Submitted by Walter Neary.
I had the pleasure of being quoted recently in a story by The News Tribune related to the main branch of the Lakewood library. There are clearly a lot of people who want to save the current library building. In order to understand how to move the Pierce County Library System, we need to understand that the Pierce County Library System is the least accountable taxing authority and government in this area.
With pretty much any government you can think of – the state, Pierce County, Lakewood city, the water district, the fire district – you can run for office to help govern the organization. You cannot run for the Pierce County Library board of trustees. The decisions of the library system are made by people who are not elected. That board is appointed by the Pierce County Council, which otherwise offers no guidance or oversight.
So you might think it’s pointless to affect or move the Pierce County Library System. But I don’t think that’s so. Because you are a member of the public, and you have rights.
I attended a couple of board meetings a couple of years ago when there were rumblings about Lakewood. (There were no rumblings about closing the downtown branch). And I was the only member of the public there. If the Pierce County trustees never see anyone from Lakewood, of course they’re not going to be thinking of Lakewood. Why should they? “Oh, so a building has to close because of neglect, does that really matter?”
If the Pierce County Library System is the right organization to provide library services for Lakewood, we need regular Lakewood representation at the board meetings. We need some of us to show up at these meetings. You will learn how they spend their money – where’s it going to? They will not be able to operate in darkness, and let me add, that’s not their entirely fault, because nobody from the public is showing up.
The library board meets at a terrible time for those of us who are employed (or for people who care for children at home, etc). They meet 3:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month (here’s the schedule https://www.piercecountylibrary.org/about-us/board-trustees/meeting-schedule.htm ) at the Library’s Administrative Center & Library, 3005 112th St. E. (corner of 112th and Waller Road) in Parkland.
You can absolutely go to those meetings. You introduce yourself to the nice person at the front desk, and then they unlock a door and lead you up some stairs to a meeting room. You have as much right as a member of that board to be at a meeting, according to Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act. And you have a right to a copy of any documentation that they hand out to the board. If you go, let me know and I can bring you up to speed on the opening public meetings act and the public records act – the library wouldn’t have much reason to know of those things since people don’t regularly attend their meetings. I’m happy to take turns with a small community of people, I just can’t be there myself every Wednesday because I’m usually working in Seattle. This is the challenge, isn’t it? So many other things to do on a Wednesday.
The board will be astonished to see you. People from the Pierce County Library System will read this column and expect full well none of you will show up. People never do. They say they care about library service, but they don’t show up.
But if you were there – you could tell others what you see. And then at least there would be light shining on the least accountable government in Pierce County. And library system trustees and staff will be thrilled for the most part because your presence would show that someone cares about what they do.
Now – to be fair, you will also learn about what the library does spend its money on. You will hear reports about library services in places you may have never seen in the county. This strategy is also meant to educate you. It’s a huge challenge to maintain library service in a big county. And these are librarians, not building maintenance professionals. They have their challenges and limitations. So do the many rural communities that the system services. You will learn about each other if you go to the board meetings, and that’s desperately important if you want to build empathy with anyone. Because it’s going to take empathy. There’s no leverage unless Lakewood were to have another source of library services.
This is not a ‘let’s save the building’ thing. That’s like thinking a football game consists of one quarter. Does any team win football games by focusing on just one quarter? There is a long game here: Encouraging appropriate library services for Lakewood.
One good sign is that the Pierce County Library System and the city government have formed an advisory board. There will be a lot of talk, and good information and ideas shared. In a way, that advisory board substitutes for the fact that nobody goes to library board meetings and knows what the heck is going on. But at the end of the day, it’s the library trustees who will decide what the library does. And even once they make a decision, a year from now, or five years from now, they have to be held to it. If they open new sites in downtown Lakewood and in Tillicum or reopen the current main building, someone has to remind them to maintain those sites to avoid more condemnation by neglect.
If we really want to affect the course of Lakewood library service, it’s going to take people who can show up at 3:30 on those Wednesdays or whenever the board meets. Signing a petition is great, and makes you known to the community, but here’s the bottom line:
Moving the least accountable government in Pierce County is going to take the most effort.
Sincerely,
Walter Neary
PS – If someone is going to their meetings now, my apologies, feel free to shout out!
Thanks, Walter. I remember when the library offices were in Tacoma. I covered their activities sometimes. It was easier then. Cy was on the board of Lakewood’s Tenzler Library. That was before it was part of the county system. Lakewood was proud of its beautiful library, but a leaky roof was a perennial problem. I think we all assumed that major costly repairs and renovations had solved the problems. During cityhood discussions the idea of creating our own system was floated before a decision was made to go with the county. Maybe that wasn’t the right decision. Maybe Lakewood officials should revisit the options. What do you think?
So nice to see your name, Rita! I think of you all the time as I prowl the corridors of Lakewood history.
You ask an interesting question. Pierce County Library is designed to provide services to rural areas. Lakewood is no longer rural. If you go to board meetings, you learn the branch in Orting is every bit as important as the branches in Lakewood. And it absolutely is to the people around Orting! That’s why you need a rural system to serve the Ortings and the Buckleys.
You could argue that the idea of Pierce County Library System providing library functions to Lakewood is as outdated as the Tenzler building, or at least the building is outdated according to a report that I haven’t seen online.
On the other hand, Pierce County is already doing something. There’s no substitute for good governance regardless of who operates the services. I remember a city manager in a city I used to cover in California shutting down the city libraries because he wanted to make a point about the city budget. Our current city management is solid and wouldn’t do something like that, but you get the idea. Whoever operates the libraries, citizens need to be involved keeping the system honest.
