Good afternoon, everyone.

We shall now, thank you.

We shall now jump into our PM budget hearings for today, Friday.

313, Detroit Day, 2026.

Excuse me.

Been sitting all week, Mr.

Clerk.

No problem.

Will you please call the role?

Good afternoon.

Councilmember Scott Benson.

Councilmember Denzel McCampbell.

Present.

Councilmember Renata Miller.

Councilmember Latisha Johnson.

Present.

Councilmember Gabriel Santiago Romero.

Present.

Councilmember Mary Waters.

Present.

Councilmember Andrew Whitfield Callaway.

Council President Pro Tan Coleman Young Second.

Council President James Tate.

Here.

Mr.

President, there is a core.

Thank you so much.

And we will now begin the public budget hearing for the Detroit Public Library.

If you can please come on down.

Join us at the table, please.

We'll also like to note that I don't think he's joining us at the table, but we have a library commissioner, Mr.

Candia Milton.

Good to see you.

Always great to see you, Nisha.

Places these parts, sir.

Absolutely.

All right.

Good afternoon, Madam Director.

No, we cannot.

I can't see if it's green.

Hit it one more time, turn that green into red.

I mean that red into green.

There we go.

There we go.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Afternoon.

I'm Joanne Mundowney, Executive Director, Detroit Public Library.

And I would like to say it is a pleasure for us to come before you to share information about the library.

And before we do our presentation, I would like to thank the city council members.

We put a village on the ballot in August of 2025.

The City Council put us on the ballot.

We got a response of 85.8% of Detroiters supporting us.

I think they recognized how vital, vibrant, and valued we are to the people of Detroit.

This library, two weeks from now, will turn 161 years old.

On March 25th, share the same birthday as Aretha Franklin.

But I want you with our presentation to focus on the fact that in our mission, we are committed to serving the people of Detroit for finding diverse and dynamic pathways to literacy and learning.

We are intentional and we strive every day to do that.

And what we have left with you will prove we work very hard in doing so.

But again, we thank you for your support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And thank you for your patience as well.

I neglected to say that we did have to extend our break because we went a little bit over earlier.

So thank you for your patience.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Um for the record.

I'm Antonio Brown, Chief Financial Officer for the City of Detroit.

I mean, for the Detroit Public Library.

And I do I did prepare a budget uh presentation.

You should have it at uh at your disposal.

I will just go through that, but the slide deck for us.

Um it is presented by uh Miss Joanne Downey, executive director, and myself, Antonio Brown, Chief Financial Officer.

Um, as Ms.

McDowney said, our mission for Detroit Public Library, and it enlightens and empowers um by providing diverse and dynamic pathways to literacy and learning.

We so in this budget, you will see how it promotes literacy, expands the mind, and creates opportunities for individual and how it builds community.

This budget object uh executive object objectives is to stabilize operation costs are all uh across main library and 21 branches to minimize facility-driven closures, also to maintain fund balance responsibly to support capital readiness, and also it retains three million dollars annually for 10 years via the approved proposal L budget.

Just for your edification, because some of you may or may not know, we do have the districts listed, the libraries that's listed in your district, district one.

Uh we have the Henry Cheney branch and the Redford branch in District One.

District 2, we have Jesse C.

Chase Branch, Bella Hubbard Branch, Francis Parkman branch, and Sherwood Forest branch and district two.

District 3 is the Benjamin Franklin branch, the Elizabeth Knapp branch, which is temporarily closed, and we will get into that.

The Abraham Lincoln branch and the Lower Ingle Wilder Branch is in District 3.

District 4, we have Chandler Park Branch, the Thomas Jefferson Branch, the John Monteith branch, which is temporarily closed, and we'll get into that.

District 5, we have the Divi B.

Duffield branch, Elmwood Park Branch, the Main Library, and the Rose and Robert Skillman branch, which is temporarily closed, and we'll get into that.

Our service hours for the public.

So the renovations.

Topic skillmen branch.

The skillmen branch is projected to reopen in 2027.

We do thank the downtown authority for the generous $3 million appropriation to support the capital needs for skillmen.

We have finalized our window RFP.

So the plan for Skillman is to change out the windows, put a new roof on Skillman, fix the front approach to the Skillman, the front entrance to Skillman, and do some landscaping and provide exterior lighting.

All that is through the generous donation of the downtown development authority and the building authority is assisting with this project management.

We're finding out when you deal with older buildings, they're fragile, they're sensitive, and so uh the RFP process is taking a little longer so we can scope out the real the real the real work.

But we do plan for it to uh reopen in 2027.

The Monteith Branch.

Uh during the 2025 budget process, the city council allocated three uh two million dollars for the restoration of the Monteith branch.

Um right now, to give you a status of where we are with Monteith, uh the boiler at Monteith has been replaced.

Um it was a boiler that had been in there since it was the original boiler.

Um we it was encased in asbestos, so we had to abate it.

Um the boiler is in place.

We're working now to finalize the operation.

We have to turn the water on, see if there's any leaks in the branch that comes through.

But if the boiler is good, we have uh that that would be good for us.

We are repairing the parapet wall and the flooring is scheduled for spring 2026.

Um then once the floor is put in and the parapet wall and the plastering is done.

We will be in we will be installing new computers, desk, and library materials to reopen Monteith.

The Knapp branch.

Um it closed in 2026 due to a boiler replacement.

I am happy to say that that boiler is now installed.

Uh we are working on the next phase, which is the HVAC uh system that should be installed this well before the the spring um hits, but the NAT branch boiler has been replaced.

Okay.

Now get into the thing where we talked about why we're here.

So our 2027 budget revenues is 45.4 million dollars.

That consists of our local property tax revenues, our federal, state, and county and other income.

Our budget is balanced without the use of fund balance for to cover our employees' salaries and benefits, pension and retirement expenditures, operating expenditures, and debt service.

As compared to 2026 to 2027, our total property, our total revenues increase just a little under or just at $2 million.

