City Attorney Drafts Library Ballot Title; Council To Discuss On Monday

Renton’s Senior Assistant City Attorney Zanetta Fontes submitted a memo containing a draft ballot title to Mayor Denis Law and City Council members on Thursday, April 12.

In her memo, Fontes explained how she came to the wording for each section of the ballot title: subject statement (no more than 10 words), concise statement (a maximum of 75 words), and question. The document also included the final wording:

Subject Statement:
City of Renton vote to select a library site downtow

Concise Statement:
After Renton voters chose to join King County Library System (KCLS), Renton contracted with KCLS to provide a state of the art library in downtown Renton. The library will be located at EITHER the existing library location over the Cedar River, with an approximate cost of  $__________, OR West of the Renton Piazze, with an approximate cost of $9,300,000. If the Piazza site is chosen, Renton will keep the existing library for future public use.

Question:
Which location should be the site of the downtown library?
Over the Cedar River    _____
West of the Piazza         _____

Council will discuss the ballot title on Monday April 16 at its City Council meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on the 7th floor of City Hall. Prior to City Council, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, the group will hear a recommendation for the Liberty Park Library Building Steering Committee on future uses for the current library building.