TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Philippe Eskandar, City Manager
BY: Cathi Johnson, Community Services Director
DATE: November 13, 2024
SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF CROWELL PUBLIC LIBRARY CLOSURE
CALENDAR FOR 2025
STRATEGIC PLAN CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
Fiscally Responsible and Transparent City Government
Inviting and Relevant City Facilities
BACKGROUND
Each year, staff present a closure calendar for the Crowell Public Library to the Board of Trustees, and ultimately seek City Council’s approval. Council approval is needed to close on any days that are not City approved holidays.
On September 23, the Library Board of Trustees voted to approve the closure calendar (Attachment 1) and request City Council’s approval.
DISCUSSION
Staff are requesting the below closures for the Crowell Public Library in 2025:
1) Two half-day Fridays (May 16 and November 14) from 10 AM to 1 PM
a. Historically, the Library closed to the public for one day annually in order to conduct all-staff training. This ensures that staff are experts in their respective units while
understanding how the work they do contributes to our
mission as a public library and supports Department and city-wide goals. In the past, the date chosen was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as Library usage on this day was
Steven W. Huang, DDS, Mayor
Gretchen Shepherd Romey, Vice Mayor
Tony Chou, Council Member
Calvin Lo, Council Member
Steve Talt, Council Member
traditionally very low, minimizing the impact of the closure on service to the community. As Martin Luther King Jr. Day is now a City approved holiday, staff are recommending new closures for all-staff trainings.
b. Breaking up the larger training day into two shorter days will minimize the impact on the public while providing more frequent and responsive training opportunities for staff.
Friday mornings are the least busy of the seven days the Library is open.
c. Closing for two partial days would result in 3 hours of closure every six months for a total of 6 hours. The proposed
schedule would provide four more hours of public service than the current Martin Luther King Jr. Day training closure of 10 hours, from 10 AM to 8 PM.
2) Easter Sunday (April 20)
a. Historically, the Library has been closed to the public, as circulation and gate count have been lower than an average Sunday.
3) Thanksgiving Eve (November 26)
a. The Library will close early (5 PM) due to the historically low number of patrons in the building on this day.
FISCAL IMPACT & PROCUREMENT REVIEW
Staff anticipates these closures will have a minimal fiscal impact.
This report requires no procurement review.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney's office has reviewed and approved as to form.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Council approval of the Crowell Public Library closure calendar for 2025. If the City Council concurs with staff’s recommendation, an appropriate motion would be:
“I move to approve the Crowell Public Library closure calendar for 2025.”
ATTACHMENTS
1. Library Closure Calendar for 2025