As we stated with proposal L, one of the provisions was that the library's millage was not was no longer being captured by the downtown development authority.

So by our library millage not being captured, no longer being captured by the DDA.

It allows us for an additional two million dollars, two or two million dollars or so annually into our budget.

So that's the biggest difference from 2026 to 2027.

And then our expenditures increase as we are expanding our library operations, keep it addressing some of these operational things.

We're allocating money to staff.

Just how our debt service operates.

We're operating on the same schedule as the city.

And then our pension and retirees increased by two percent.

So this is also good news for the library.

The library uh commission on February 17, 2026, approved a contract with Quinn Evans firm to conduct an assessment on all DPL locations.

The assessment will cover exterior and interior analysis of structures and systems, energy efficiency and sustainability, and opinions of probable cost.

This assessment will be used to provide strategic direction for long-term capital plan and funding campaign.

Um of our buildings, including Maine, to find out where our structural um deficits uh damages are, things that we need to address, flooring, HVAC systems, lighting, um, roofs.

Uh you name it, we're gonna we're gonna be looking at it.

Um we anticipate that this number is going to be a big number.

Okay, it's going to be a large number.

Um, we're gonna use this report to help us guide us in creating our priorities for capital uh uh planning, and then how do we pay for it is going to be the next step.

I think this is the opportunity for the library.

I we have not the city and the city have not built the library in over 40 years.

Um so our library's buildings are uh they need a lot of care.

Um, but we also, as if I can still councilman Benson's uh thunder a little bit from last year uh when he talked about library branches, uh building library for our grandchildren, um, a 21st century library branch or branches uh that not only we could be proud of, but our grandchildren can be proud of that hopefully will sustain over us over the next hundred and sixty years.

So um, but this is the first step in that plan.

The first step is to assess where we are and then how do we leverage how do we set aside funds to address those capital needs staffing?

Uh this budget uh has us positioned for 325 FTEs as of February 2026.

The library has 240 field positions, leaving 85 vacancies.

We are prioritizing our customer service representatives, which is um pretty much our library pages, um our librarian twos and our branch managers to keep our staffing open, let's keep our library open.

We are also our recruiting through job fairs, partnerships, and local pipelines gaps, because we realize that gaps affect literacy support, technology help, and branch safety.

And that concludes my presentation on at this point.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

In August that will be 17 years, and dog years 30.

For me, I've I've been I've been in my position since 2014, so a little over 11 years.

Yeah, and I know what we uh brother Brown, we've grown grown great together.

Yes, we have along the way.

Just want to say you've done a tremendous job with the um budget that you've been receiving that you've received over the years.

As we've talked about in the past, there's certain institutions that you know back in the day, all you heard was it's gonna close, it's about to close, it's gonna close if this would happen.

But you all have done a tremendous job.

Um with sparse funding, I'll be honest with you.

Um, but been able to to make you know uh tremendous uh leaps and bounds based on the funding that you have received.

So I want to personally say thank you for that.

Um we're gonna see what we can do to assist uh a little bit further again this year.

Uh I will start with member Callaway.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Um real quick question for you, and um I've already submitted my questions um to all the departments, but um if you haven't received them, if you can let me know, I'll make sure you get them today.

The city of Detroit will reduce the real property tax millage rate by an additional one mil effective July 1, 2026.

Due to this reduction and previous reductions, since I've been in office, I've been advocating for those reductions and have been getting them.

The city of Detroit has reduced the municipal portion of residential PRE property taxes from 30 mils to 24 mils.

This has been a 20% reduction over the past four years.

Can DPL reduce its millage by maybe 10% or more?

Well say this, and I'll just kind of echo through the chair statements.

Our our revenues support library operations, and we do have one of the things that the library does not have is we do not have funding that's directly dedicated to capital.

We've been forced to keep in order to keep our library branches operational.

We've been using operational dollars to handle some of these um capital needs, like an HVAC system.

Right now, like I said, at NAP, um the the boiler just quit, and we had to address it.

Um we used operational dollars to address it because we have no capital millage itself to address those capital needs.

So if you ask me on the spot, can the library sustain a 10 million uh a 10 percent reduction?

At what cost are we not?

What are we not doing?

And at this point, that's the question that I would I would have to answer.

I would have to evaluate what what would we be sacrificing?

Um is it I can tell you that it cost us roughly um a million dollars to run a library branch.

You know, so those are types of those are types of uh of questions that we would have to ask.

We would have to have some hard conversations about.

Okay, all right.

And my questions come from my community, so you know sometimes they're tough, sometimes they're not, but it's worth asking, and thank you for your response.

Um my next question is please describe if you can um the DPL funds available to finance DPL plans for regional libraries, the ones that you the 21st century libraries, and I think um, I think last year there was a mention of two.

Um, what how would you get that funded?

And have you talked about or considered or contemplated or pondered City of Detroit bond financing?

Thank you uh for that question.

So internally, we've had internal conversations about how do we what kinds of decisions do we need to make.

Um in addition to funding new libraries, we still have aging infrastructure, existing aging infrastructure.

So, what's the conversation around new infrastructure and how do we sustain current infrastructure?

Is it a trade-off?

Is it is it something that we can we sustain new library branches while maintaining our existing ones?

That's a question that if if we're asked to reduce operational dollars, that may be a challenge.

However, as far as funding, I think it's I think it's we're we're looking at all of our options.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for that.

Maybe we should reach out to some folks who've graduated from high school here, like Stephen Ross, um, Gary Turkle.

They've all graduated from schools here in the city of Detroit.

And would it be it would be amazing if Steven Ross would get a library, maybe we can name it after him.

It could be naming rights involved for him to help build that library.

We know he has the Ross School of Business.

We know the Illich has a um school of business.

It's about how we reach out to folks who have a stake, um, a vested interest and businesses in our city.

So I would hope that maybe, you know, we can talk about it.

