Plans to move the Española Public Library into the C.L. Hunter Building are seemingly abandoned and city funding for a new city library is nowhere closer than when the library moved into its current location over 40 years ago.
The public was first informed of Española Mayor Alice Lucero’s intent to build an entirely new structure when she announced it at a July 22 city council meeting. This opened the door for Moving Arts Española and Program Director Roger Montoya, who’s partnering with the city, to turn the Hunter Building into an art center instead.
At a later interview, Lucero elaborated on her decision to go in a different direction. Lucero said moving the library into the Hunter Building had always been her idea and the city Library Board had never been entirely on-board with the move. Ultimately, the Library Board became concerned over the dilapidated state of the property and nixed the idea. Now Lucero said the Library Board wants a completely new property, and no one in the city agrees on how that can be accomplished.
Lucero said she thinks the city can switch gears and finish the project in two to three years. Her idea involves building a multi-purpose center that the library can share with other organizations like the Española Cultural Foundation, though she hasn’t discussed the possibility with the Library Board. Lucero said she hopes a combination of city funds, capital outlay, and private donations the library and any potential cohabitants can obtain, will help build the new facility. Even with all of Lucero’s ideas for funding a new library, the fact remains there is very little current money available.
While the mayor admitted allocating money would be an issue, she also said the “next six months will bring a lot of resolution.” Lucero said the biggest impediment to the new library is the lack of access to state legislature funding, which is a result of the city’s ongoing audit issues.
“The fact that we’re behind on our audits has really impaired us on getting funding for the library,” Lucero said.
While Lucero has her own ideas for the library, some of the Library Board member’s opinions on the matter run contrary to the Mayor’s. Board member Daniel Roybal is opposed to sharing the library facility with any other organizations, saying his first priority is to build a municipal library and not a convention center, though he did say that he’s “always willing to sit down and talk.”
Library Board member John Ramon Vigil also has different ideas for the library. Vigil said he felt the Hunter Building is best suited for private economic development. Vigil said the perfect location for the proposed library would be at the Plaza de Española. In Vigil’s view, the library would not only serve the populace at a centralized location but also help rejuvenate Downtown Española.
Lost amid all of the changes is Library Director Sherry Aragon. Aragon said while she would like to have a new library, the current location was adequate and offered no pressing challenges. This is in contrast to a previous interview published in the Rio Grande SUN, where she complained to a reporter about broken library equipment and empathized with former library director Teddie Riehl, who left the position when she become frustrated with the city’s lack of financial commitment.
Roybal said Aragon’s sentiments are a testament to the hard work she and her staff have put into making the library a usable facility. But Roybal said a new facility is a must.
“She’s made (the library) adequate,” Roybal said. “It’s not adequate for the needs of the community.”
Vigil agreed with Roybal. While he likes Aragon, he disagreed with her assessment of the library.
“We’re not able to meet the needs of our population with square footage (in the current library),” Vigil said.
Aragon appealed for funding directly to the Rio Arriba County Commission at a July 25 meeting. While it appeared the commission originally denied her funding, Aragon said she was later called by County officials, telling her that she was put on a list for potential funding, though Aragon has yet to receive any check from the County.
Rio Arriba County hasn’t been the only source that the library has gone to in the past in an attempt to increase its budget. Besides an over $20,000 increase in funding to the library in the 2014 city budget, the Española City Library has sought money from the State Legislature for the past five years. Most recently, the library requested $6.6 million to renovate the Hunter Building, which was denied. While the library did receive $300,000 last year from the state, the money can’t be touched until the city catches up on its audits. When it does, Lucero wants to use it towards plans for a new library building.
Roybal said he is fairly confident their next appeal to the state legislature for capital outlay money will be successful. He said the reason they were denied previously was due to a misunderstanding from city council, and with everyone on the same page this time and better community support, access to state funding should be easier. Funding from private foundations and donors is a back-up plan that will only be explored if capital outlay funding falls through, he said.
Vigil said the city council needs to conduct more research and push harder on its part to match the support they’ve been getting from state legislators.