MINUTES OF THE ROLAND CITY
COUNCIL
SPECIAL SESSION
OCTOBER 15, 2007
These minutes were approved by the
Roland City Council at its October 22, 2007, meeting.
The Roland City Council met in special session on
Monday, October 15, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. at the
Motion by Fritz, second by Varley to approve the
agenda. All in favor.
Mayor Juhl stated the reason for the
special meeting and asked the council to rescind Resolution 07-21, Awarding
Contract, that was passed at the last council meeting.
It was moved by Fritz, seconded by
Varley to rescind the motion relating to Resolution 07-21 entitled, AWARDING
CONTRACT FOR THE 221 N MAIN STREET REPAIR PROJECT, adopted at the October 8,
2007 council meeting. AYE: Fritz, Neely, Varley; NAY: Lee.
They haven’t discussed what’s going to be done.
Council member Canny telephoned in at
7:02 p.m.
Council/Mayor comments consisted of
the following: CM Fritz read a statement
giving his reasons for rescind the resolution and his feelings on the library
project as a whole. After reading his
statement he proposed a new start and asked all those present to give a brief
20 second overview of what they’d like the library to be.
The comments are as follows:
CM Fritz – He like to temporarily move
the library into the building at 221 N Main Street, acquire the property just
north of the library, tear down both buildings and construct a new library on
those lots and move in.
CM Lee – He’s not against the library,
but he’d like to put it on hold and have a town meeting.
CM Varley – He agrees with moving the
library in the building at
CM Neely – She’s not for or against
the library moving temporarily, but she can’t see spending $50,000. She’s been attending the joint committee
meetings and thought they were on their way to a compromise. She is not for building at this time. She also stated that she’s been on the
council for 2 years and this is the first she’s heard of this. She thinks the council gave up too easy.
Mayor Juhl – Supports the temporary
move. He feels the location is most
important. He’s not opposed to a library
of any size, as long as there are funds available to pay for it. He’d like for the community to come up with
some fundraising ideas to raise money.
He doesn’t want to see this go on forever.
CM Canny – He agrees with CM’s Fritz
and Varley. He like to see this project
continue moving forward. He’d like to
get the fundraising going so the citizens aren’t forced to pay for it.
Brenda Lambert – Roland resident – She
uses the library to rent movies. Doesn’t
want the City to tell the citizens what they have to pay for. She’d like to see a set of goals from the
Library and the City on what they want. All she’s heard about is the building. She also hasn’t seen any fundraising.
Denny Bauman – Roland resident and
member of the Library Foundation – He feels the library is the most important
amenity Roland has, along with the swimming pool. The Foundation started soliciting for
donations and received a number of sizable ones. With the stalemate, it has curtailed the
donations. He stated the donations will
come. He also stated that you should not
ignore the recommendations of a professional consultant. They need to move ahead with the increased
space and come to a compromise.
Kim Auld – Roland resident and
Children’s Librarian – She has seen the library expand over the last couple of
years. She was on the Design Committee and they worked very hard to come up
with the best plan. She was very
disappointed with the decision the council made. She’d like to see everyone continue to work
hard and come up with a compromise that works for all.
Tammy Shadlow – Roland resident and member
of the Library Foundation – She agrees with CM Neely that the joint committee
was making progress. She also hears that
there is some communication problems.
She’d like to see more people at the joint committee meetings, and feels
the joint committee can compromise on a plan.
CM Canny ended his phone call at 7:26
p.m.
Laura Urbanek – Roland resident and
Library Director – She feels the library is a third place for the community to
go. There is no place for the kids to go
after school or for the seniors to have coffee.
She doesn’t feel the location is as important as having a place for the
kids and the seniors.
Britany Danielson – Rural Roland
resident and President of the Library Foundation – She is happy hearing what
the citizens want. Her job is to help
raise the money.
Lisa Kasper – Roland resident and
member of the Library Board of Trustees and Joint Committee – She feels the
committee is making great headway. Feels
the council got the cart before the horse.
She’d like to remodel and use the Boyd building.
Kristi Anderson – Roland resident and
President of the Library Board of Trustees – She wants the library to be big
enough to accommodate the enthusiastic users.
She’d like to see a compromise, but one of the issues is building in an
area that is land locked.
Russ Neely – Roland resident – Roland
needs a library but we must stay within our limits. We need to use are heads on what we can
afford.
