Zurya Anjum on behalf of Sartell Friends of the Library
Dear Sartell City Council Members and Mayor,
On Nov. 17, the Great River Regional Library Board clearly stated the south site chosen by the Sartell City Council for a community-center site is not suitable for a branch library because of distance requirements from the St. Cloud and Waite Park libraries. That information was conveyed to Sartell before the council went ahead and chose the south site for a community center.
The GRRL assessment as regards Sartell has already been completed, and one site acceptable to GRRL is the Sartell City Hall location.
It is a shame a city of 17,000 people does not have its own library branch. In a survey done by Sartell (Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2015), 75 percent wanted a youth library and 69 percent asked for an adult library. Those results can be found on the City of Sartell website under “Packet Information” for Nov. 9 (page 142 in packet).
Sartell residents want city officials to make a commitment to GRRL to get the process started with the money from half-cent sales tax for a library branch. The GRRL wants to work with Sartell now. That was made clear by the GRRL Board Chairperson Mark Bromenschenkel and GRRL Executive Director Karen Pundsack on Nov. 23 at the Sartell council meeting. Kudos to them and council members David Peterson and Amy Braig Lindstrom for speaking in favor of a GRRL library in Sartell. The mayor and council member Steve Hennes tried to get the GRRL board to modify its requirements to accommodate the south-site community center even though the GRRL board voted against it due to its distance-requirement policies. How presumptuous and arrogant of them to want GRRL to bend the rules for them because it does not work for their chosen site.
Despite options for a separate site for a GRRL branch or considering constructing the community center at an alternate site, the mayor continues to state there should be no discussion till a GRRL assessment is completed next year. Wouldn’t that be too late to then say “We made a mistake about choosing this site even though we knew this was not acceptable to GRRL, and now Sartell cannot have a GRRL library since there is no money left!”
At the last two council meetings, the room was full of library supporters, including a pro-library rally at the Nov. 9 meeting. There are 500 signatures on a petition calling for a branch library, but that does not seem significant to the mayor.
The other council members who want to delay discussion of a library until next summer are not listening to the constituents who elected them. That is not the way of a democracy.
Council and mayor, please listen to your people. Building a community center without plans to build a library is not good planning, nor is it serving your community. Now is the time to act for a GRRL branch in Sartell. If not, the legacy of Mayor Nicoll and this council will be one of splitting this city into fractions, one of which is already calling library supporters names such as “gym bashers, whiners and bullies” just because they are asking the city to follow through on 15 years of hard work and promises to build a branch library. Sadly, even though Sartell Senior Connection members do not approve of the senior-center location, they do not want to stop the process as they have waited too long for this and are worried if this process is halted they may not see a senior center in their lifetime. What does this say about us as a community?