Residents send a clear message at library session
Many simply want city to hand structure over to library district

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Frankline summed up the obvious.

“By golly, I would think that would be a good idea of what the citizens of Ontario want,” he said.

Seeking input

At issue is how much, if anything, the City of Ontario will charge the newly formed, voter-supported Ontario Library District for use of the existing library building.

Some city elected leaders maintain a fair, but substantial, fee should be levied on the library district for use of the building. Supporters of the library district, though, assert the city should simply “gift” the building to the district. Thursday’s session was designed by officials to gather as much public input as possible regarding a future course of action.

There were those at the session who felt the library should not be gifted the Ontario Public Library District.

“I don’t think the city ought to donate the building,” Bill Hollingsworth, Ontario, said at the meeting.

He said, as a business owner, he believed the building should be rented.

“I don’t think there ought to be a free lunch,” Hollingsworth said.

He said, when most people are looking at homes they have the ability to decide whether they should buy a home or rent it, asserting no one just gives away a building. He said a better option would be to sell the building to the newly-formed library district at a price of $220,000, which is how much the city took out in a bond in 1966.

Hollingsworth said the new district could purchase the library for $1,000 a month for 220 months or on a shorter term.

The audience also heard from local children’s book writer Judy Cox, who said the city should not charge the newly-formed district rent and the building should be viewed more like a city park, where it has been paid for and can now be used by all.

However, Ontario resident Larry Heidbrink said the city was simply charging rent in the same way the library district would have to pay if it opted to build somewhere else or rent elsewhere.

Later in the meeting, Ontario resident Al Hicks expressed the viewpoint that the lease would be putting Ontario residents in “double jeopardy.”

“We paid to build it once, and now the City Council wants us to pay for it again,” he said. “The City Council didn’t build it, we built it as citizens.”

Ontario resident Jack Roberts, spoke about the Friends of the Library, a group that helped fund library needs such as money for the creation of an elevator, security, computers and a new phone system.

“It seemed like they were working on a shoestring budget,” he said, adding he believed funding has been sparse, even without the rent.

Former Ontario City Council member Jim Mosier said he believed the city was turning a “win/win” situation into a “lose/lose” one. Choosing to charge the library district rent would create a lot of ill will among the community,” he said.

“Public trust is hard to build,” he said. “Harder yet to maintain.”

Ontario resident Riley Hill said he believed the taxpayers were being forgotten in the discussions. He said city taxpayers are responsible for paying for police protection and fire services as well as funding the golf course. With the creation of the new tax district, he said, city taxpayers did not see a reduction in their taxes and are still responsible for paying for the same services.

“It’s an asset to the city, and the city shouldn’t give it away. The taxpayers shouldn’t give it away,” he said.

Shari DePauw, a teacher at Ontario Middle School, said the taxpayers are the city and gifting the building to the library district would simply mean gifting it to themselves.

She also said the school used to used the library a great deal but now are limited on when they can go.

“I’m trying to figure out a way that we can all be winners here,” she said.