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Irvine residents could soon see a new library system coming to town after city council members unanimously voted to leave the Orange County Public Libraries last week under a deal they negotiated with the county over the past year.
Now, that deal heads to the county supervisors for their approval, and if they sign off, the largest city in the agency will be out by July 2025.
The city’s exit has been in the works for years amidst ongoing disagreements between city and county leaders over where to spend millions in taxpayer dollars, with hopes that the new agreement can put those questions to bed.
[Read: Irvine Looks to Bail on Orange County Library System After Yearlong Negotiation]
County library leaders haven’t spoken publicly about the issue, saying the final exit details are still being worked out.
But it does mean at least $9 million a year leaving the county’s library fund, along with losing three of its most popular libraries.
Moving forward, city leaders will get $9 million a year to invest in libraries, which they say is almost double what the county was investing up until now, with plans to open new library branches throughout the city and expand services.
As part of the transition, the Katie Wheeler library will be closing permanently, and city staff are planning to find a new home for the Heritage Park library within the next five years, along with bringing a whole new library branch to the Great Park and a new library in the west part of town.
“The plan is absolutely to expand the city library’s system,” said Chris Slama, the city’s head of Community Services.
Council members unanimously praised the new deal by staff, saying while they would’ve liked to see more money coming back to the city, they’d rather get moving than spend more time in negotiations.
“It is crucially important for us to gain control of the library system to be able to improve it, to make a system that is worthy of our city and our high standards,” said Councilman Larry Agran. “We get a year or two or three down the road we’re going to say thank God we went ahead.”
Councilmembers Tammy Kim and Kathleen Treseder also brought up the importance of figuring out how the library would be run, bringing up options like a board of trustees, a friends of the library group and a possible special fund for new construction.
“This has been a very long time in the making,” Kim said, who also serves on the countywide library board. “I think it’s important we start acting on whatever board or structure we decide to take with this.”
While Mayor Farrah Khan was absent from the meeting, Agran read a short statement from her that said she had “high disappointment in the county not providing Irvine’s fair share of the revenues,” and that she was supporting the push to leave the county system.
No county staff are expected to be laid off amidst the transition according to Chi, who said they’re all set to either transfer to other jobs throughout the county or potentially apply for a job under Irvine’s new library system.
There is no date yet for when supervisors will vote on the new plan, with their next meeting currently scheduled for August.
If approved by the board, the city would take over operations of the library in July 2025.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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