I I have a whole list of people that maybe we can talk to, but Stephen Ross would probably probably be at the top of my list, and it wouldn't hurt to have a conversation with him, you know, knowing that he is um from you know um from the city district too.

Um and the turbals too.

Um, but it would be great just to have those conversations, you know what I mean?

So we'll talk about it, but I've already submitted my questions, and thank you all so much.

Thank you, Member Benson.

All right, thank you.

Uh, and thank you all for being here today.

Um typically I utilize my time here to be very aggressive with the library and push you all in the direction I like to see you go.

I would say this year, I'm very pleased that you all are moving in that direction.

So this year we will utilize my time to provide you with accolades and say thank you.

And you all are doing excellent job in moving in this new direction.

I appreciate it.

So, number one, I want to say thank you.

Good to hear that Skillman branch will be opening in the year 2027.

We've been talking about that for a number of years.

We've been advocating that they're open.

Then I want to give accolades to my colleague for marching over to the DDA and advocating for you all to receive a grant because that's the only way that they could support uh DPL.

And this was during the height of all the public comment.

Oh, people are terrible to the library, you are taking all their money, you all are stealing from them.

So we wouldn't got you all some money, and you are putting it to good use.

You partner with the city of Detroit to make those improvements, and you are updating, as you said, a fragile asset in your portfolio.

Thank you.

I'm hoping that you're going to have a nice community party when that opens up in my colleagues' district.

Number two, NAP Branch, glad to know that the NAP branch has a border is replaced and is opening up.

And that is a huge asset for the Bengali community and the Arabic community over near Conan and Davis.

And so that is a heavily used asset, and people really appreciate that.

So thank you all for making that happen and getting that back up and running again, if I'm not mistaken, I heard spring, which is in less than two weeks, that branch will be open again.

Well, so not a question, but you can answer it though.

I don't want to do that.

Yeah.

So one I I will I will just add this, um, that while the boiler, the boiler is fixed, during the um, during the installation of the boiler, we we noticed that some um, well, as they were dragging it in, tiles came up, which the tiles are asbestos.

Yeah, so we have to abate the floor and remove the floor, replace the floor.

So while the boiler is in place and is operational, we may have some addition, we have some additional things that we have to do because we cannot open up that building until we replace the floor.

So that is also um something that is in progress.

So the statement that it will be open in spring may or it it likely will be a little longer than that because of the floor.

Okay.

So we have to bid it out and and do those things.

Well, summer usually ends around the 23rd, 21st of September.

So hopefully before the end of summer, we can see that branch opened up again.

Look at your balance sheet and your auditive financials, fund balance.

You have a fantastic fund balance.

It's a double-edged sword, but we're going to go on the good side this year.

You all have $72 million in fund balance.

The other side of that sword is you have $22 million.

I hope that it's working.

I hope that it has a job and is earning and earning revenue.

And according to your auditive financials, it is, and you were able to grow that fund balance by 10 million dollars from the end of 2024 to the end of 2025.

That's also a good number, and hopefully others who have fund balances is where that is, are looking at how you all are managing those dollars and what you're doing with them.

I'm hoping, based on some of these conversations, that we're looking at how we can best leverage that fund balance to support capital improvements that we spoke about.

So my questions are going to be around the capital improvements, but I want to go on and talk about your fund balance increase.

It talked about five four items as relating to that, but it's property tax revenue, which is increased based on non-capture of the uh DDA, which is a big, it's a nice two million dollar increase in your annual revenue stream, but also investment income, which means that you are properly managing your money, and you're having your money work for you.

So it's growing while you sleep, which is also huge.

So I want to give you all kudos for that as well.

And something that we talked about last year.

I want to know about that.

What does that say?

When will that be complete, and what type of numbers you think is going to cost to reinvest in the main library and get it back to a better position than where it was when it was established to ensure that it can last for hopefully another 117 years.

Then what's it gonna cost us?

How are we gonna fund this?

Yeah.

I believe that 72 million dollars should be part of that solution, though.

So our estimate, our estimation time of delivery of our structural assessment is um about six or seven months.

So we're looking somewhere around um August, early September.

And at that point, we we we we estimate, I mean, it's it's going to be a big number, two two to three hundred million dollars.

I'm not gonna blink at because that's I think that's that's probably where we'll end up being, but that's two to three hundred million dollars across all of our branches.

Main library, I mean, main library is huge, it's 400,000 square feet.

Um, and our porch, our foundation, those types of things, our porch hasn't been uh utilized in for for a long time because the structural damage on the porch.

So addressing those things, we we thank you to the city council and the and the um and the mayor, the prior mayor, um, because you all invested four million dollars in our chiller.

Um that project got come just got completed last year.

So that was a long, arduous process.

So when you talk about Maine library, we're we're talking significant dollars to bring that to a to a new glory, but um, and it's not it's not public facing stuff.

This is this is structural back of house items, foundations and you know things like that.

So securing the building.

I have one thing, just to keep in mind about our fund balance and leveraging it.

I've had conversations around if you're going to talk about buildings and using leverage, you gotta be able to show you can take care of what you built in the long run.

So saying we will have the means not only to build something, but to maintain it for years to come, is part of we part of what our fund balance can show that we will be able to if we build something that costs let's say 20 million dollars.

You just can't say you gotta have a means to take care when these things wear down, so we don't end up in the same positions we've been in with our whole buildings.

So I think we are proving that we can manage our monies.

Knowing that the library, you all I believe are our fourth largest millage taxing authority on our property taxes.

Talking about property tax reform, that that is a very juicy looking cherry as part of property tax reform.

But when you all show that there's a need for that, and maybe we shouldn't touch that moving forward.

Yeah, that we can utilize that to leverage this new library system that you're going to build that my great grandchildren will be in.

And so when you talk about a number of 300 million dollars, these numbers are not going to be financially faint of heart.

You got a 70 million dollar budget surplus.

If we take on over 200 million dollars of debt, that's how it has to be serviced, and maybe you don't want to get to that entire 300 million dollars when it comes straight out of debt.

