The city council voted 5-2 Monday night to hire a consultant to
lead an eleventh-hour voter outreach campaign to pass a $37 million
library bond this November.
The city council voted 5-2 Monday night to hire a consultant to lead an eleventh-hour voter outreach campaign to pass a $37 million library bond this November.
Councilmembers voted in favor despite worries about a short time window, tough economic times and a potential school bond that could siphon voter support away from the library measure. The body must still formally approve the hiring and placement of the measure on the ballot, but Monday night’s study session was definitely a positive indicator for both.
The city spent $20,000 six months ago surveying residents about whether they would support a bond measure, which requires a two-thirds majority. With economic conditions continuing to sour, however, the council believes it needs to survey residents again for another $20,000. The county will charge the city an additional $44,000 to $54,000 to place the measure on the ballot, and the Lew Edwards Group will charge $83,000, according to city figures.
The consultant will make residents aware of the bond before November’s election, representatives said, but Councilmen Perry Woodward and Craig Gartman declined to support the “noble” library project if it means using city money for what Woodward said amounted to inappropriate advocacy.
“I don’t know how you can say this isn’t advocacy,” Woodward said, holding up a mailer Lew Edwards prepared for Manhattan Beach entitled, “Facts about our Manhattan Beach Library.”
The mailer-cum-survey bares the seal of Manhattan Beach and notes the library’s unsafe physical condition and its lack of resources. It is dotted with pictures of smiling children and parents crowded around books and computers. The Manhattan Beach city council has since decided to abandon the library bond due to the presence of a school bond on the ballot and the general lull in the economy.
“I want a new library, and I’ll vote to put this on the ballot, and I’ll walk precincts (to support the measure), but it does not seem appropriate for me to spend taxpayer money to advocate a position,” Woodward said. “I’m tempted to vote yes because the ends are so important, but the ends don’t justify the means here… If I were a resident who did not want a new library, and I saw this in the mail, I’d be ticked the city was spending my money to advocate it.”
But Mayor Al Pinheiro and other council members argued that the community needs a new library. It’s long overdue, they said. Plus, this money would come from a city fund dedicated to the construction of the new library, they noted.
“One of the things that makes me feel comfortable about this is that we’re spending the money to give the residents a new library,” Pinheiro said.
The council also voted unanimously to appoint Councilmembers Cat Tucker, Bob Dillon and Dion Bracco to a special sub-committee that will work with Lew Edwards to quickly disseminate information and react to voter trends.
Taking advantage of 2008 election demographics, which will be more sympathetic to a new library than the more conservative voter pool during the off-year election in 2009, is also key to the measure’s success, Lew Edwards representatives noted.
Last January the city paid Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates about $20,000 to survey residents. The consultant reported that 64 percent supported the $37-million bond measure to fund library improvements, just short of the two-thirds margin. Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates learned this by interviewing 400 Gilroy voters in both Spanish and English. Most said the library is important, but they were concerned about increased property taxes and existing city funds.
The library bond might not be the only local measure on the ballot. The council is also considering placing a measure on the ballot to shift the city’s election cycle to even years, saving the city about $150,000 per election. The Gilroy Unified School District is considering a separate bond to help complete the construction of Christopher High School.
