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Politics & Government

Oakland City Council May Look at Library Fee Dispute

If negotiations break down, Piedmonters might lose the privilege of free library cards.

 The dispute over library fees paid by Piedmont to Oakland may be headed for the Oakland City Council.

“I’m working with the mayor’s office to see what the best way is, what are the next steps,” said Carmen Martinez, director of the Oakland Public Library. “It’s on her (Mayor Jean Quan’s) radar. I believe ultimately it will be the city council’s decision.”

Oakland has continued to honor library cards of City of Piedmont residents, Martinez said. But if Piedmont were to cut off all negotiations, Oakland could move to stop honoring Piedmont library cards under authority of the Universal Borrowing Code of the California Education Code, Martinez said.

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And that would be unfortunate, she said, because she values the contributions of Piedmont residents as donors, tutors and volunteers in Oakland libraries.

“There’s been a lot of support from a good neighbor,” Martinez said. 

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Piedmonters are engaged on the issue. California Library Director Stacey Aldridge has talked this week to a half-dozen Piedmont residents who called about the funding dispute, Martinez said.

Piedmont had paid an annual fee of $350,000 for residents’ use of Oakland libraries under a 10-year contract that ended in 2008. Talks toward a successor agreement had been interrupted partly because of changes in Oakland city administrations in recent years, Martinez said.

But eventually, in talks between representatives of the two cities, an agreement had been reached, via email, to make the annual payment be $395,000 for a year while Oakland sought a higher amount in the range of $600,000 to help cover increased library costs, Martinez said.

Then Oakland officials were taken by surprise to find that Piedmont had passed a budget with $350,000 as the library fee amount, Martinez said.

(The Piedmont city version is a bit different. )

“Everybody needs to move forward,” said Martinez.

Meanwhile, the revenue squeeze has Oakland making plans to move a library branch heavily used by Piedmont residents, the Piedmont Avenue branch on 41st Street.

Martinez said Oakland cannot afford a new library or rents on Piedmont Avenue. Officials are looking at placing a temporary branch in a modular building either at the city-owned Key Route parking lot (next to the CVS pharmacy) or on the Piedmont Avenue Elementary School property. With the latter, the city is having talks with the Oakland Unified School District to determine whether a second modular building can be placed on the site — there is already one modular building there used by the school.

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