But maybe this is where a suggestion from our colleague when we go talk to the alumni of the city of Detroit who have those deep pockets, maybe if they see that we're managing our money properly, that we have the ability to go to the market and secure nine digits of debt, they'd be willing to come in and support us with maybe another eight to nine million dollars of grant money to help support putting our library into a tip of the spear realm in the United States and maybe on the planet.

And so I'm looking forward to, and this is directly to our library commissioner who was here as well, about the ability to be creative, be thoughtful, and be courageous when it comes to how we move our library into the 21st and 22nd centuries.

And it sounds like you all are on board and hire the professionals to make that happen.

And I am bullied today by what I see and the transformation of the conversations at this table around the future of the Detroit Public Library.

So I just want to say thank you once again, give you all kudos for what you're doing.

And I'm looking forward to having a party at the Skillman branch next year.

I'm hoping that'll be a nice one with the ribbon cutting and some cake and some ice cream.

My colleague is suggesting some alcoholic beverages.

I don't drink, but I would encourage you all to have those who do invite beverages for them as well.

I think it'll be due time and the residents in the downtown area and those who utilize that space.

I think we'll be very, very thankful for that as well.

You guys are doing a great job.

These numbers support that.

I'm looking forward to the conversation next year around what kind of debt we can take on to uh support our branches, and 300 million dollars worth of investment in our future is fantastic, and then seeing how we can make sure that we can support the operations of that is also gonna be huge.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, and one last thing, Mr.

Chair.

And as people have come and poo-pooed me at this table for my aggressive stance with the future of the library, I wonder if they will be as aggressive when it comes to having a new library, having improvements, having a skillman branch that's open.

It's easy to poo-poo.

It's hard to build.

It's hard to build, and hard to think into the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm gonna put that one in my book.

Uh member waters.

Thank you.

And and thank you, sir Benson.

Well, all of that.

Yeah, I was one of them.

Yeah, I used to get in your mix about it.

Yeah, but we're good, we're good.

So good afternoon.

I love my colleagues in the third district.

Make it happen.

Yeah, we do.

Um, well, he's gone through a long explanation about all the other stuff that you're talking about.

Why don't I just focus on a couple things?

One of them, I am concerned about all the vacancies that you have.

Uh, when is that gonna be taken care of?

I mean, I because you couldn't have adequate staffing if you have all those vacancies.

Yeah, so I will say that a couple of these vacancies are due to um one Skillman branch, a few of these vacancies are due to branch closures that have not have not been opened.

Um, Skillman is a large branch, um, and then Monteith.

So we will be addressing those bake vacancies related to those branches as they come online.

The other thing is a lot of our vacancies are related to like the CSR position, which is the customer service representative position.

That is an entry-level position truly for high school students who work part-time who can come in, uh get an experience with the library.

Perhaps, you know, it's your first job out of high school instead of going to the fast food restaurant.

You can enjoy the library's uh ambience.

And it's a it's a it's a um evolving yes, it's an evolved, yeah, it's an evolving um entry-level position.

So our libraries are remaining open.

We have fewer library closures due to staffing now.

Okay.

So you know, part of the context around these vacant positions are the type of vacancies that we have.

Those vacancies, those the larger vacancies are related to uh revolving entry-level high school level positions where that's where they are.

Well, then please allow us to help you recruit some young people to fill some of those.

We can do that.

Yeah, yeah.

I work with them all the time.

Okay, all right.

I mean, if you send me the information, really, I can get started.

Um I have a um literacy task force, and I've got to tell you, outside of the remember the the the three women that did the presentation last time, and they really gave us some some really really excellent feedback, and it's very difficult to move it, move this whole thing uh forward.

Um family literacy is something that is needed here in this city.

Um I don't know how we get the parents engaged because some of them don't want to admit the fact that they cannot read.

Um maybe that's something that you all could help with, encourage them to come to the library for certain times that they can be taught, you know, so that they can sit down with their children and understand the basic things that their children are doing in school.

I don't know what the answer is, I just know that it is needed.

So if you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

Let me tell you about one program.

When the library turned 150 years old, we had a gala to raise money to fund a program that was called reading teacher in the library.

We paid reading specialists over the summer to analyze children who had reading challenges because during our formal reading programs, parents thought that it was tutoring and not just kids who could read.

That was a very successful program.

We have had family literacy programs.

I would like to meet with you to discuss in detail what we do, and I think you can help with helping us get more parents to take advantage.

We offer a lot.

All right, that is that is so excellent.

I look forward to that.

Okay.

All right, then thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Mr.

Chair, I want to make a motion.

Member Benson.

I'd like to motion to put into a closing resolution a encouragement to the administration to the library, to library commission and the city council to work on a mill uh bond issuing bonds for capital improvements for the Detroit Public Library.

All right.

Colleagues, there's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you, colleagues.

And then just for edification, there is a memo that hopefully we'll be voting on to release privilege on the ability for the library to issue bonds on its own, and so that will be a great guide in a conversation of how we get debt and bonding for the Detroit Public Library Capital Improvements.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bro, Tim Young.

Thank you.

President Mr.

Chair.

Good to see you guys.

Always good, always a pleasure.

I need to go back to the uh Detroit skillment branch, because I know they have like these large uh boxes of files on my father.

And uh, and so they kind of took me like into their inner sanctum and they showed me that.

So that was pretty cool, and I appreciate that.

Um I just wanted to ask you really quickly when is the last time you've conducted a study on the literacy rate in the city of Detroit?

My understanding last time we've had a literacy rate can study, it was in 1993.

Uh, it was published in 1998.

Have you conducted one since then?

And did you issue it and when did you do that?

And if you have a copy, I would like you to send that to me.

We've I'm not familiar with the library in and of itself.

It was done through another force that conducted this study.

We did not.

Okay.

Well, well, well, listen, I look.

If I I did some of my own research here, and if you did if you increase the literacy, assuming it's at the illiteracy rate's at 47%, okay.

