Randle Library Spared, Timberland Could Close a Third of Libraries

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ILWACO — Randle residents showed up in force here Wednesday to save their library, and they likely made the three-hour drive back to East County with smiles on their faces.

But the jubilation in Randle comes with mounting concern, as Timberland Regional Library begins pondering a proposal that would close nearly a third of the five-county system’s 27 libraries.

The chastened Timberland board voted unanimously Wednesday evening for a one-year extension of the Mountain View Library’s lease, after hearing more than an hour of passionate public testimony defending the library and criticizing Timberland for the last-minute process that brought it to the brink. The overflow crowd spilling into the halls filled the small Ilwaco Timberland Library with deafening applause following the decision.

Although the Randle closure was most imminent, the meeting also came days after TRL first released a Capital Facilities Plan proposal that would close nearly a third of its libraries, force others to “consolidate services” and mark a drastic change in the way Timberland would reach the five counties it has served for 50 years. Those closures would include Randle, Packwood, Salkum, Tenino, Oakville, Hoquiam, Montesano and Amanda Park. Raymond and South Bend would also be consolidated into a single library.

As library patrons from all over Southwest Washington decried the potential closures, board members emphasized that they too had just received the proposal from Timberland’s administration team, noting that the public feedback from Randle and others would make them think long and hard about the proposed changes.

“I read each and every one of your emails and letters,” said Timberland board member Brenda Hirschi. “You really opened my eyes. You really helped educate me on what your libraries mean to you, and I just thank you for it. I hope that we can work this out to retain and sustain your libraries and your ability to have service.”

The board heard from more than 40 citizens, as scores more packed the room and overflow areas outside. The majority hailed from East Lewis County, South Bend and nearby Ocean Park. South Bend’s library is currently closed as Timberland awaits a Washington State Department of Labor and Industries report about lead paint, mold and asbestos. Ocean Park, in the Capital Facilities Proposal, would “consolidate staffing, services and resources with Ilwaco and move to a group staffing model.”

Mountain View Library Manager Mary Prophit was one of the first to speak.

“This has not been easy for me,” she said. “I feel like I’m being asked to choose between the library district and the community I serve … I would love to see solutions that don’t involve closing buildings. Rural libraries need physical space. There is nothing else for the 2,000 residents of Randle. There is no other free WiFi. There is no other gathering space.”

Prophit was one of many who criticized Timberland officials for the timing of the potential closure. Randle residents first heard the closure was a possibility at a Timberland town hall on Sept. 20, as TRL staff cited an expiring lease, financial pressures and a desire to reach more people with a “mobile services” model. Cynthia Berne, who owns the Randle Square building that houses the library, said she reached out to Timberland in July to discuss the lease that expires on Oct. 31. She said she did not hear back for five weeks, at which point she was told Timberland was considering closing the library. She said she had offered to renew the lease for a single year under the same terms in order to give the board time to come up with a long-term plan, an offer the board ultimately accepted Wednesday.

“I’m thrilled,” Berne said in a phone interview following the decision. “We’ve loved having the library in our building. … I hope this gives them pause not only for Randle, but for other areas they may be considering to close.”

Among the dozens of residents who spoke out, Cookie Troxel drew perhaps the loudest response, describing Randle as a town that’s fallen on hard economic times but has gotten by with community spirit. She said Timberland officials had failed to live up to the library’s mission statement.

“The one that hit us the hardest was the one that says integrity,” she said, referencing one of TRL’s listed core values. “‘We build trust.’ That never happened in Randle. It was a leak by a pastor in one of our churches that let us know we were going to have our library closed.”

As she roused the crowd, Troxel was told she had run over her allotted time to speak.

“You can have my three minutes, Cookie,” called out one attendee. Another offered the same. Troxel continued.

“What you need to look at is not your finances,” she said. “What you need to look at is a community that has struggled for years but has got together and fought every adversity. … And now you’re taking away the hub of the community.”

Randle resident Sue Sume added her own impassioned plea to the board.

“I urge you for transparency. I urge you to work within your communities,” she said. “Because I can tell you Randle is not going to go quietly into that night.”

The board also heard from Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund, a former TRL board member herself. She noted that she had served with two of the members and had appointed both of Lewis County’s representatives.

“You created a wildfire here when you tried to take away their library,” she said. “We are not Pierce County. We are not Seattle, King County. We are five local, very rural counties. Things are different.… We all need our libraries. My suggestion to you is to reevaluate this. Some damage control needs to be done.”

