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6 <br />we believe in supporting our community. Yes, the local public library shops local, always. At sno-isle the <br />model is uniformity across all branches. This is a sustainable model when you serve 20 locations across two <br />of the largest counties in the state that both pay into your system. You would never want the patrons in one <br />town to feel that their money isn’t as good as the money in another, right? So when Everett folds itself into this <br />system, what happens to this unique ecosystem of mutual community support and programming? Does it <br />matter? Does our community value it? Do they know that there is a risk of it going away?  <br />  <br />Also of concern to myself, other staff, and members of the community is the future of our current buildings, <br />particularly the downtown main library. It should be no secret at this point that both struggle terribly with <br />facilities issues; a product of decades of deferred maintenance and the common municipal strategy of <br />pursuing lowest bid contractor work. The main library is in desperate need of a new HVAC system at an <br />estimated $5 million - as one of the city’s most reliably-open cooling and warming centers it’s inexcusable that <br />we’ve gone this long with a climate control system that doesn’t work for months at a time. The main library <br />roof, despite being relatively new and having been ‘fixed’ several times, has significant persistent leaks, <br />including the one over the mural that was restored at significant cost. The masonry, another subject of <br />frequent repair, also has seepage.   <br />  <br />That brings us to the newly-expanded Evergreen Branch, which shortly after reopening needed to close due <br />to critical HVAC failures which was a persistent problem. This issue was mostly fixed but does reemerge from <br />time to time. Now the reoccurring problem that shuts this building is constantly backing up sewer pipes. Add <br />to that some burst pipes during the recent cold snap that have left ceiling panels absent and insulation <br />hanging in staff areas and it’s not a great situation. The building can be a cold and unpredictable place for <br />staff and patrons.  <br />  <br />Would sno-isle want to retain either of these buildings given the high cost it’s going to take to fix all the <br />issues? Neither fit their current model of maintaining smaller branch libraries. Also the mayor has indicated <br />that it would be desirable to see some smaller branch libraries added in different areas of Everett, which we <br />would love to see too if we were able to expand. We know Delta would like to have that service in their <br />community and we support them, and areas in the far south reaches of Everett need better access as well. <br />But clearly none of that would be on our budget.   <br />  <br />The sad truth that I face as an EPL employee is that we are on the chopping block no matter what happens <br />unless the outcome is an intelligent pursuit of the levy lid lift. If a sno-isle merger happens I know immediately <br />everyone in our technical services department loses their jobs. Most of them have been here over 20 years <br />and some over 30. I know the city will lose the unique services I describe above. It’s quite possible the <br />northwest room and collections go away because that is not consistent with their service models.   <br />  <br />The realist in me believes that voters don’t want to pay more money, so I think that it’s unlikely that county <br />residents would want to pay more just to get two more libraries they can already use. Perhaps I buried the <br />lede, but ALL residents of Snohomish and island counties can get EPL cards already. We can all get sno-isle <br />cards too. So we already all can use both of these things for no additional cost to us. Who is going to vote to <br />pay more for what they get already? Very few people.   <br />