Let's say we increase that to where literacy rate in the city of Detroit is at 75%.

Okay.

The new personal income would be $4.8 billion.

The Metro Gross Domestic Products, so goods and services sold within the uh region would be $7.5 billion gain.

We would gain $200 million in city tax revenue.

We would save $400 million, you know, poverty and safety net savings.

The health system would save $500 million and $50 to $80,000 residents will come out of poverty.

Our poverty rate would over a decade will go from 31% to 20%.

And the reason why I'm saying that is because that is the value of the work that you do at the library and the impact that that would have.

We'd be a tremendous, we'd be a drastically different, almost a transmogrification of the municipality that we are currently.

And so I want to do all I can to be able to help you.

That but secondly, I want to ask you what are your plans to be able to implement artificial intelligence within Detroit Public Library.

Please wow me.

Well, the the interesting thing is that we uh AI is implemented everywhere anyway.

A lot of our systems, uh, our information systems, a lot of the things that we're doing in from uh IT infrastructure is driven um by AI.

Um we do offer, we offer uh AI workshops throughout our our uh library branches.

I could I would be I would love to forward you our um technology brochure.

Did we I think we gave them did we give them that?

It could be in the packet, it could be in our packet, but um so we're not we're not running from AI.

Um but it's it's a part of it's part of those things where it's still new to a lot of residents.

Um it's it's it's still new, and so we're not early adapters, but we recognize it's not going away.

Our Commissioner Milton is very when he came, where is he?

Did he go?

Yeah, he stepped in.

He stepped out stepped out.

Commissioner Milton, when he became a commission, that's what he bought in the door, and we did we partnered with a national organization to start doing programs for the public about how AI can help you with different with work, those kinds of things.

We know that AI has already changed the game.

We are working at looking at what types of policies need to be in place for staff as well as what we offer to the community.

It is here.

AI became the person of the year for Time Magazine.

It's there.

Yeah.

No, absolutely.

I mean, listen, I uh and I'll say and I'll send this to you, but I mean, if you were to implement this, I mean the cost estimated would be about six million, but your operational savings would be about 5.8, and then your revenue savings conservatively be 2 million, so you'd probably make almost double, you know, in terms of what you would spend.

Um, or you oh sorry, you make eight million, you'd make too many more, not double, excuse me, too many more in what you would spend.

And the citywide economic impact could be between 20 to 40 million dollars.

So I definitely think that's something that you should consider.

I can I can send you this document in terms of that, and it warns my heart over that you're doing that because we can have individual lesson plans for these kids to be able to come in here and do that as well.

So I appreciate that.

Um I would like to make a motion uh to put into the executive session a five-year impact study on increasing the literacy rate to 75%, and I like to um add $75,000 to that amount.

Okay.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues, with discussion.

Uh with discussion here.

Um Pro Tim Uh are you putting the are you thinking about uh asking any other department to assist on this uh increase in literacy because I think that's a heavy, heavy, heavy lift for uh the library itself.

Uh think that as a city, we have a responsibility ourselves to uh you know peer into how to increase the literacy rates, the various you know aspects.

So we just want to know if you if if you had any other ideas.

No, I I'm I'm so glad you brought me up the lab that thank you.

That's your great leadership, Ms.

President.

Allow me to clarify.

I wasn't meaning that to the library, I was being there probably with the office of uh early learning or someone like that to be able to conduct that.

I didn't mean that to you.

I'm sorry, I just didn't make that clear.

I was I was so busy trying to remember all what I was trying to say for the numbers and the study, but uh yeah, so but yeah, but uh but it from our for my analysis about 75 grand.

That changes, we can change the process.

But yeah, that's what I meant for Office Early Alaric.

Okay, and I know that there'll be in writing, so uh Mr.

Corey, you have a little bit more specificity on exactly where um but colleagues again.

There's a motion on the floor.

Any objections?

See none, then action shall be taken.

Thank you.

Uh member Santiago Romero.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Do you good good afternoon?

Um, happy to see you all.

We love the library in District 6.

I personally just renewed my library card earlier this year.

Looking forward to hearing more audiobooks, accessing videos, different kinds of media through the library.

So you do so much.

Thank you.

Um and you also have a lot of land in 4217.

Uh so we have been uh told that in 4217, the library has about 14 continuous parcels of land along four streets.

So just wondering, are there plans to build a library?

What are your plans with the lands?

Because residents in 4217 are looking to really build that corridor.

Um, and you've got the space, and they're also looking for a library.

So just if you wouldn't mind sharing with us what the plans are for your lands um in the neighborhood.

Sure.

Uh so when the commission and prior administration, prior to any of us present here purchased that land, they were looking at possibly building a library branch um in that area.

Um and then, you know, we went through a period, Detroit went through a period of of economic downturn, and we had a pandemic, and that was that parcel, that plan just never was re never resurfaced.

Um I think one of the things that we can do, um, as we are looking at capital improvement and as we're looking at an overall library plan, this is a great opportunity for us to look at, okay.

Well, if we built the library, where do we have land to build a library at and where can we where I think all those things come into play now as we as we're looking at progression and uh and building something?

So we do have it.

There was a plan um prior to us being here, but I think now is an opportunity for us to look at all avenues.

I agree.

Thank you for that.

So let's let's restart that conversation.

Um, because in 4217, it is the most polluted zip code in the states.

We have young families, we have seniors.

If we have land there and if we have opportunity to build, that can be a neighborhood hub, that can be a tech hub, that can be an asset for residents.

I mean, we desperately need um one in 40 uh 4827.

So thank you.

Uh we will continue that conversation.

Um, and thank you to my residents for being so aware of what's going on in their neighborhood and letting us know how we can help.

Um, we've also been told by residents that Bowen branch library is not ADA compliance.

Is this true?

How can we get a compliance?

And do we have any other libraries that might need to also be ADA compliance?

Yeah, so um our 80, so Duffield, excuse me, Bowen was built in 19.

12.