Jean Sternberg – Roland resident – She
is for a bigger library with handicap accessibility. She is impressed with the library staff. She’d like to see it combined with a
community center. She feels the building
is a good location if it is ok space wise.
She thinks people will use the library no matter where it is located.
Linda Wright – Roland resident – She
works for the Nevada Library. They built
a new library 15 years ago and are out of space. They need to build as big as they can. The Roland Library is the fourth highest in
circulation in
Corey Johnson – Roland resident and
council member candidate – He also agrees that the City needs a town meeting.
The Design Committee didn’t do a good enough job of getting the information
out. The library needs square footage
and he thinks they can get there. The
library needs to be the right size.
Decisions need to be based on accurate information.
Dick Sternberg – Roland resident – He
is for a new library. He’d like to see
it include a community center. Could
look into buying the lot south of
Rick DeWald – Rural Roland resident –
The compromise is in Resolution 06-03.
If the council would fulfill it’s commitment the City will have a good
library. The library was close to being
one of the top 10 libraries in the Nation last year.
Linda Stole – Roland resident – She’s
happy to say she’s from Roland. The
building needs to be big enough.
Sherry McDonald – Roland resident –
She agrees with Dick Sternberg. She also
thinks the citizens haven’t been informed enough. She’s like to thank the Library staff for all
they do.
Mary Pat Higgins – Roland resident –
She’d like to see something done with the slope going into the current building. It makes her very nervous.
Bob Higgins – Roland resident – Asked
why the library had to be on
Ethylene Braathun – Roland resident –
The library is the hub of the community.
The City and the Library need to pull together.
Delores Lounsberry – Roland resident
and member of the Library Foundation – It is time to enlarge the library. They need more computers. The library isn’t just books and movies. The library needs more space. The Foundation is willing to compromise.
LaVonne Frandsen – Rural Roland
resident – She is in favor of a new library.
She’d like to remodel the building at
Erik Howe – Roland resident and
council member candidate – As a college student, he’d like to see the library
be able to provide more materials for academic research.
Jack Frandsen – Rural Roland resident
– Though the council made a good move when they purchased that building. Until they get together and think alike the
money will continue to come in very, very slow.
We do need a bigger library. He’s
for remodeling and making that building big enough to accommodate whatever they
need it for.
Mary Ann Anderson – Roland resident –
She is proud of the library. She’d like
to give the joint committee a year and then it needs to get going.
Betty Eggland – Rural Roland resident
– She is also very proud of the library.
She agrees there needs to be room and would like to see them remodel the
building at
Chelsea Steward – Junior Roland
resident – It doesn’t matter to her how much it costs, she’s not paying for
it. She likes the programs that Kim has,
but the room at the current library is too small. The programs need more space.
Steve Steward – Roland resident and
council member candidate – He is interested in the growth of Roland. If we are going to spend money on a new
library we need to have space to continue to grow. The community is going to continue to grow. He like to use the money wisely and only have
to build the new library once.
Beth McClellan – Roland resident – She
uses the library constantly. The first
impressions of the library are not good.
It draws a lot of people. There
hasn’t been a lot of information or fundraising. She’d like to see it combined with a
community center. She wants the council
to make sure the building is accessible for the children (sidewalks, etc) if
the building is not on
Paul Slifka – Roland resident and
mayor candidate – He doesn’t use the library a lot but his wife does. He sees the need for more space. He’d like to see a vision put out by the
Council and the Library to compromise on.
Everyone needs to come together.
Mayor Juhl and CM Fritz thanked
everyone for their comments.
CM Varley stated what he heard was
everyone wants a bigger library, there needs to be more communication, and
people want to see a plan. So we need to
start with a plan and better communication.
There was public input at this time Dick Sternberg
promoting the joint library/community center idea; Kristi Anderson addressing
some of the comments made by CM Fritz; Tammy Shadlow on continuing with the
joint committee; Mayor Juhl stating he is continuing the joint committee; Corey
Johnson stating the town meeting is a good idea and that they can’t have a plan
without information; and Brenda Lambert asking that if notification of the town
meeting is going to be distributed, she’d like it to be mailed instead of
delivered door to door.
With no further business at this time, Fritz moved
adjournment of the meeting at 7:58 p.m., second by Varley. All were in favor. The next regular council meeting will be
Monday, October 22, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.
_____________________________________ __________________________________
Samuel Juhl, Mayor Deneen Frost, City Clerk