🏛️ Pima County Administrator Reveals Future Plans for Library System: No Immediate Closures but Location Change for Main Library Possible
Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher addresses library system concerns, guarantees downtown library presence, announces community input process starting January 2025.
The Library Board meeting featuring Jan Lesher is above, and the Buckmaster Show also featuring Jan Lesher, both on the same day, is below.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
The big library downtown needs fixing 🔧, kind of like when your house needs repairs! 🏠 The person in charge of all the county's buildings and workers, Jan Lesher, promises that downtown Tucson 🏙️ will always have a library 📚, even if it might move to a different spot while they fix the old building. Right now, libraries aren't open as many hours ⏰ as they used to be before COVID-19 😷, but they're working on hiring more people 👥 to help keep libraries open longer. The most important thing is that no libraries are closing ❌📖 anytime soon, and they want kids 👶 and families 👨👩👧👦 to tell them what they think would make the libraries even better! 🌟
🗝️ Takeaways
🎯 No libraries are closing immediately or by the end of the year
🏢 Downtown will always have a library, though the location might change
💰 PEEPS program funding doesn't reduce the library budget, according to Lesher
👨👩👧👦 Community input will guide future library plans
🚧 The Main Library building needs major maintenance; it may move across the street to the Wells Fargo historic building
⏱️ Library planning process to restart in January 2025
Jan Lesher's November 15, 2024, Public Addresses: A Comprehensive Analysis
On November 15, 2024, Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher made two public appearances to discuss county matters. As County Administrator, Lesher serves as the chief executive officer of the Pima County government, overseeing all county departments and operations.
She appeared as a guest on "The Buckmaster Show" on 1030 KVOI The Voice during the morning of the Ides of November and, later that afternoon, attended a study session with the Pima County Public Library Advisory Board at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library.
The following are excerpts from the transcripts of these appearances, presented without commentary, as part of the public record. These meetings covered various topics, including election administration, library operations, staffing, and future planning for county services.
📚 LIBRARY SYSTEM STATUS & FUTURE
Downtown Library Controversy & Plans
The future of the downtown Joel D. Valdez Main Library emerged as a central topic during both appearances, with Lesher making her strongest statement during the Library Advisory Board meeting:
"From my perspective, there is today, and there shall always be a downtown library." She emphasized that this was a personal position, distinguishing it from official policy decisions needing board approval.
When questioned about building maintenance and potential relocation, Lesher provided historical context:
"When I was going up, it was now the Children's Museum. So there was a downtown library. It just looks a little different there." This reference to the old Carnegie Library illustrated her point about continuity of service even if locations change, possibly moving the Main Library to the recently closed Wells Fargo building across the street, which would require a drastic cut in the size of their collections.
Regarding the current building's status, Lesher explained several key points:
Ownership & Maintenance: "The city of Tucson owns the building... Under our agreement, the city is responsible [for exterior maintenance]."
Current Challenges: "We were just doing a report the other day about the county's deferred maintenance and our building needs. And we have problems that we need to fix and buildings that we need to address, and this is one of them."
Possible Solutions: "Will we, to get the work done, what is the vision for this downtown library the moment we stay in the building? Do we need all of this space for the library? There are open spaces and extra areas here. Does it become a multi-purpose building in some way?"
When Board member Sharon Foltz suggested creative solutions like green energy updates, Lesher responded positively: "We look at what green opportunity there might be for those funding sources."
Branch Operations & Service Hours
During the Library Board meeting, significant discussion centered on reduced operating hours compared to pre-pandemic levels. Board member John Halladay said, "We're providing fewer hours than we had just four or five years ago."
Lesher acknowledged these concerns while connecting them to staffing challenges: "Two years ago, we had a vacancy rate bumping around 25%. Right now, we're at about 10."
She emphasized that service restoration would follow staffing improvements.
Community Access and Branch Closures
When confronted about potential branch closures mentioned in the draft report, Lesher was emphatic: "Nothing is changing at this point in time. There are a lot of options on the table. I don't know what they will all work like in the end, but nothing is changing right now."
Regarding the Pueblo branch specifically, board members raised concerns about equity and access. Sharon Foltz noted: "In that general area, there's a dearth of services, and the library has always been a constant in the community for many years."
Lesher acknowledged these concerns and emphasized the need for comprehensive planning: "We'll get chicken and egg on some of that. But how do we get the people who are there now on our own, our staff, and the people who want to come in the facility to feel safe being there?"
👥 STAFFING & PERSONNEL
Current Staffing Situation
During the Library Board meeting, Lesher provided specific numbers about staffing:
Historical vacancy rate: ~25% two years ago
Current vacancy rate: ~10%
Current permanent vacancies: 26 positions
Departments still needing staff: "Animal care always, always need something. We could look for a director, but in finance, we have a health department and IT."
Hiring Challenges & Solutions
Lesher detailed several initiatives to address staffing issues:
Classification and Compensation: "We are just completing a classification compensation study to increase everyone's salaries and get people paid, but they need to get paid and to get them in trajectory so they can see what their future might look like."
