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Show 10 ' o BeeMiPMS Imminent Im Librmr System f ' TOM BUSSELBERG J , "orth County Editor AMINGTON - The bounty Library Board is io have to come up with important decisions -jT'the next few months. 4 V. AT least was the Wisusofthe board as they word from Library (,or Jeanne Layton that the problem of crowding in the Farmington headquarters isn going away. She coupled that with a Davis News Journal-Layton Journal-Layton Chamber of Commerce Com-merce survey indicating that while 56 percent of the 231 surveyed sur-veyed feel the city should discontinue dis-continue its association with the county library, only 34 percent per-cent were willing to see a tax increase to form their own library. It has been the departure of Layton, accomplished more than a year ago, that has helped hold up any new developments de-velopments for the county. It was a decision by the Library board several years ago to build a headquarters in Layton without specifying a definite timetable that helped speed Layton's exit. CITY OFFICIALS con tended the library should be built within a reasonable time but county commissioners insisted in-sisted they couldn't commit to any specifics until the economy eco-nomy picked up. Cost estimates esti-mates places a "bare minimum" mini-mum" headquarters facility at more than $2 million, when furnishings were considered. A site was obtained and still sits idle near the Layton High School-city hall complex. m a . .... . In the meantime, Ms. Layton told the board two decisions de-cisions must be reached, as she sees it. A "plan A" would see Layton returning to the system and construction of a headquarters head-quarters there. "Plan B" would envision remodeling-probably remodeling-probably enlarging-the existing ex-isting Farmington central library. lib-rary. "SOME SERIOUS problems prob-lems come with growth," she told the board, alluding to the county's continued expansion in population that has seen an estimated 11,000 new residents resi-dents since the 1980 census, or up to 157,000. "We need to start developing develop-ing a plan so it can be implemented im-plemented as soon as money is available," Ms. Layton explained, ex-plained, noting one option for Farmington could even be a completely new facility, faced with the "hemmed in" situation situa-tion currently existing at the nearly 20-year-old library. COUNTY COM. Chairman Glen Saunders, a library board member, urged waiting several months to see what the economy eco-nomy might do. If growth begins be-gins to pick up, generating more tax revenue, some plans could be formulated, he said, speaking of an economic fore cast that forsees some signs of a trend away from the recession reces-sion within the next two-three months should current federal spending policies continue. Although no board member said he was firmly in favor of either the new Layton facility or opposed to remodeling Farmington, opinion was di- Continued on page 3 County Needs Bigger Library Continued from page 1 vided on both options for the headquarters. "FARMINGTON has been the headquarters of the county since the start. If the commissioners commis-sioners want to talk to the librarian lib-rarian (it would be more convenient con-venient than moving to Layton)," Robert Arbuckle of Centerville said. "It's hard to see why we should move part of the county to Layton." Ms. Layton indicated that based on the desire to place a main library closer to the greatest populas, Bountiful would be the logical choice. That, of course, would raise complaints from the north end. SHE ADDED that thanks to new computer technology for cataloging and other procedures, proce-dures, it would be feasible to divide administration and those functions, keeping administration admi-nistration and a branch in Farmington, for example, and moving the bulk of the collection collec-tion housed in the main library to Layton, for instance. "It looks like if Layton doesn't come back in we'll have to go the expense (of remodeling re-modeling Farmington) even if we have little growth," Eva Jean Law of West Point said, adding, "We really need to get this Layton thing taken care of." AND MR. Arbuckle added, "I think we'd have a better system if Layton woudl come back." No matter where the main library is situated, Board Chairman Evan Whitesides said, other new libraries, such as in Centerville and West Point, may be needed within 20 years as the county grows. IN OTHER business, the board agreed to select a third review committee member from the public to replace Royce Carter of West Point, whose term has expired. It will be someone from the north area including Clearfield, West Point, Clinton and Sunset. Other "lay" members are Arlin Mecham of Bountiful and Mary Ann Creer of Farmington Farm-ington who would meet with two library staff members, rotated ro-tated each week. Since the committee's formation, only the book "Americana" has been reviewed and was removed re-moved after their decision. |
