| Progress of the Camp Verde Library Commission and Town Council in planning
for a new Camp Verde Community Library Written by Roger Doering, Library Commissioner March, 2007 It has been a dream of Library staff and Commissioners to work on developing a new Community Library for the Town of Camp Verde for many years. The first mention I recall came from Library Director, Phyllis Hazecamp. At that time, the Commission did not support an increase in size of the library citing a need for improving relations with the public and improving circulation. It is not known why circulation growth had slowed. Population was increasing. The Internet was coming of age and commonly becoming a source of information as one possibility. Conflicts with the Friends of the Library did not help, but I don�t know its effects on circulation. Despite lack of Commission support, Librarians continued to ask for a new library. One of the goals of the librarians was to move the library off the present site because it is in a floodway of the Verde River and adjacent to the confluence with Beaver Creek and the site did not have room to grow on land then owned by the town. However, there was no support for a new library from the Town and Commission during this time. Before I joined the Commission there were efforts to merge the school and public library which was another point of contention between some members of the Commission and Library staff. Librarians felt that a combined library would not be in the best interests of the patrons of either library and would diminish service to both. Those supporting a combined library felt that it would provide a cost savings to the community. These issues continue to impact Library philosophy. One of the duties of the Commission outlined by Council calls for a 5 year plan for each department of the town. The Commission did not set its sights on establishing a new library in its first 5 year plan. Rather it set goals of getting the library circulation cataloging online and merged with the database of other libraries of the county wide Yavapai Library Network. Barbara Kile, Director of the Yavapai Library Network was quite helpful in getting us on board. Commissioner Burt Singleton worked many hours putting this all together with help from others on the Commission. The Community was surveyed to determine their interest in the use of new technology and getting more online services into the library, desired hours of operation, improvements to the collection, and desired services. Some of these services relate directly to services to consider for a new library. These were private study areas, a quiet reading room, audio-visual materials, and adult and children�s programs. Comments were received both positive and negative and made note of where improvements could be made. Much of the implementation of getting the library collection into the county database and getting terminals set up at the library was done during the interim period with acting director, Jan Archull. The Public Computers were purchased later through a grant with the Gates Foundation, another objective of the 5 year plan. With the retirement of Library Director Hazecamp the Commission was actively involved along with the Council and Town Administration in interviewing several librarians. The possibility of working with the Commission and the Town and support groups in working toward a new library was one of the items looked at by potential candidates and those conducting the interviews. During the time when Hazecamp announced her retirement and the town was starting to look for qualified applicants; Dorothy Wood approached the Commission along with Jerry Taylor, Financial Consultant about earmarking some monies for the library. One of my suggestions was that an Endowment board be established so that individuals who wished to make such contributions to the library could do so on a regular basis.. Commissioners Sharon Massey, Vada Lavado, and Pat Hjalmarson primarily started working on forming an Endowment group. In the process it was learned that if the Commission set it up that the Endowment would be part of the Town. Several on the Commission felt that it was necessary for the Endowment to be separate from the Town in order to protect the funds from becoming shifted from one pot to another within the Town. At this point the Commission dropped the project as an agenda item and individuals in the community, some from the Commission, Dorothy Wood, and others set up the Endowment Organization. This was largely done during the time when we were without a library director. We had an acting director, Jan Archull who served us well during the interim. Several interviews were conducted which ultimately resulted in the hiring of our present director, Gerry Laurito. Not long after this group was put together there were questions raised as to the role of the Endowment group in the construction of a new library. A joint meeting was planned with the Endowment, Commission, and Town staff where it was agreed that the |
| Endowment would donate items to furnish a new library, but that the Town would build the Library. This meeting was Jan 11, 2000. Balt Lazano and Sharon Massey were co-chairmen of the Endowment, Pat Hjalmarson was Secretary and Dorothy Wood was Treasurer. Commissioners at that time included Gwen Gunnell, Nora Graf, Sharon Massey, Pat Hjalmarson, Vada Lovado, Sheila Dunn, and myself.