When you know the population was shorter.

Small.

So it's a it's one of the original Carnegie Andrew Carnegie branches.

And so the library, that particular structure is grandfathered in.

And so that's we've explored ADA restrooms at Bowen.

And if we did one ADA thing, then we'd have to do it all.

So Bowen is one of those, like I said, smaller Andrew Carnegie branches, has a lot of character, but it wasn't designed for the 21st century as a as it relates to the ability to have ramps and first rest uh first floor restrooms.

I think our women's restrooms on the second floor and our men's restroom is on the is in the basement.

So it we have we've had studies.

Wayne State did an ADA study on all of our um branch library branches.

It's it was probably about seven or eight years ago.

Um so it it we are aware of the challenge, but the fact that that building is rent grandfathered in, it becomes you know what's what's really the cost to make it ADA compliant, and do we have the space?

Does it does it make you know does it make sense?

Okay, understood.

Um just wondering do you have materials or maps that show here are our ADA compliant, here are our accessible branches, so that's the public knows where to go to if they need to access the library.

Yes, so in Southwest Detroit, um Campbell um is an ADA compliant library branch, but yes, we do the short answer to your question is we do have all of our ADA compliant branches, and I'd be I'd welcome to share that with you and City Council.

Thank you through the chair.

If it's not already on your website, if it could be a map, right, just us promoting accessible branches and libraries to everyone so that they know where to go to would be very helpful.

Um just want to a question for clarity.

I believe you mentioned skill men branches in D5.

Did you was that the was that the information that you shared?

Skill members, yes.

Okay, because online it's D6, and I've I've spent this whole time speaking out of a library in our in our district.

So we are more than Southwest Detroit, we are a whole lot of downtown, and Skillman is in D6, folks.

So it is a D6, it's part of the our downtown area.

Um, and it's something that we've been pushing for from the very beginning because it is an assets downtown for our residents.

So just for clarity, I know that we're all very proud of our districts, and that's a D6 library that we've all been making sure that's open.

So looking forward to that opening just like everybody else here.

Um, and and it's a huge asset since it is downtown.

Um want to make sure that it's available for everyone.

Mr.

President, um, those are my questions for the library.

I unfortunately need to step out, but we'll be coming back.

Um, because I will be gone.

I'm nervous that I will miss media services.

Uh so if it's okay with you, and I believe I can do this.

Can I move things to executive session now?

I'm I'm getting the nod from LPD, Mr.

President.

Okay.

So with that, um, just in case I miss uh the conversation with media services, would like to move uh their um would like to move to executive session, um, media services in multiple languages and specifically around a channel um that is non-English.

Uh so just that's a motion.

That's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

And lastly, I do believe I'll be back um in time to hear from the water departments, but just in case I I miss it, uh, want to move to executive session discussion around uh preventative maintenance.

Um so when I see a lot of flooding, I see the water department picking up leaves.

So what if they weren't there in the first place?

What if they were picked up?

What if we maintained our streets uh to prevent it from being flooding?

So we'd like to move to executive session preventative measures um for flooding uh to be discussed with the water department.

There's a motion on the floor, colleagues.

Any objections?

Seeing none, that action shall be taken.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Oh, we still got you.

We still we still got a couple of more members, yes, ma'am.

Sorry.

Um, thank you for again for your patience.

You were here earlier, uh, but we did have to extend our break.

Uh member Miller, the floor is yours.

our streets uh to prevent it from being flooding so we'd like to move to executive session preventative measures um for flooding uh to be discussed with the water department there's a motion on the floor colleagues any objections seeing none that action shall be taken thank you mr president uh we still got you we still we still got a couple of more members yes ma'am uh please sorry um thank you for again for your patience you were here earlier uh but we did have to extend our break uh member miller the floor is yours good morning thanks for joining us i want to say to member um sonia ramiers you have the best libraries in your area because you have the bookmobile also as uh uh trombo so i remember the bookmobile is back from the 1940s that tell you how old I am and I am excited about that is still into existence I was worried about the Duffio branch of West Grand Boulevard and 14th how much would it cost to get those those capital improvements going over there at that particular branch so yeah so we we've done we've done some of the um some renovations at Duffield we replaced the floor we've we've done um uh we repaired some um it was the with the fireplace um yeah the chimney we so we we replay repair those um duffield again is is a Carnegie building um 1916 1916 so it's it's one of those it was one of those TLC buildings where you do one thing you've got to do do all of it um duffield also uh we have we're still trying to find a a reasonable solution to uh cooling uh cooling the the branch um duffield is just it's one of those unique unique 1916 buildings um where it becomes a challenge to to address some of those ADA issues this is where I charge the developers when it comes to community agreements these are things that we need to put money into libraries for our residents because that library do need a lot of help and I know the name has come up many times with certain projects but it doesn't seem like money is filtering in that direction so I am on the lookout for um any help in that area also I want to speak about the Burton Historical Collection I am a fan of it what is your staffing because it's hard to get someone on the phone sometime and it seems there's a wait um is there certain hours of that um the answer the phone there is there phone hours for the Burton collection because you store so many of the Detroit's archives there I have friends that have contributed to the Burton collection there's historical neighborhoods who contribute to the uh Burton collection and we call often when we have tours when we're creating brochures or pamphlets to pass out to remind people of our history so I was wondering is there access hours is it limited staff how does whose service is that because I have one person to always call but sometimes she's not there for the Burton collection.

So they're in person times but let us check on this calling and not getting a response sometimes the phone just rang but I know there seems to be one person so what's your staffing for that portion we have we have uh three we have three people staffed for burton for Burton we have uh we have a lead librarian um mark bowden he's uh he's the he's the chief librarian for Burton um but we have we have that that wing is is is staffed it's fully staffed what are the hours for call is it is like before five or I just need to know because people are always asking about Burton yeah it's open during our normal I'm normal library hours all right and I was wondering of the you said six thousand where's the number that I'm sorry I don't have my glasses today I haven't really been struggling the 4000 the 465 attendants how many of those actually are the main library downtown because I have a whole number this is the whole system but there's always some issues but you know because the library takes up a big millage it takes up a lot people often wonder like they don't go a lot of people do not go a lot of people children go but a lot of our taxpayers are concerned about the money that goes into the library so I was wondering for attendance wise how many of the 4000 is that for the main library I can we can research that and and provide that for you I don't I don't have that number with me.

