Volunteers feel snubbed over library agreement

WASILLA — In their first chance to publicly give their recommendation on the plan for the city to buy a downtown shopping center as a site for a new library, volunteers from the Friends of the Wasilla Library and the library steering committee expressed dismay at the city council meeting Monday.

The plan would have the city pay $1.5 million to purchase the Meta Rose Square — $500,000 less than the assessed value — with the conditions that Meta Rose remains in the name, the building is used for civic purposes and the deal goes through before the end of the year.

At its meeting on Nov. 9, the city council gave the administration the green light to move ahead with plans to buy the building and turn it into a much-needed new library. A purchase agreement has been signed, and a public hearing on appropriating the money is set for Dec. 14.

However, the city never mentioned the plan to the local residents serving on the two advisory boards, volunteers who have spent years working on getting the library a new building and assessing the needs of the community.

“I have been coming (to the council meetings) once a month for two years,” Jennie Troshynski said, who is the both the president of the Friends of the Wasilla Library and chair of the library steering committee.

“I heard it as a rumor and spent the weekend tracking it down. It was confirmed by the 5 o’clock news.”

Not only did Troshynski say she feels betrayed and her trust violated, but she said the Meta Rose does not meet the needs assessment paid for by the city. A new facility needs at least 98 parking spots and 37,000 square feet, neither of which the Meta Rose has.

“I want an engineering study, not your administration’s opinion, to confirm that the building can hold the load (of books),” Troshynski said. “I want you to annex my house, just mine, so we can get some people in here that will listen to the community. I want to run for mayor.”

Anne Kilkenny said libraries need to handle 150 pounds per square foot, a much higher load than retail space that the building was built for, she said. She said the city tried to repurpose a building when it bought a bank for the Wasilla Police Station. The building turned into a money pit, and the police officers are still unhappy with their station, she said.

“If this was a private developer, I doubt we would accept the answer of them using the parking spots across the street,” Kilkenny said. “We’re getting the Meta Rose for $75 a square foot. That sounds like a good deal, but a bad library.”

Marci Schmidt, a member of the Friends of the Wasilla Public Library, said to be ignored like this is an insult. It shows bad manners on the part of the city, and will make it much harder to find volunteers next time they are needed.

Steering committee member Annette Andres works in the financial industry. She sees these type of “act-now” deals all the time. Once you start peeling back the onion, she said, you realize why the deal is trying to be rushed. Besides, she said, what’s lost in the deal might not be worth the cost.

“There are not too many places where you can stand in one spot and see that many 20-year-old businesses. The risks you take in destroying that are more than you can evaluate in an executive session,” Andres said.

While the council members did not have an opportunity to respond, Dianne Woodruff said the deal is still likely to go through. However, she said, there is nothing that guarantees the Meta Rose will be the permanent home for the library.

“I really feel that it is in a place that we are trying to revitalize. It’s such a bargain,” Woodruff said. “I think (the sellers) would very much like it to be used in a civic capacity. I don’t think that locks it into being a library into perpetuity.”

Councilwoman Nancy Hall said the current library is completely unacceptable, and the library steering committee has done a lot of good research into what the city needs.

“I’m not sure that at this point in the financial climate, it would be possible and advisable to incur a lot of debt. This may be an interim facility, and it’s a lot better than what we have,” Hall said. “It may not be ideal, but it is progress.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.