The best advice I have for the Manteca City Council when it comes to library services is this: Take Stephen Breacain’s suggestion to heart.
Breacain is a Bulletin reader and Manteca resident who penned a letter a few days ago urging elected leaders to think “out-of-the-box” when it comes to library services.
The insight he offered wasn’t exactly earthshattering but it is arguably the best answer to the three key library issues: affordability, accessibility, and flexibility.
Leasing space is the way that most Fortune 500 companies make sure they keep expenses down, can be located in the best possible place to serve their customers, and are able to adjust to changing market dynamics.
Those are the three big issues that the Manteca City Council has when it comes to the library: Paying for the facilities, making sure they are easily accessible to residents, and not being flexible by committing to pour financial resources into one location over 20 to 30 years to pay off a $33 million construction loan that is closer to $45 million when interest is included.
With all due respect to the six Manteca council candidates who outlined their well thought-out visions for library services, the real thankless task of an elected official is finding the money to make those visions work. The City Council can’t control whether the state or federal government or private agency will award a grant. They can control — to a large degree — what fees and taxes are charged locally for library services. And they have absolute control on value judgments as to how general fund resources Manteca has are allocated. Is establishing a branch library, as an example, more important in the overall scheme of things than adding two police officers instead of three in a specific budget year?
As Councilman Mike Morowit noted recently, the reason he ran for office was so he could be part of the decision making process on how best to spend Manteca’s funds to leverage the most functional, safest, and livable community possible with available resources.
Breacain’s basic fiscal premise is unquestionable. Back in the early 1990s, California’s seventh largest school district — San Juan Unified in eastern Sacramento County — was faced with a severe quandary. Dropping enrollment in the far western reaches of the sprawling district was forcing them to consolidate and close elementary schools. At the same time in the high growth eastern end around Citrus Heights and Orangevale they couldn’t build schools fast enough to keep up with growth.
They found it wasn’t easy converting elementary schools to other public uses. Recreation districts were interested in multi-purpose rooms and playing areas but not classrooms. It was suggested the new schools be developed jointly with agencies such as the Sunrise Parks and Recreation District and Sacramento County. The support buildings — gyms, libraries, playgrounds, and such — would pass on to the other agencies if the school closed. The remaining classrooms would be developed as portables and razed when no longer needed and the land sold.
The proposal was dead on arrival thanks to state laws and the fiefdom complex that many local agencies are afflicted with.
The leased branch library approach Breacain suggests would work because there is only two agencies involved that have an established working relationship — the City of Manteca and the Stockton-San Joaquin County Library System.
Manteca would probably need to provide funding for staff and whatever is needed to make the vision for learning adopted for the branch work.
But here’s the kicker. Leasing is less expensive. Way less expensive.
Let’s say the city leases space at $2.50 per square foot. A 3,000-square-foot space would cost $90,000 a year. The library the city envisioned building for $33 million in 2002 would cost $1.5 million a year over the course of 30 years once interest is factored.
Under Breacain’s approach Manteca could add three branch libraries for less than a fifth of the annual cost of one huge central library.
Better yet, when Manteca’s community patterns change, the library locations can be changed. Yes, lease renewals do go up and it costs to move. But the bottom line is simple: It allows libraries not only to go where they are needed as needs change through the years but they can also evolve by moving into different spaces.
The Stockton-San Joaquin Library System has an effective bookmobile program that operates in Manteca and other urbanized communities to meet the learning needs of a changing populace in a changing world.
The real issue now is someone, as in elected officials, getting off their duffs and moving forward with providing the community an even more responsive library system.
Funding is less of an issue if you abandon Taj Mahi dreams, keep things flexible, and accept the fact that the only way library services in Manteca are going to be expanded is for Manteca’s leaders to be the leaders and not wait for San Joaquin County or the state to throw them a bone.

This column is the opinion of executive editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209.249.3519.