I mean it's a big it's a big huge chunk for our tax base and I just want to know um was that mainly for our uh residential libraries or did that number I just wonder how much of that went to the main library because I know parking is an issue there um and it's just some of the issues that some of my residents are concerned about yeah I will respond in writing to you to get you the actual numbers how what the breakdown of that 400,000 visits are it's a mixture between our main library and all of our all of our branches um and so I would I would need to I would need to get that to you lastly um what was the because I thought skillman was in five also so now that it's not what is the other one besides Durfield Duffy for five it would be main library um besides the main library so it would be Duffield Elmwood Park and Main Library Have you ever considered putting some a library in some of the rec centers like Butzel because in that area for library I mean I see a lot of computers there I know the center seems to be desolate at times and I was wondering had you ever considered putting the library in a rec center I believe we have we've had smaller library satellites at certain locations it becomes a it becomes a matter of uh of managing it okay manage and staffing it materials um yeah materials I mean we could drop materials off but most people want to talk if they have reference questions who who do the who they come to okay all right thank you thank you uh member Johnson thank you Mr.

Chair good afternoon afternoon um I'm really excited I'm gonna maintain my composure though as it relates to Monteith so I'm excited to hear about the progress want to say thank you to Commissioner Milton for advocating for um going to DPSCD on behalf of um the Monteith and making sure progress was being made really excited about it um talk to me about I heard I I remember you saying that you're gonna do technology upgrades computers and things um any additional improvements that you're planning I think we've missed an opportunity to share this information with the residents because you all know the residents have come to me time and time again uh they were coming to you uh before I got elected I'm sure they were coming to go into my predecessor as well um just advocating for this branch to get some support the attention to reactivate that library in this community so talk to me about um community engagement additional uh improvements as well as the drum roll when you anticipate this branch coming online yeah so uh I will say that um the residents in in that area have been very vocal at our library commissions and they were present many of them were present when we announced our renovation plans to Monte for Monteith um as as stated uh the biggest concern that we had to address was the boiler um because this was during the winter time so we we didn't want the pipes to freeze and cause even more damage um so our intent is to go to the community after the boiler has been solidified the the place of warming up so we'd be attending the uh community member uh uh events to let them know the progress but I will tell you um the residents in the Monteith area have been very vocal um about and and in advocating for for the library being reopened and so um thank you to once again city council for providing the resources uh to make that happen floor new technology repair pit wall we are going to install exterior lighting in that around the building because it becomes a health and safety issue for our staff um our staff doesn't have parking at that branch so they have to park on the street um so we're doing the we're doing what we what we need to do to uh promote health and safety for not just the residents but also our staff to the chair council member johnson I would like to say right to Mrs Gwendolyn Peoples one tremendous advocate who's no longer with us Hines I have gone one on one I still have some of the bruises she beat us down but I want to say how important to let people know the people in that area really care and they have fought and for it

One tremendous advocate who's no longer with us.

I have gone one-on-one.

I still have some of the bruises.

She beat us down.

But I want to say how important to let people know the people in that area really care.

And they have fought and fought.

And it has given me tremendous distress to not be able to accommodate them personally over the years for what they deserve.

But we're working on it.

Excellent.

And we all appreciate it because I know how much they utilize the library when it was open.

It is a commit a community center to them and for that community as well.

And so we can certainly talk offline about acquiring land in the vicinity to create a parking lot for the library.

So we can certainly have that conversation.

But I am ecstatic to just hear the progress that you all are making and is going to make a tremendous impact in the community and may give me some additional ways to encourage development in that area because we've been working on that as well.

So you provided to us four-year stats comparison.

It ends fiscal year 2025.

So 2026 is not on here.

But going from 2025 numbers and the numbers that you shared for 2027 and the operating expenditures.

In addition, there's like I said, there's some opportunities when you have a fully functional library that your costs are going to increase.

Okay, excellent.

So you indicated that the 45.4 million includes essentially bringing all of the libraries back online.

So I I didn't hear a response to Monteith when I asked it.

So yeah, so um so the boiler, the boiler is coming on.

The we already the commission has already approved the contract for the pear pit wall replacement that's scheduled to be done in the spring, and then the flooring uh to be installed in the spring.

After the flooring, um, we have to weed our library collection because Monteith hasn't been open since 2020.

So it becomes a process of getting material out, getting old material out, new material in, installing our um IT infrastructure, our new equipment, all that stuff.

So if we could do all that and then get the staffing.

So you know, I don't even position to give you a hard reopen, but um sometime late 2026, early 27 would be feasible.

But sometime late 2026, early 27 would be feasible.

I think it would be feasible.

All right.

But it is, it is it is in our budget.

The positions are in our budget and it's funded.

That's exciting enough for me.

Okay.

And I certainly do look forward to helping you to identify employees from the community to staff that library.

So we'll we'll continue to communicate and look forward to uh providing that support.

And thank you to my colleagues and the administration for providing the um the two million that was provided to jumpstart this this project.

So really really excited about this.

Yes, one other thing.

Has to look pretty.

Of course, it's on the east side.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Uh thank you for being here.

I uh have a deep appreciation for the library.

I grew up going to the Wilder branch on the east side, so um thank you all for all that you do.

Um now representing District 7.

Um, I have a few questions about as you as you mentioned, um, we only have one branch uh with the Edison branch, and um, you know, we only have we don't have a recreation center.

When I bring that up, people will bring up that.

Well, we have a few on the border, which we still need one, but with the libraries, um, the ones that are surrounded are still quite a bit of ways.