With the hiring of Director Laurito one of the first matters of business was to discuss the role of the Friends of the Library group in relation to the Library. The groups decided to separate with the former Friends of the Library supporting the Adult Reading program and other projects that they may elect to do. It was some time later that the Commission began to research the possibilities of a new library seriously. One of the initial projects of the Commission was to visit most of the libraries of the Yavapai Library Network to get ideas for our library. It was at the January 2000 meeting with the Endowment where it was requested that some form of conceptual plan be developed. During this phase Library Director Laurito and myself attended a seminar, �Managing Library Building Projects� presented May 18, 2001 by library consultant William Sanwald on how to build a new library in your community. At the same time, the Commission began to gather data and information regarding the library. The first step was to access the growth patterns of the library, plot the information, and do projections for future space needs of the library. Central to determining space needs is predicting Verde Valley population. What happened in the time leading up to the study is rather interesting. While population gradually increasing, the number of patrons holding library cards was slightly declining. Possibly due to some public relations issues, older citizens who were patrons passing away and lack of the library to attract new users from younger citizens and those moving into the community. Growth of the Internet as a source of Information may be a significant factor as well. The number of items held in the collection during this time grew at a slow but steady rate. Circulation was on a healthy bouncy trend from 1975 up till 1991 when statistics show a leveling off and gradual decline in circulation to 2000. Since 2000 when this was done I have gathered the data from Library Director Laurito and see that the slump of the 90�s is over and Circulation is again bouncing upward. During this study material was gathered from the Wisconsin department of libraries which projects library needs for a community largely based upon population. The methodology called for projecting into the future 20 years for what the population will be and recommends that one square foot be provided for library space per capita for exemplary library service. The Arizona state Department of Economic Security DES makes population projections. Results of the year 2000 census came out where it was noted that the projections of DES were significantly lower than the census figures. The populations of Yavapai County, The Town of Camp Verde, and Lake Montezuma/Rimrock were plotted against a dateline showing that growth was rapidly accelerating in the area, much faster than what DES projected. As a result the Commission developed some projections which are believed to more accurately reflect the situation taking into account the year 2000 census and projected a population of 25,000 in 2020 with standard deviation of 5000. In 2006 DES came out with population projections that include the 2000 census data. Refer to my article Size Projection Data for the Camp Verde Library for an updated report as of 2008. The Commission purchased CAD software and I made some Conceptual Plan drawings which showed the general layout of the library to include key features recommended as a result of the tour of other libraries, their evaluation of projected space needs, and input from the public survey for the 5-year plan. |
| The Commission developed a Conceptual Plan for a new library. Plots showing population and usage statistics for the library and projections of space needs by the year 2020 were included. This information was presented to Council in October of 2001. Counsel took the information under advisement and made no action until such time as funding should become available. No site was included in this recommendation although it was stated that the present site is not adequate for the continued future growth and expansion of the Camp Verde Community Library. Conceptual Plan Presentation: Key Points Current Library -- October 2001 24,500 holdings in print material. 125 magazine subscriptions, 3 adult public computers 1 children�s public computer, 1 dedicated web pac terminal. Population 2001 CV 9451, LM/Rim 3344, total 12794 Estimated Service Population in 20 years as the basis for library planning Estimated 2020 service population to be 25,000 std dev of 5000 DES projected 2020 service population 18,000 however 2000 census figures show Their projection being low DES projection made in 1990 planned for 11180 in 2000 However 2000 Census figures were 12795 in 2000 Circulation 2001 circulation stood at 37,000 items per year each item circulated on average 1.5 times per year. Recommendation New Library needs 25,000 sq ft to achieve recommended 1 sq ft per capita in 2020 New library needs a minimum of 5 acres The Commission began a site search. The use of the present site was discussed on a number of occasions but was never seriously considered due to it being in a flood plain and the land even including the abandoned marshall's office is not sufficiently large for the future needs of the library. So we began to look around town. Land along Lincoln Road opposite from the Public school was suggested as the first possibility. During this time the Parks and Rec department was working up plans for a regional park and it was discussed whether we should put the library in with the regional park. Meetings were held with Parks and Rec and the library was added into their Conceptual Plan. This was the 2nd Regional park, the first being at the old airstrip, the second being on the side of the street opposite from the airstrip with the library along 260. Later the forest service made several changes and the eventual land purchased for the park did not include the strip along 260. In the meantime Commissioner Pat Hjalmarson made contact with Simonton development regarding possible land at the Cliff�s site. Mr. Simonton never met with the Commission but rather spoke with Pat and Library Director Laurito and word was relayed as to possibilities at this site. Mr. Simonton suggested that he could make available a parcel of land in his development if the town allowed modifications to his plot plan and asked the Town if they would be interested prior to redrawing his plot plan. In March 2003, the Town Council voted to agree and asked him to bring back a new plot plan. During this time, Dec 2003 - Jan 2004, the town manager asked the Library for suggestions to improve the appearance and maintenance of the present facility to keep it up for future town use, library or otherwise. I suggested some ways to remodel the front entrance area getting some added space for meeting rooms, children�s story time and audio-visual, and circulation work room by building a central front entry and making use of the area now used for an outside porch. I drew up a conceptual drawing of how this could be done and presented it to the Commission. It was felt that this could become a process where the library ended up becoming at the site and the group voted not to proceed in this direction. A Conceptual of how stages of construction could be done at the site was drafted if there was interest. The flood plain issues at that time were believed to be an over riding concern such that new construction was not desirable in that area. Sprucing up the outside appearance trimming bushes, repainting, etc were suggested but no further recommendation were made. |
| Mr. Simonton of the Cliff�s came back with his updated site plan Feb 25, 2004 which was voted and accepted by the council.
