effective community when we are all working together– our Renton citizen/business/government collaborations and partnerships are the envy of the region.

So I’m hopeful and appreciative tonight. I’m also inspired by the people in our community, who were eloquent, informative, and even poetic in the council meeting, and made me proud to live in Renton.

When we start to look towards a vote on the library location, we should also consider options for improving our downtown. If you have not read it yet, I described work in my hometown in this blog here. Perhaps we can find a way to take some similar steps in downtown Renton.

All of your ideas are appreciated. Thanks again everyone.

Now, on to my understanding of the current library situation.

Fifteen percent of Renton’s registered voters have signed a petition asking for an election to decide the location of the downtown library. The County auditor has verified the signatures, and the petition now is now going to come back to Renton City Council for action. With such a petition, we are ordinarily supposed to send it to the ballot for a vote of the people, or adopt the ordinance the petition calls for.

The Renton City Attorney and an attorney hired by the Petitioners are battling one another over the constitutionality of the ordinance proposed by the petition (see their conflicting memos near the bottom of this entry). The City Administration has suggested that the City Attorney’s doubts about the wording are a reason for the council to not send the petition to the ballot. But it seems clear to me that the constitutionality of the petition is an issue for the courts to decide, not the city council. The RCW (state law) tells me (as councilmember) to do as follows:

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RCW 35A.11.100
Initiative and referendum — Exercise of powers.

[1996 c 286 § 4; 1965 c 7 §35.17.260 . Prior: 1911 c 116 § 21, part; RRS § 9110, part.]

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I don’t see anything which tells me to make a ruling on the constitutionality of the wording of the ordinance in the petition. As far as I can tell, such judicial-style rulings are neither a state-granted power of the council nor an area of expertise of the council.

If we do not put the petitioner’s requested ordinance on the ballot, or adopt an ordinance as requested by the petitioners, the RCW spells out a remedy for the citizens as follows:

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RCW 35.17.290
Legislative — Initiative petition — Appeal to court.

If the clerk finds the petition insufficient or if the commission refuses either to pass an initiative ordinance or order an election thereon, any taxpayer may commence an action in the superior court against the city and procure a decree ordering an election to be held in the city for the purpose of voting upon the proposed ordinance if the court finds the petition to be sufficient.

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In summary, regardless of how one feels about the library location or the wording of the petition, I don’t see any place in the RCW that instructs council to arbitrarily decide not to either hold the election or adopt an ordinance because we don’t like or agree with the petition wording. Like we’ve frequently seen in state-wide initiatives, the constitutionality of the wording would normally be decided by a court (if there is still a dispute) AFTER the election, and only if the ballot measure prevails. Our only decision as a council is whether to adopt the petitioner’s proposed action, or forward it to the ballot.

Here is the Renton City Attorney’s memo:
Cityattoneymemo

Here is the memo from the Petitioner’s attorney:
cedarriverlibraryattorney

If any of you readers see this differently (including you attorneys out there), please let me know. Thanks, Randy

I love this picture of my Mother (far right in blue) and her family during a Thanksgiving celebration around 1955. I had to say goodbye to my mother this year, but I am forever thankful for the five decades of love and support she gave me.

There are so many blessings in our lives that I’m glad we take a day each year to pause and appreciate them. I hope you are all enjoying family, friends and treasured memories on this Thanksgiving day.

(By the way, while the above photo was shot in Oklahoma, there are a couple of Renton connections in it. My Mom’s brother Ken, seated at the end of the table, is a current Renton resident; and the photo hanging on the wall at the right is of humorist Will Rogers, who is one of the two men we have named our Renton Seaplane base after.)

Renton Council has previously expressed tentative support of holding an annexation election (with a 5 to 2 council split), with the intent that IF residents of West Hill expressed a majority interest in annexing, Renton would make a final review of whether we could make the annexation work financially. The financial determination would be heavily dependent on an annexation funding sales tax “rebate” from Washington State, which was set up a few years ago specifically to enable cities to close the budget gap when annexing unincorporated urban areas.

But last week, Governor Gregoire revealed that she may propose eliminating this annexation funding. If she did, the budget gap for a West Hill annexation would grow from about ten million dollars over ten years (depending on the assumptions used) to about thirty million dollars over ten years– a gap I predict is too wide for a majority of Renton Councilmembers to accept.

In other words, if Governor Gregoire persuades the legislature to cut this funding, Renton could not afford to annex West Hill.

Here is an article with more information on this topic, as it relates to the city of Burien.