Enhanced Benefits: "We added five hours, five days of vacation time. We frontloaded it so that the day you start, you get five hours. You don't have just to build and improve. We've increased the number of flexible work hours."
Modern Work Arrangements: "The county did not allow telecommunication until the pandemic. And so now we do. They're looking at just about everything we can across the county to see what it is and how we better recruit and retain staff."
Qualification Requirements
A significant discussion emerged about librarian qualifications. When asked about recruitment challenges, Lesher acknowledged the need to reevaluate requirements: "Does every one of these jobs that historically needed a master's still need that to go?"
She also emphasized the importance of new perspectives in recruitment: "It becomes increasingly difficult for people my age to decide what it is that will attract someone else today. And yet you have a whole room of people who generally look more like me and are making decisions about what will attract people who look more like you."
💰 BUDGET & RESOURCES
PEEPS Program and Library Funding
One of the most significant clarifications Lesher made during the Library Board meeting concerned the relationship between library funding and the PEEPS (early education) program:
"The early education program is a separate program. It was funded in the first several years by ARPA funding, some of our code funding. There was a decision and a discussion about making sure that PEEPS had ongoing long-term funding so that it could continue as a program."
She further explained the funding structure: "When we began the transition of PEEPS to the library fund, that tax rate, that is when the amount of the funding really went up because it was to fund both PEEPS and the library district. So we did not see a decrease in the library district funding or libraries because of PEEPS."
Tax District and Transfers
Lesher provided a detailed explanation of how the library tax district works:
"The library is a separate taxing district. And being a separate taxing district, it has revenue. But then it pays the enterprise, if you will, it pays Pima County for services. Some are capital projects and the funds to continue with the capital. Some are the basics of HR finance and IT support."
She emphasized the systematic nature of these transfers: "There are central administrative services that are assessed and assigned. Every general fund department pays a formula, and the other departments, wastewater, flood control, and library, that have separate revenue sources pay that same formula to the central administration at the county."
Budget Constraints and Priorities When discussing budget allocations, Lesher explained the broader county context:
"The bad part is that when the library comes in, they want to be more of an example. Even if it's a separate tax lead district, I look at the overall tax rate. And so if the library district goes up five cents, that means I got to find another place generally in the budget where it can go down to accommodate that if we want to keep a level, you know, either as we want to keep the tax rate level."
When board members questioned the relationship between funding and service levels, particularly regarding the decline in service hours despite increased funding, Lesher acknowledged the complexity: "These last years, we've said everybody starts with what they've got this year. Any additional programs, the FTEs, or anywhere else is a supplemental request. And the last year, we did not approve supplemental requests."
Capital Projects and Maintenance
Regarding historical funding approaches, Lesher explained:
"For those of you who've been around the county a long time, you know, we, we were like, have always historically relied heavily on bonds. And we would go out every few years and make new bonds. I think of 1997 when we had two issues in the spring and the fall. Almost $750 million."
She noted the shift in funding strategy: "Then, then the recession hit. We did nothing for a period of time and began to go back out in 2015, 2018 and lost miserably. We didn't have success in 2014 with the animal care bonds, $22 million. But other than that, we have not been as successful. So we began a different model of financing."
🗳️ ELECTION & ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES
Vote Counting Process
During the Buckmaster Show, Lesher provided detailed numbers about the election process:
"At this point, we have counted 513,476 ballots in Pima County. 40,232 people voted at the polls on election day. Everything else are the early ballots, if you will. About 260,000 is a round number that came in before election day, which means you've got about half the ballots that came in on or after election day."
When questioned by Bill Buckmaster about why the count seemed slow, particularly compared to Maricopa County, Lesher explained several complicating factors:
Two-Page Ballot Impact: "If you think about just handling and processing paper if I was looking at numbers comparing to how we did in 22 or 20 from a time perspective well 50,000 ballots this time really equated to do 100,000 single ballots in the past years because of the need to have the two."
Verification Requirements: "Anytime people are touching ballots on the election side of the house you have to have what we call a board which is a group of people representing the different political parties so that you don't have just Democrats or just Republicans."
Staffing Challenges: "The unintended consequence again if it going on this long is people go on to the other things they have to do and get back to a life or maybe they've taken a couple days off work and their time is lost."
Close Races and Implications
When Dan Shearer brought up the close sheriff's race between Lappin and Nanos, Lesher acknowledged the importance of accuracy in tight races:
"There's always those one or two, and I think with the Congressman Ciscomani, Kristen Engel, that one, you know, was very close for folks.”
Future Electoral Process Considerations
When caller Debbie suggested changing the rules to speed up counting, Lesher acknowledged the state's role:
"Absolutely, Debbie, and I think we were just chatting here in the room. We have a lot to learn from these elections about how to process things more quickly. We at the county level don't make those decisions, as Bill's pointed out that's a state legislative issue."
Response to Public Frustration
Early in the Buckmaster Show, Lesher acknowledged public frustration with the counting process:
"People are very frustrated, Bill. I get that, and I think it's quite a process, and I'm going to give you a few numbers if it helps."
