Poor timing cited as plans for Marion satellite library delayed

MARION - Plans to include a satellite library in the city's new YMCA have been delayed because of timing and budget issues, library officials said, adding that any available operating funds should be directed toward the uptown, mixed-use library project instead.

At a Marion City Council budget work session Saturday, Library Director Doug Raber told council members the satellite branch, which was supposed to be in the YMCA's new facility on the north side of Marion, would have to wait three to four years until money is available for it.

'We thought we could actually use this location because of the expansion of the neighborhoods up there but, at this point, the pressure on the staffing budget would be too great to make it actually happen,” Raber said.

The operating cost for the satellite location would be at least $30,000 a year, according to Raber.

Developers for the YMCA project, along Tower Terrace Road, originally called for 450 square feet of library space. But Raber said that plan was made with the assumption that the YMCA project would be further along by now. It's still in the fundraising stage; ground has not been broken.

'At this point, I don't think it's fiscally reasonable to figure out how to staff that satellite branch with new staff, and at the same time thinking about how to staff an expanded, larger building here,” Raber told council members, referring to the library's planned multimillion-dollar, mixed-use project.

'Now, (both projects) are arriving at the same time, and it doesn't make sense. It puts too much pressure on the staffing budget.”

Transit costs also would have been an obstacle with the satellite location, Raber said.

'We'd have to figure out how to move the material back and forth between that (location) and the main library, and at this point right now, the library has no budget at all for transit or vehicles,” Raber said.

In the library's budget request for the upcoming fiscal year, it requested money to hire only two part-time staff in anticipation of the new facility, a request City Manager Lon Pluckhahn recommended to the council Saturday in his draft budget.

Also, plans for a special election - on the idea of a mixed-use building for a new Marion library - have been pushed back.

Initially, members of the library boardwanted a special election in March or May. But given the time frame and no cost estimates yet available from the developer, the vote might have to be held in May or August, Pluckhahn said.

The Library Board requested a public vote on the issue, though proposed financing probably will not require a bond issue.

Board President John Clemens said Ryan Cos., the library project's developer, is working with subcontractors to gather pricing information.

Brad Thomason, a Ryan division manager, said details for the project probably will be available in February.