Two days before Simonton�s updated plan for the Cliff�s was heard by Council several members of the community called me with interests in the present site. I made an effort to share the input with the Council and the Commission suggesting a joint meeting of council, Commission, Endowment, Library Staff, and other interested parties to address their comments and to confirm the site selected for a new library. At this meeting the pros and cons of each site could be discussed to confirm where the library should be. However this did not receive the support of the Commission and was strongly opposed and no meeting was held. Had it been perhaps the issues would have been addressed so that we would not now be having another group bringing up much the same issues. Soon thereafter the town manager, Bill Lee was meeting with an architect to consider plans to develop the town hall site and it was suggested that possibly the Library could become a centerpiece to attract visitors and others into the downtown corridor. This was presented to the Commission by Mr. Lee and then Mayor Dickinson and the Commission weighed the options using a set of criteria from the library consultant Sanwald and suggested by the Library Director comparing the Cliff�s site to the Town Hall Site. No other sites were considered during this evaluation. The results weighed in slightly favoring the town hall site and recommendation was made to Council for the town hall site. However, the Commission also recommended placing the library along Fain Street as opposed to the central area of the town hall site. Library Director Laurito met with the Council and requested permission to send out requests for letters of interest to draft a conceptual plan for the library. A group was selected in early 2005 who interviewed several architects who asked to be considered. Stroh Rogers Architects, Inc. who drafted the conceptual plan for the town site was selected and a conceptual plan and model were developed. Community input has been received from several in the town, some wanting changes made to the conceptual plan. |
| Now in 2007 we have some in the community who along with members of the Endowment group addressed the Commission and are again bringing up several issues that have already been decided. At issue are: 1. location of the library, suggesting the present site and others. 2. who will actually build the library and if volunteers can work on it to reduce expense. 3. the use of a steel building, and 4. Back to the Jan 2000 meeting what is the role of the Endowment group? The Endowment agreed not to build the library but merely to assist in the project by helping with furnishing the library and that the Town would be building the library. Now there are people in their group who appear to wish to become more actively involved in the construction. What is their role to be with the library? Perhaps this needs to be discussed again with a joint meeting of Commission, Endowment, and key Town Staffers for an orderly process.
The Endowment may wish to remain focused on its agreement of 2000, but certain indivduals may wish to be more actively involved in the project. Item 1, Location of the library has been bounced around several times from possibly up near the school to part of the Regional Park, to up at the Cliffs, to the downtown site. The use of the present site has never been seriously considered but rather been thrown out due to the fact that it is in a flood plain and there is not sufficient land for the long term future needs of the library. With the vacating of the Marshall�s facility, there is more land now available, but not enough. More land has been purchased between the library and the river but this was acquired with grant funds specifying this land be used for a park, not the library. The question of what can be done in the way of a public facility in a flood plain needs to be more carefully considered. Prior suggestion has been that while doable, county regulations do not permit safety of life entities there such as police and fire and other services while possible were not advised in flood plains. The Commission for some reason chose not to survey the community regarding the location of a new library and perhaps this would have been good to do although once a recommendation has been made and funds have been spent to draft a conceptual plan is that what the group wants to do? The best location for the library is not a popularity contest but rather the result of comparing a mix of criteria to determine what site will provide the best access to the library by all segments of the population of the community. Public input can be accepted, but the Commission will have to determine what sites are in the public interest for the best access to the library for all segments of the population. Item 2, The use of volunteer professional labor to build the library has not been discussed by the Commission before that I am aware of. We had left the actual construction and taking it out to bid, etc up to the Council and would have entered into that phase when the Town got further into the project. If there are contractors and other professionals willing to do some of this on a donation basis, I�m sure that it would be accepted but this is a matter for more discussion by the Commission to draft a recommendation to the Council. Item 3. Steel buildings have been considered in the past and questions remain as to condensation along the walls but several steel prefab type structures have been suggested. What is the actual real world cost of a steel structure in comparison to that which the architect has proposed or other methods of construction? Will steel work with a little modification with the Conceptual plans now drafted? How well does steel work in terms of creating a nice library atmosphere such as acoustical qualities, heating and cooling, humidity control, etc? How strong a structure is a steel building to resist damage due to wind, rain, or flood waters compared to other methods? Item 4. The role of the Endowment group needs to be discussed again with the current group along with Town staff including the Town Manager and the Commission if there is to be any change made to the decision made in 2000 when the Endowment group made a decision not to be involved in the building process any further than helping with furnishing of the library and that the Town would build the library building. If certain individuals of the group have further interests, their role to be further discussed. There are legal issues which the town attorney has mentioned that require separation of such a group from the town yet the town wants control of the project. Since then the Commission reviewed the sites again and once again voted against the present site as insufficiently sized for the future needs of the library and that flood plain issues are a concern. The Commission continued to recommend the Downtown area, specificly along Fain Street as the best location for the library. The Council on the other hand voted to support use of the present site. Since then at a Town worksession the group of interested individuals began to lay plans to form yet another corporation interested in raising funds for and possibly constructing the library. However, there has been no actual contract drafted between this group and the Town. The Council voted to charge the Mary Lyons library fund for the architectual fees drafting the Stroh Rogers conceptual plans for the Downtown Central location which Council abandoned. The process is ongoing for the advancement of the Camp Verde Community Library. |