📋 PLANNING & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Draft Report Controversy
During the Library Board meeting, Lesher addressed the controversial draft report head-on:
"I want to go back for just a moment and explain the reboot's boundaries today, if you will. So, we encourage staff throughout the county to look at new ideas and new concepts. And I think this is one where then we had staff working on a draft and media. And then the normal course of advance those then to lay out through the deputy administrative administration through the budget board, whatever might be appropriate and make it a third."
She emphasized the document's preliminary nature: "This is a document that we're starting a lot in this conversation. The draft document in terms of the department had not bubbled up and gone through all the normal processes... And it's not been approved by the board, me, the policy, or the normal change of events or reviewed by the library advisory board for your input as well."
Community Needs and Services
Lesher acknowledged the diverse expectations for library services:
"Libraries are important to everyone, and everyone has a slightly different idea in their mind, but what does that library look like? What I think speaks to sharing is libraries are important to everyone, and everyone has a slightly different idea in their mind, but what does that library look like?"
She referenced a specific example of varying community expectations: "We got a letter from a constituent which is an under-sample of what comes in... And of course, I think it's, but it's was talking about why they really were encouraging us to continue to make the libraries central to all that we do and up to and including why we should have affordable showers and bathrooms and needle exchange programs and social service workers."
Future Planning Process
Regarding next steps, Lesher outlined a deliberate approach:
Timing Considerations: "From my perspective, I realized we need to go out and spend all that time talking to the public. And the reality of that conversation began while we were still in the midst of an election. And so anything we do at that time is going to be absolutely lost in a clutter."
Community Engagement Timeline: "I think now what we've talked about is just getting messages out to the community; we can lose a lot during the holiday time... And that may be better served, really getting the politician having the opportunity to go out to the public starting at the first of the year."
Transparency Goals: "I think the most important thing in the element we're trying to get across to folks is that your decisions are needed. That no one has to scramble to keep a library open by the end of the year because nothing is closed. And that we have some time, and we will be coming out to you."
Role of Social Services
When discussing the intersection of library and social services, Lesher emphasized the need for balance:
"I think what the libraries are trying to do and have done a good job despite the sweet spot of you providing library services and then doing what they can to take care of folks."
🔮 VISION FOR THE FUTURE & CONCLUDING PERSPECTIVES
Balance of Traditional and Modern Library Services
Throughout both appearances, Lesher emphasized the evolution of library services while maintaining the core mission:
"When I look back and think... what libraries look like today versus when I was flipping through the car cataloging... They're two very separate elements."
When discussing changing library roles, she acknowledged the tension between traditional and new services: "Part of the difficult time sometimes our board has is hearing one group saying, ‘We need to refocus on the library's mission’ while they'll get the comment saying, ‘You're not doing nearly enough, you should also be doing mental health and all of that.’”
Infrastructure and Modernization
Lesher emphasized the need for thoughtful facility planning:
"You're in everything we're doing now under our climate action executive team. We look at what's the green opportunity where those funding sources might be... If we open our minds to what the community needs are, and hopefully, the community survey will reflect this."
Staff Recognition and Support
Near the end of the Library Board meeting, Lesher expressed strong support for library staff:
"I am extraordinarily proud of the library staff that we have... We have a tremendous group of people."
Key Commitments Moving Forward
Lesher outlined several fundamental commitments:
No Immediate Changes: "I say that because there's really nothing... There is nothing important in implementation. We have not made decisions about the library. We are looking at various options, and that relates to the library system in general, where we go as libraries, all of our branches at the libraries in the budget, and then specifically to the downtown branch."
Community Input: "And maybe that's part of our messages. We start letting people start thinking about this because on January 1st or 5th or whatever the heck it is, there will be the launching of a campaign, and we'll need to care for it."
Transparency: "The good news of all this is that we're having a conversation and that all of you are evaluating everything that we do as a library in the library advisory board; everybody uses libraries."
Future Challenges and Opportunities
Lesher acknowledged several ongoing challenges:
Staffing Evolution: "These bodies that we have historically hired into these positions, folks are not going into these disciplines and the ones that are not coming to public libraries. They're going to research institutes in various settings."
Resource Allocation: "Part of this is what we look at is if you take today's building and you want to keep it as is and use it for the same purpose, that's the price tag to get it to that point of just fixing the stuff in."
Community Expectations: "Do we then push back to the Human County Health Department because a lot of those are health officials or one of our social service partners… because these are the issues that we're facing that libraries cannot fulfill to the level needed."
Final Message
Lesher's overall message across both appearances emphasized:
Commitment to maintaining library services
Need for community input in future planning
Recognition of evolving library roles
Importance of thoughtful, measured change
Pride in library staff and their adaptability
She emphasized the deliberative nature of the process: "We may need to get out of it for a while if it goes through some renovation and move things around. But again, when I was growing up... there was a downtown library. Yeah. What's now that you said that was the downtown library when I grew up, but there was a downtown library."
This comprehensive overview of Lesher's appearances on November 15th, 2024, reveals a leader focused on balancing tradition with necessary evolution, emphasizing community input while acknowledging fiscal and operational realities, and maintaining a strong commitment to public library services in Pima County.
