The Oregonian (Portland, OR)
September 19, 2003

ESTACADA SEEKS LIBRARY PANELISTS
Author: STEVEN AMICK - The Oregonian

Edition: SUNRISE Section: SOUTH ZONER Page: D02 Dateline: ESTACADA

The City Council wants to expand the library task force to 10 members from eight to help spread out the work and to better represent library users. City Manager Randy Ealy said the new library will serve an estimated 17,000 people -- far more than Estacada's 2,440 residents. We want to have task force members from more than just the city," he said. The council wants to move the library out of its 2,800-square-foot quarters in City Hall and into a new building with about 13,500 square feet.

At the task force's recommendation, the council on Sept. 8 choose a 1.5-acre site adjacent to city-owned Wade Creek Pond, on the west side of Northwest Wade Street. The council rejected a similar-size downtown site favored by several business people. The pond site is about $500,000 less expensive than the downtown property. Several council members cited the savings, as well as the pond site's location closer to schools and in an area likely to experience considerable residential growth, among their reasons for preferring it. The council appointed Gloria Polzin to fill a vacancy on the task force. Dave Piper, the city's library project manager, said that of the task force's eight current members, Pam Webber, Jane Troeh, Councilwoman Michele Cheshier and Polzin live in the city. Jack Townes, Felix Gurley-Rimberg, Gary Warkentin and Jim Reynolds live outside the city but within the Estacada School District, which is roughly equivalent to the library's service area. Applicants for the two openings can be from either inside or outside the city. But if the council appoints one or two more from outside the city, Piper said, that could give library patrons more confidence that they are being fairly represented. Piper said the task force's next meeting probably will be sometime in mid-October.

Meanwhile, the task force and SRG Partnership PC, a Portland-based architectural firm, will hold a third Town Hall-style meeting on Oct. 14 in the Estacada Community Center. The task force and SRG want to make sure that preliminary plans for the proposed $3.55 million project meet with the community's approval, Piper said The Estacada Library Foundation, a nonprofit corporation formed to seek grants, donations and other sources of money for the project, is to assist the council with the project's financial aspects. Piper said if all goes well, next year will see completion of the project's financing and of its final construction plan. Groundbreaking could occur in early 2005. "The goal is not to have a library 10 years from now, as has happened in some places," Piper said. "We need it now."

To apply for appointment to the task force, write or visit City Hall, 475 S.E. Main St.,
or call 503-630-8270.
Steven Amick: 503-294-5915; stevenamick@news.oregonian.com