NEW LIBRARIES FOR OLD

In the Design Schematic that was approved by the City Council last month, you see that KCLS is going to effectively raze the Cedar River Library building to the floor and then build a new structure on top of the existing bridgework and columns. Those of you who were there will remember last Fall (17 Sept Council Meeting) that the Council passed a “Guiding Principles” declaration drafted by Jay Covington, promising a “new library” for the downtown library site (the Cedar River site).
   Some puzzled over that, but all can now see that Covington’s words were intended literally. The existing walls and roof (the entire exterior envelope) are to be replaced with a one-story structure, the mezzanine with its clerestory and the reading room are gone, and so is the signature entrance at midspan on the bridge over the Cedar River. In fact the pedestrian bridge is entirely cut away from the library in the sketches, and the river observation deck on the bridge is narrowed. A peculiar little outdoor corner entry area looks down into the river embankment separating the library from the bridge ... as if to taunt the public. So KCLS gets its shiny new glass fishbowl and the voters get their Cedar River location. Was that a solution worthy of Solomon, or are there other lessons in local politics we should be looking for?
   It is worth reminding ourselves that this project was originally undertaken to save money in the City’s operating budget during the big financial collapse of 2009, and because King Parker perhaps thought he could memorialize himself by giving the 3d St downtown corridor an infusion of public money. However, none of that happened, and the City is now reportedly spending more on library-related accounts than it did before its deal with KCLS. So what went wrong?
    I wrote a report, describing the missteps made by the current City Administration, to the Public Disclosure commission. And while the PDA has said it will not police election Machiavellianations that don’t involve campaign funds, my investigation revealed that our Mayor, Denis Law, and our head City Administrator, Jay Covington, had secret discussions with Bill Ptacek prior to last years vote, apparently believing that the ballot could be the tool to defeat the opposition to the Piazza move once and for all. Just 3 days before Ptacek sent out his letter to Renton voters warning of library cost overruns if the Cedar River site were selected, our Jay Covington wrote to Ptacek:

“Bill, the Mayor would like to discuss our mutual “going forward” strategy for the two libraries (highlands and downtown) at a strategic level, so he thinks just the three of us will be needed for this meeting. Thanks, Jay.”
 
The three men, Law, Covington and Ptacek, actually did have a meeting (27-Jun-2012, 10AM, in the Mayor’s Office), as is confirmed by copies of the day calendars of Mayor Law and Director Ptacek obtained by FOIA. No records were kept of what was discussed.
   What was also clear was that KCLS had explicitly threatened to sue the City. Responding to FOIA requests, the City has produced two of the three threatening letters Ptacek sent to the City, but they did not produce the third letter, that was sent as an attachment in the first envelope [See Ptacek letters to Covington dated 2 April 2012 and 27 March 2012, and billings from K&L Gates PLLC dated 18 May 2012 to KCLS, subrogated to and paid for by City of Renton (docket item 04/02/2012 “additional letter to City of Renton”)]. That third letter was written by Gates, counsel for KCLS (according to Ptacek’s message), and may have contained a more explicit description of what the City was being threatened with. Even though the ILA contract called for binding arbitration in settling any disputes, we all know that Larry Warren was not willing to defend the City.
    Ptacek (in his letter of March 27 to Covington) gave as his #1 reason for a lawsuit the need to ensure that no City with a contract with KCLS would ever dare submit to the voters any measure which would modify an existing ILA. This actually is untested law, and should be tested. Can the voters of a city overturn an agreement that their City Corporation has executed? If city officials met in secret and agreed to “go forward” in ways that the majority of the city voters dispute, are the voters effectively disenfranchised in having a voice in their own governance? Once incorporated, are we slaves in a conquered province if special interests own the government?
   Perhaps then, the best take-away lesson is to ask who the City officials were who agreed to this mess, and hold them accountable. Interestingly, the figures who most frequently appear to be spearheading the KCLS takeover, other than King Parker, are Denis Law and Jay Covington, with occasional seconds by Ed Prince, Terri Briere and Rich Zwicker. Mayor Law had a notable cameo as private citizen Law for his comments in the Renton Reporter repeating Ptacek’s dubious claims and encouraging a vote against the Cedar River site. More recently, if you look at the reporting from the April 30 2013 City Council meeting, note that Covington (not an elected official) again took center stage, promising concerned citizens that the Design Schematic package meets all requirements of the ILA. Whether Covington is accountable for those promises is not clear. During last summer’s mobilization leading up to the vote, while KCLS continued to pour billable hours into design development (before the Design Schematic was approved), Covington continued to sign checks to KCLS with taxpayer money. Did you notice that Renton also paid KCLS’s attorney fees? This author speculates that Covington was frightened that KCLS would sue the City and was willing to offer any possible concessions to KCLS to prevent escalation of the dispute, a comment that Covington did not deny when offered the chance to explain. So give Ptacek his due—he knows who to squeeze where it matters.
    I call upon this Administration to produce the last of the three litigious letters they received from KCLS, the one authored by KCLS attorneys and sent to Covington on March 27 as an attachment to a letter from Ptacek. We should also ask for an explanation as to how the City was so easily intimidated when its citizens demanded contrary action by a count of more than 3 to 1. And we should ask whether this will happen again and again unless the people who signed those agreements, and cut those deals with KCLS, are prevented from ever doing it again. This State has a policy of sunshine in government, and Renton has seen more than its share of dark days under this Administration. We need to be able to trust our elected (and unelected) officials to respond to and serve our interests in an effective way. How soon is election day anyway? Is that soon enough?