Council to Review Piedmont-Oakland Library Negotiations

 Piedmont city staff is looking for direction from the City Council on how to proceed in library negotiations with Oakland.

A report on the negotiations history is on the council’s agenda for its meeting at 7:30 p.m. tonight at City Hall at 120 Vista Ave.

The report by City Administrator Geoff Grote details a chronology of talks and emails since June 30, 2008, when a 10-year agreement between the two cities expired.

The chronology includes March 3, 2009, when Piedmont indicated it was prepared to enter into a five-year agreement for library services with a 5 percent fee increase per year based on the 2007-08 fee of $350,471 as the base amount.

There was no formal response from Oakland until a meeting in April 2010, Grote said. That’s when Oakland officials rejected the Piedmont offer because they wanted Piedmont to pay more, meeting the per-capita contributions of Oakland residents with money coming from both the general fund an Oakland’s special library tax, according to Grote’s report.

Carmen Martinez, director of the Oakland Public Library, in, said that Oakland officials felt Piedmont had reneged last year on an agreement to pay $395,000 as an interim level with talks to continue about a higher fee based on per-capita numbers and increased library costs.

“Everybody needs to move forward,” Martinez said.

Had Oakland accepted the Piedmont offer in March 2009, they would be looking at a Piedmont contribution of $425,427 in 2011-12. However, the economic landscape has since shifted.

“This offer was made prior to this City Administrator understanding the depth of the recession and its effect on City revenues,” Grote writes in his report. “By the time Oakland rejected the offer in April of 2010, the economic circumstances were such that no such generous offer could have been made at that time.”

Grote’s report also indicates a path the dispute might wander down next:

“Council has heard testimony that all Piedmonters are eligible for Oakland library cards, regardless of whether there is an agreement in place. As I understand the issue, it is likely not true that Oakland would have to allow universal use by Piedmont residents. Generally, libraries are required to issue cards to residents, property owners and persons who work within their service area. Hence, Piedmonters who either own property within or work in another city would be eligible to obtain a library card from that city.”