Stowe said the city’s corporation counsel, Alexandra Ruggie, has been working with an attorney representing the library on several items, including a lease and intergovernmental agreement between the city and library, regarding the main branch at 1703 Orrington Ave. and the Robert Crown branch, located at 1801 Main St.
Stowe added that city officials are working to schedule a meeting between the library’s legal counsel and the union.
Council member Clare Kelly, 1st, in whose ward the main public library is located, asked about the possibility of a joint meeting between the city council and library board, after library officials declined to participate in a similar such meeting last week.
Kelly said if a joint meeting does not happen, the city should make some dedicated time for public comment regarding the lease and intergovernmental agreement.
In the end, no decisions were made. The city council is scheduled to meet again Dec. 8.
Also, “I think we should also have a robust discussion about the forms of library relationships in a city, whether they’re component (the current model —separate but still dependent on services from the city), departmental (previous as a city department) or District (an operation completely independent of the city).
“I think we’ve run into few glitches here with this particular structure, so I think if it’s not going to be a joint meeting then I would ask that we consider a meeting and have an item of discussion,” she said.
Eileen O’Neil, president of Local 1891, which represents library employees, indicated the union is closely watching the talks too. “We are in conversations with the City to ensure our members concerns are addressed and have some additional meetings scheduled after the holiday,” she said in a statement.
Agreement long sought by the Library
Executive Library Director Yolande Wilburn and the Library Board have been pursuing some kind of agreement with the city since shortly after Wilburn started the job in December 2023, often reporting limited or no response from the city.
The issue came to the fore in last year’s budget, with EPL library trustees grappling with how to pay for renovation costs estimated at nearly $20 million at the main library, 1703 Orrington Ave., AND contemplating dipping into their reserve fund to do it.
The library (with a much smaller budget than the city —$10 million versus $400 million) is responsible for much of the upkeep of the building, though the city is the owner of the property, in what Board President Tracy Fulce once described as a “very nebulous relationship with the city, that has a cost to it.”
Officials say an intergovernmental agreement would clarify roles, and responsibilities for services, such as HR, IT, and finance support received from the city, as well as maintenance. Under the current Memorandum of Understanding the Library pays the city $350,000 annually for the services provided.
At one meeting, Library trustees bandied about the possibility of a 99-year lease on the main building and a 10-year lease on the branch library at Robert Crown.
“Delays in finalizing the lease and IGA have real impact,” said Fulce on Tuesday, asked about the city manager’s report. “For many in our community, the library is a refuge, a place where belonging matters. When we are unable to focus fully on what matters most, it undermines that sense of safety and disrupts the momentum our staff has worked so hard to build.
“We look forward to partnering with the City so we move forward together, with clear and visionary leadership, ensuring we provide the safe, welcoming, forward-looking library Evanston deserves.”
Fulce noted that the Board has already done significant work examining the difference between municipal and district library models, discussing each over the past years.
A previous Board moved to the Library’s current model in 2012, after years of the library being lumped in with other city subject to cutbacks in the city’s continuing budget woes.
The Library receives substantially less per capita support than neighboring libraries, amounting to less than half of Skokie Public Library, for instance, according to a 2023 Illinois Public Library report.
