ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — A meeting over potential library branch closures in St. Charles County stretched late into the night on Friday.
Library officials there said that in two years, revenues will fall behind their costs, and they've cut everything they can.
Friday's meeting got heated between library board of trustees members, librarians and patrons of the locations as they all consider possible closures.
"We have been trying any number of things, considering any number of things," Jason Kuhl, CEO of the St. Charles City-County Library, said during his hour-long presentation Friday. "We've changed our hours. We've closed on Sundays for a period of time. We've been exhausting all possibilities. Thinking as creatively as possible."
Potentially flipping the page for libraries in St. Charles as the board of trustees vote yes, no or to postpone closing three medium-sized branches.
"A lot of numbers were thrown at us and it was hard to understand what was said for what," said Mark DiCicco, an O'Fallon resident for the past 15 years. "They're spending I think he said $50,000-$60,000 just on e-book rentals."
Overall circulation for the St. Charles City-County Libraries has changed since the pandemic. Before, they had about 6 million items in circulation. Now, Kuhl said during the meeting they still have 6 million, but childhood classics like Dr. Seuss or Curious George are increasingly being read online.
These branch closures could come as early as June 30 and potentially mean job cuts or reassignments.
Kuhl added during his talk that consultants found 70% of their staff was making below the minimum wage of comparable libraries. However, now librarians are worried about losing their jobs entirely.
The floor was opened for public comment with about 200 attendees ahead of Friday's vote.
There were audience members disagreeing with the proposed closures but also board members butted heads as well.
Staci Alvarez, a board of trustee member with St. Charles City-County Library, said, "we're required to notify the public of the actions that we're going to take."
In response during the board's initial discussion prior to public comment, board member Buddy Hardin said, "but the only person on the board who had any input on any of this is you."
"That is incorrect," Alvarez responded.
"Well, how come I didn't?" Hardin countered.
A shout from the crowd came immediately after: "Great job board!"
Possible solutions that were voiced by the crowd in order to avoid laying off librarians and staff was to fundraise and give more money to the St. Charles City-County Foundation as well as increasing donations to try to keep more library doors open.