by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Four people took issue with Sartell’s proposed Comprehensive Plan at a public hearing on the subject at the July 11 city council meeting. (See related story.)
The four who spoke up were Joe Perske, teacher and former Sartell mayor; Sartell resident and former professor Henry Smorynski; Dr. Zurya Anjum and her daughter, school student Summbla Anjum. All have addressed the council at past meetings, urging members to support a branch library in the city.
Perske
Perske noted the comprehensive plan divides the city into primary and secondary zones of development, the primary to the south, the secondary to the north. He said once the new high school is built, the north side will not be considered “secondary” because lots of growth and transportation needs will develop there, and the comprehensive plan, he added, should reflect that coming reality.
Perske also said the plan gives short shrift to a library.
A resident of Sartell for 27 years, Perske said he was aware during all those years of people in Sartell who wanted a library in the city. Surveys, petitions, a pro-library rally at city hall and voters voting twice for a half-cent sales tax that would pay for projects, including a library, have shown how strongly residents favor an in-city library, Perske said.
The Great River Regional Library Board has voted twice, Perske noted, to cooperate with Sartell to create a branch library, but the council has not responded adequately or provided for a library now or in the future. Sartell residents through taxes provide $250,000 to the GRRL system, and there are 4,500 registered library card users from Sartell at the St. Cloud library; Perske added Sartell is the biggest city in Minnesota without its own library.
The comprehensive plan, Perske said, needs stronger language concerning a branch library rather than just a paragraph about “monitoring” library options.
“It (a library) is a want and need for this community, and it has been for a long time,” Perske told the council.
The following is the paragraph in the comprehensive plan Perske and others were referring to during the public hearing:
“The City is served by the Great River Regional Library System. There are no library branches within the city limits; however there are libraries nearby in St. Cloud and Waite Park. There is a strong desire by many residents to enchance GRRL library services within the community as it would be a valuable asset for Sartell’s existing and future residents. Sartell will continue to work with GRRL to monitor and identify the options for future library services.”
Smorynski
The comprehensive plan, Smorynski told the council, “fails the test” because no one is held accountable for its provisions and because it contains no priorities – just goals that are vague with no commitments.
Other contentions made by Smorynski are these:
- There is nothing about developments of the Mississippi River in the document.
- It doesn’t reflect the impacts to Sartell of growth and development in nearby cities.
- The document presumes there is more widespread support for the “Town Square” developments in south Sartell than actually exists among residents.
- Population estimates in the plan are exaggerated.
- The plan should have more emphasis on ways to encourage development and retention of smaller retail businesses.
- There should be a separate plan for the new community center.
- It should state the city’s commitment to work with the GRRL system to create a plan for a branch library by 2018.
Zurya Anjum
The GRRL is willing to work with the city for a branch library, Anjum said, and its board has said the city hall site would be acceptable. It’s now time for the city to act, she added.
Anjum said she and her family moved to Sartell because of its school system and because there was a promise of a library in the city. But since then, she added, the elected leaders (three of five council members) switched from their promise to support a library, and their legacy, she added, will be tarnished because they did not support a library – they defied it.
The council, Anjum said, should start putting aside money for a branch library rather than “just giving us empty words.”
She added: “Please take this time and fulfill the promise you made. Do what the whole community wants and what is best for the whole community.”
Summbla Anjum
A student at Sartell Middle School, Anjum also said it’s time for a Sartell branch library, and a city plan should state that. She said Sartell Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll promised once when the GRRL completed its long-term assessment, the council would consider the recommendations of the assessment. The assessment is now completed; it’s time, Anjum said, for Nicoll and others on the council to act upon their promise.
Later in the meeting, council member Amy Braig-Lindstrom asked Sartell Administrator Mary Degiovanni about the status of the GRRL assessment. Degiovanni said that, yes, the assessment has been completed but won’t become public until the GRRL Board votes to approve it, probably at its next meeting. After the assessment becomes public, the council will know how Sartell would fit into the assessment plan for library services.
