Politics & Government
What's Next For The Renton Library?
Despite the large margin in Tuesday's election, official action won't be until the Sept. 10 City Council meeting.
Three out of four Renton voters chose to keep the library over the Cedar River in the to reverse the City Council's decision to build a new library west of the Piazza as part of its agreement with King County Library System.
As more returns solidified the wide margin Wednesday, Laurie Beden, co-chair of the People for the Piazza Park Library, said: "We were disappointed it wasn't closer. It's pretty much done. We did the best we could. I think we did a really good campaign, giving the facts to the Renton voters, and that's the choice they made."
Renton Councilman Randy Corman, an advocate for the Cedar River location, was all smiles Tuesday night as the results were announced. "What a thrill, and it’s a pretty clear mandate," Corman said. "The Council needs to act purposefully to uphold what the voters told them. ... Before any final action is done, make sure the election is certified, but with these numbers, you know it’s a win."
Find out what's happening in Rentonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
It's not known how soon the Council will act. The election results have to be certified by Aug. 21. The full Council doesn't meet again until Sept. 10 due to a council holiday and the Labor Day Holiday.
Next Monday's Committee of the Whole does speak to emerging issues in Community Service, but it's not known if the library will be brought up.
Find out what's happening in Rentonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Corman believes it's not too early for talks to begin between the Council, the city administration and the King County Library System.
Wednesday's elections results showed the Cedar River location expanding its lead, with 7,786 votes, or 76.11 percent. The west of the Piazza location received 2,444 votes, or 23.89 percent.
To date, only 10,651 out of 44,400 registered voters ballots were received by King County Elections, 24 percent turnout.
Patch will continue to follow the results as they are posted.
Editors note: We want to clarfy, City Council does have two meetings, August 13 and August 20. However since the election is not validated until August 21, Council's next meeting is not until September 10 due to the Council Holiday on August 29 and the Labor Day Holiday, September 3).