Following the hour-plus procession of speakers, the board quickly took a unanimous vote to extend the Randle lease for another year. Board President Brian Zylstra, a Chehalis resident, said he and board member Hal Blanton — who lives in Packwood — had been given a strong signal from their fellow Lewis County residents.

“Hal heard that message loud and clear, and I definitely did,” Zylstra said. “The one message that really came through was that it would be very unfair to close the Mountain View Library in just a few weeks, especially on such short notice, and I agree.”

After the vote, Mountain View’s supporters filled the room with a raucous cheer.

“I’m so happy,” Prophit said, her eyes watering after the decision. “I’m so proud of my community for coming forward and conveying to the board the importance of this facility, and the importance that our community is willing to work together to solve problems. … I just cannot thank the community enough. I love them so much.”



Fund was equally jubilant, having been proven right on her Monday prediction that “it’s not too late to save it.”

“I’m just elated,” she said. “I’m just elated.”

Still, she noted that the drastic cuts outlined in the Capital Facilities Proposal remain a looming threat.

“There’s going to be a lot of reverberations throughout the five county area,” she said. “This is a rural system. It was built 50 years ago to be a rural system. If they close the libraries they put on the chopping block, we would be more of an urban system.”

Timberland’s board members stressed that the proposal remains just that — a proposal — and that they haven’t had time to give it a thorough look, let alone take action. Still, they commended TRL’s administrative team for their work on the document, noting that changes do need to happen as the library system faces growing financial pressure and the reality that it largely doesn’t reach the communities that don’t currently have physical buildings.

“I regard this plan as a very rough draft of ideas, each of which must be carefully considered and reviewed,” said board member Corby Varness. “I am personally not ready to implement anything proposed in this plan as it stands.”

Board member Jenna Noll, who called into the meeting remotely, said Timberland board members had been denied nearly as much information as the public.

“The board just learned all the details of this plan,” she said. “Nothing is set in stone. There is still opportunity for the communities to comment. … People have said this was done behind closed doors. The doors were also kind of closed to the board. I didn’t know the (Randle) lease was expiring until a week or two ago.”

Following the meeting, Zylstra and Blanton said the firestorm over the Randle decision offered lessons for the board as it considers larger-scale closures throughout the system.

“Transparency is important,” Blanton said. “Everyone that complained about it, they’re right. There wasn’t anything secretive done. Sometimes things just get sucked into a black hole and they don’t get out to where they need to. We took a little bit of a hit. Hopefully from there we can at least clear up the process.”

Zylstra added that the board will need to take its time and listen going forward.

“It’s really important that the board take a very slow and deliberative process through this with the plan,” he said. “It’s going to impact a lot of libraries in different communities throughout Timberland. The people of Randle pointed out their library matters to them very much. … Other communities value their libraries just as much. It’s important that we factor that in as we try to make decisions about Timberland’s future. It’s important that we let the public have input in this process.”

Reached before the Wednesday meeting, Rochester resident Gene Weaver — a former TRL board member — expressed dismay when told of the closures in the proposal.

“I’m stunned,” he said. “That's gonna cause a tremendous uproar. What in the world. They need to do a lot more homework. ... That seems really drastic.”

Timberland Library Manager Cheryl Heywood, who presented the Capital Facilities Plan to the board, said any determinations on future closures would take time, but tough decisions will need to be made.

“This is a complicated system,” she said. “It’s gonna take a long time. I can tell you, though, in 2020, the budget — it’s pretty serious by then.”

Much of the Timberland staff’s proposal evaluates libraries on financial metrics, such as cost per borrower, categories in which rural libraries struggle to compete. Residents urged the board to remember their organization’s history as they consider cuts to those facilities. Timberland’s official history credits the citizens of rural East Lewis County, who had tried and failed to establish a county library system, with rallying the other counties to create TRL.

“It was largely the impetus provided by these citizens and their enthusiasm that convinced library officials in the other four counties that they should participate in a project to demonstrate regional library service,” the Timberland document reads.

Packwood resident John Squires recalled a letter to the editor his mother wrote in 1968, fighting for the formation of that system.

“Timberland was not formed to provide service to high population-density areas,” he said. “Exactly the opposite … It had only one purpose. Provide rural library service.”

He reminded board members that timber taxes from rural areas made up a robust chunk of Timberland’s funding in its early days, walking back to his seat with a cry of “rural libraries rock!”

Sume added her own admonition as the board considers the challenges ahead.

“I get that money is a thing,” she said. “It’s not the most important thing.”