Current library building is not for sale

The current Sisters Library building will not be sold for commercial use when library operations move to a new home later this month. Not right away, in any case.

City Manager Eileen Stein said last week that the city council recently decided in executive session that its first preference was to keep the building in public ownership. So at their workshop last Thursday Stein gave council members a draft of a “Request for Proposals” (RFP) that the city will circulate to community agencies.

The draft says that, “Being in the heart of downtown, the Sisters library building has potential for numerous uses. The city has received several expressions of interest in use of the building. Because of its location, and the city’s desire to keep this property in public ownership, the city council is interested in exploring how it could be used for beneficial community purposes and needs.”

A potential obstacle exists, however, stemming from a federal library construction grant that helped pay for the building in 1988-89. A condition of the grant was that the building remain in use as a library for 20 years.

This requirement expires in 2008. But the city is “exploring the feasibility of seeking a waiver from this grant requirement,” according to the RFP, since the area will soon be served by a new, larger public library constructed by the Deschutes Public Library District. The new building is two blocks to the east, at the corner of Cedar Street and Main Avenue.

In an interview with The Nugget, Stein said the federal agency that provided the original grant has gone out of existence and she has been told that responsibility for administering the grant, presumably including deciding on a possible waiver of the library-use condition, has devolved to the Oregon State Library.

Depending on the responses to the RFP, Stein said she may pursue a waiver with the state library or just leave the condition in place until it expires in three years. A user or users may come up with a “workable arrangement” that will comply with the conditions of the grant, making a waiver unnecessary.

The draft RFP addresses the issue this way: “Due to the federal grant requirements, one condition on any proposal is that the building would remain in some form of public library use until the grant period (has) expired or a waiver is secured. This could take the form of a small book exchange, or making agency materials available to the public on a lend-out basis. The city is willing to consider different ideas, but agencies wishing to be considered should explain how they could provide a public library service in conjunction with their primary purpose.”

Stein said she will circulate the RFP as soon as council members approve it, with possible amendments. She said she will send it to “the usual suspects” in the local area, including Deschutes County government, but will not send it beyond the county.

The handsome 2,500-square-foot current Sisters Library building stands at the southwest corner of Spruce Street and Main Avenue. Directly south of the building is the smaller, older, original Sisters Library structure, whose fate is also undetermined. It, too, is owned by the city, and the Friends of the Sisters Library organization has been seeking ways to preserve the building and maintain it in public use.

As for the main library building for which uses are being sought in the RFP, Stein said that if the council does not receive satisfactory responses it may then be forced to consider selling the library property or leasing it for commercial purposes.

The RFP says the city’s “Realtor of Record” believes that a lease of “at least $1 per square foot” would be reasonable for commercial office space in the library’s location. However, the city “is willing to consider a below- market lease and/or other subsidies that may be needed to achieve a desired use of the premises.”