I would think it’d be worth exploring affiliations with Tacoma or Puyallup. It’s hard to imagine a standalone system penciling out, but one hopes the City Council and other city leadership ask that question now and then.
We have utilized Public Libraries all our lives. It use to be just checking out books after a Librarian visited our school and read to us. Weekly Library visits. School project research and homework. Teaching our children how to use the library to check out popular books and attending Story Times with our children. Computer Classes and Computer help. Meeting Space. Adult recreation classes. Preparation for employment. Checking out records or movies. Donating and buying used books to support the Friends of the Library. Keepers of local History. A treasure trove.
The current ails of Society impact Libraries too. If they become a daytime haven for the unhoused they don’t feel safe. I am sure Covid-19 also hit our Libraries hard.
As for neglect, public buildings get old. Most of the Public Schools I worked in have been torn down and replaced. At some point maintenance and repair can’t make older buildings the best space for the job. Electrical. plumbing, and heating systems become obsolete. ( Remember radiators?) Earthquakes and wet weather add to structural wear and tear. A flat roof? Bad idea.
Public oversight is important. Aren’t the public meetings broadcast?
Having convenient local library services is important and tearing down the old building should not mean the elimination of valued public services.
Just like there are assigned City Leaders assigned to various public boards, such as Sound Transit, a City Official should be at every board meeting.
Would it help to have a Lakewood resident on board? How can someone get onto the PC Library board?
Would it help to have a Lakewood resident on the PC Libray Board? How can someone get onto the PC Library board?
Hi Alan, They do have a Lakewood resident, who is new to the board (a couple of the five district trustees are new, I believe, which makes the situation all the more interesting). You can meet the board at https://www.piercecountylibrary.org/about-us/board-trustees/board-members.htm
Note the Lakewood resident makes up 20 percent of the board (1 vote out of 5).
In order to get on the board, you have to be chosen by the entire Pierce County Council. So the entire group, not just Lakewood representation, gets to choose. The person who represents Lakewood on the Pierce County Council accounts for about 14.3 percent of the Pierce County Council (1 vote out of 7).
So it would definitely help, Alan, but you can see even with a person on each governing body, Lakewood’s vote is fractional. This is going to be true unless and until Lakewood goes another direction for library services.
Just to elaborate on my original post: The reason I recommend citizens attend is that it’s the staff who often recommend to rotating board members what should be done. It has to take many years of decision-making to not to maintain a roof and practice condemnation by neglect. My thinking is that if Lakewood people attend the meetings, staff would be more likely to think, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t let the roof collapse on these people who are so nice to see at our meetings.”
Let’s say, and this is just hypothetical for example, that some people said, “Hey, we should have an agenda to let the building fall apart to make it more likely that we can move to the mall,” then you’re more likely to pick up on that sort of hidden agenda if you are attending meetings. This is why newspaper reporters, back when we had any (sigh 🙁 ) would attend meetings of governing bodies.
Anyway, sorry to go on and on, let me know if you want any more information about your question.
Thanks for the response. I will try to make a meeting and see how it goes.
Applied to be on the Board. Never heard back.
Sent a letter to the old Executive Director. Huh. Never heard back.
Mr. Neary… I’ll take your bet.
does every meeting agenda have a ‘public comment’ entry
I should have said something about public comment, and I’m extra glad you asked the question because I need to update this post. I wrote it Monday/Tuesday and sent it to Ben on Tuesday afternoon, just when the Pierce County Library System put out a news release that says you can watch meetings on Zoom or by calling in on your phone (no computer needed). A number of Lakewood residents did that Wednesday afternoon, and in fact, so many of the library group seemed to be in homes or offices that I’m not even sure there were people in the Parkland building meeting room though the agenda said there would be.
I Tweeted a photo of the library staff listening to public comment: https://twitter.com/wtneary/status/1534665919443587072
Anyway, if you’re not on Zoom, no worries, it’s just handy for those of us who can’t get to Parkland, and it’s really great that the library offered it (though it looks like all their board members were working from other locations so it’s convenient for them as well). There is an upsurge in COVID cases these days.
You can get the July 13 agenda from this page, though of course it’s going to be awhile before the July agenda is posted. https://www.piercecountylibrary.org/about-us/board-trustees/board-agenda-packets/Default.htm
This is what the June agenda said about public comment:
Public Comment: This is time set aside for members of the public to speak to the Board of Trustees.
Unless the item you wish to discuss is of an emergency nature, the Board ordinarily takes matters under advisement before taking action. If attending virtually, please submit request to comment in writing (including your full name, address and topic) to pmcbride@piercecountylibrary.org by 3 pm on June 8. Time limit for
comments is three minutes.
Walter again: The chair of the meeting was gracious and offered to let anyone else comment, but sounds like it would be polite to email that address if you want to address the group on July 13, or Aug. 10, etc.
We can start picketing and carrying signs in front of Lakewood City
Bldg., the courthouse.
Can’t really do anything, but I do care. I have lived all over Lakewood, since long before it became a city, and my family lived on Lake Avenue before there was any library thought of. The people on that property had a horse living in their fenced in yard.😊
Even some classmates from Clover Park who have moved to other places still keep up with our news. Heard from a friend day before yesterday who was so sad to hear about our library closure.
Things change indeed. My little personal story isn’t much different from others, but I may be one of the few who still live here. Our dad was fire chief to nearly 30 years and knew almost everyone around. Now we are so densely populated that would not be the case. Sorry to blab on so, but have many fond memories of our library. Thanks for allowing me to respond.
Judy (White) Joy
Walter,
Keep up the good work. LU had a meeting on Tenzler 19 May…seems to be an issue of current interest!! Glad to see so much effort on our LIBRARY…
the best,
Kris