This new year should be dubbed the “Year for a Sartell Library” in the city.
We already know it will be the year for a community center, which is, of course, an exciting development, though it would be far more exciting if it contained the library Sartell residents have wanted for at least 15 years.
However, there is hope some kind of library just might be possible, after all, in Sartell. Once the Great River Regional Library’s long-range assessment plan is completed by mid-summer, we will have a good idea of what can (or cannot) be achieved in the form of a library.
What’s concerning at this point is just what kind of a library might it be. A reading room? A children’s mini library only? A kiosk for ordering and dropping off library items? While those services might be welcome – better than nothing – they are not solely what the people in favor of a library wanted. When Sartell residents voted for the half-cent sales tax not just once, but twice, the ballot question stated “library” – not “some form of library service” – as one of the preferred amenities for which the sales-tax money could be spent.
To some degree, it’s understandable the city council rejected GRRL requirements for a GRRL branch library having to be 12,500 square feet, 15 miles or more from the St. Cloud and Waite Park libraries and possibly up to $500,000 for a start-up collection of library materials. All through last year, the council majority did not adequately explain precisely why it could not or would not accept a library plan. It made up its mind about a south-site community center, and that was that, period. There was never an open dialogue with proponents for a library, even after the supporters presented a petition and demonstrated in front of city hall.
Sartell Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll has said she has always been in favor of some sort of library service, such as a kiosk or children’s library. The other two in the majority have never said they are against a library. However, all three have never fully answered the questions and concerns of library supporters who attended council meeting after council meeting, trying to get definite answers, explanations or alternative plans. Instead, their concerns were put on hold. The impression library proponents received was that their concerns were being dismissed or ignored with a vague wait-and-see attitude.
Maybe the council does have a feasible option for a library, a possibility it cannot divulge at the present time. We certainly hope so.
Let us hope when the GRRL assessment is completed this summer, there will be a plan presented by GRRL and the city council for an adequate library in Sartell, not just some kind of partial service.
Many Sartell residents have said they see no need for a library in the city. They argue the St. Cloud library is close enough. They also maintain with the prevalence of electronic-media access and downloads, there is less demand for actual books and other items from a library. But that is an assumption that happens to be untrue, based on reports from the 32 branch libraries in the GRRL system.
What is undeniable is that for 15 years, Sartell residents have placed “a library” at or near the very top of a wish list of city amenities. They voiced that wish even before there was a half-cent sales tax. Then they voted for the sales tax because it stated doing so would make possible a library. That tax may not have passed if library supporters had not voted for it.
That is why 2016 should be the “Year for a Sartell Library,” one that is acceptable to those who have long supported a library and who voted – twice – to have one in Sartell.