So I had a question on is I'm glad to hear that you are thinking about where does the um library system go moving forward in the 21st century uh and thinking about aspects around what does that look like?

And as you mentioned, folks are moving to having non-print material.

Um, I also look at the library as a resource hub for our communities, whether it is um education as you outlined, um, as we're thinking about new skills that folks need to learn as they're going into the workforce.

I I think a libraries could serve as a hub as that, as my colleague mentioned around tech and uh uh you know, even media around folks that we know our youth are getting into uh music production and production of video and such.

So just think about if you can talk about have you had thoughts around Word that were like as you're thinking about new buildings or new libraries and such, which I will say we'll love to have that in District 7.

Um, but if are you thinking about having those type of aspects in that next iteration of the library system?

Yeah, so I I will say um we had a a very fruitful conversation with the city planning department um about a year and a half ago, um, and kind of projections of where populations are in the district, where where the library for us to have 21 locations, 22 locations, we're not everywhere in the in the city of Detroit.

City of Detroit is 144 square miles.

I'm from the city of Flint.

That means I can make a round trip from Detroit to Flint and still be in Detroit.

That's how big the city of Detroit is.

Um and we and and we we know we can't be everywhere, but where does it make sense to make the best investment that where the population density is, I think all of that needs to be considered when we start talking about the future of the library, not where are the children growing up?

Where are they where they where are they where they're where are they at?

Um, because they're the ones that's going to benefit from that library system.

I I guarantee you, everyone in this room has a library store if you're from the state of Detroit.

You have your favorite library branch, you have everything that you you grew up in a library, and so that's what we have to think about when we're talking about investment.

Let me say to you to the chair the challenges we have in certain areas.

Councilmember Miller mentioned what we now call the mobile library.

If you go north on Woodward, and you get to Seven Mile, if you go to the left, you're talking Palmer Woods.

If you go to the right, it looks like a third world country.

We can't even bring the Noble Mobile Library in that area because it's too big.

I drove this city.

I'm from Baltimore.

I drove this city in the daytime and in the nighttime.

And one of the things that concern me is in an area like that, where do children go when they get out of?

There are no schools over there.

So we got challenges to try to serve the public that's undeserved.

When you talk about the one branch in that of Edison, when we drew the district lines, there were two Richard and Edison.

We had to close at Richard.

That's how you ended up with one.

And you're right.

There's not a lot.

If you go down Joy Road, there's nothing.

So we are challenged.

With the simple size.

Absolutely.

And and definitely understanding one, the land area, the understanding of financial challenges.

I think as you as we've gone through the question, folks, you have advocates on the city council that were definitely partnering.

How do we expand the offerings that we have with the library system?

How do we be innovative in that?

I know in District 7 we have quite a few, I always bring up, but we have quite a few community organizations and neighborhood associations that really want to be true partners and as we think about space and the buildings that we have as well.

So I do think we can have a very collaborative effort to get folks what they need.

So if you are thinking about the uh Plymouth Hubble uh area, the prior area, Littlefield, and you have the Littlefield Community Association, they're building a skate park.

So I think there's like also synergy there, folks thinking about how do we serve our kids there, uh, we will really find a lot of benefits.

So I look forward, and I I bring this up because I do want to be a true partner with you all as you're thinking about this capital plan and the next generation there as well, uh, for sure.

Um, and I that would I I'll have additional questions more particular on Edison and how we could um what's needed there.

Um but I will also say I again appreciate the forward thinking that you all have because as we are having conversation about property tax reform, and we do need to make sure that folks are have the ability to pay their property taxes, but we also know, especially with as you brought up with the library, if you're dependent on those millages, you can't find anything else there.

And as we're thinking about folks seeing the benefit of the library, um, I think it is essential in what you all are already doing to say how does this benefit our community, how does it benefit as we all, as you said, have those stories of the library.

As we're thinking about our kids now, I want to make sure that every child has those stories as well.

So thank you all so much.

Appreciate you.

So just so the the overall uh body is is is informed, the library operates 80 86% of the library's budget is funded solely by the property millage.

86%.

So you know, we're we're heavily dependent on the property tax millage.

Uh we get very little, we get some state aid.

Um and and outside of outside of that, we get some some um penal fines from from the courts.

Um, but outside of the property tax millage, the library um doesn't receive very much more.

No, I'm there with you.

I got you.

No, I I gotta say I just want to make sure we convey that to our residents as well.

But thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

We got member Miller with one burning question because we are woefully behind right now, so we don't know.

I just want to say to Member Campbell, as um I am a a critical uh a critical person for the adaptive reuse, but I think you should utilize that adaptive reuse uh for your library and maybe uh one of your big ones for your rec center, because it is sad that we can do adaptive reuse for developers, but we don't have a proper library or rec center in our areas, and I think it's really pathetic that we continue to go down this road, and he says it every single hearing.

So um would you consider putting like a library in one of our adaptive reuses churches or something like that?

A mini-library or even we have some churches that even have gymnasiums.

He could very well take one and make it a rec center.

I'm just that's another subject, but for a library purpose, like you said, I lived in that district.

You talked about our family over 90 years once you cross over Woodward.

I used to catch the bus at Wilburden Seven Mile to go to school at 13 mile.

I'm gonna tell you that area is exactly what you said it is.

So we have, but but we cannot not act like there is some residents there.

There's some abandoned churches there.

Maybe we didn't have like we had many stations, maybe have a mini library, something like that.

Um because you said the bus is not the mobile bus isn't really safe in the area.

But no, there is some creative thinking we can come we can use and come together and figure out how to expand it.

If we gotta just pay for it, I mean the residents are paying for it.

Everyone should have access to it because this is a big part of our budget, our our military.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any final words?

Just want to thank you all again and thank Detroiters for their love of the Detroit Public Library, no matter our challenges.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

We'll now close out our budget hearing for the Detroit Public Library.

Um the members of the media services team for the budget hearing for that particular department.

Oh, I make it.