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Library feud pitting Gladstone against Clackamas County heats up

By Dana Tims, The Oregonian
Published: August 24, 2016, 12:09pm

PORTLAND — A long-running feud pitting the city of Gladstone against Clackamas County over library services is apparently heading for court.

The city has notified the county’s Board of Commissioners that it plans to file a lawsuit alleging breach of contract over the county’s failure to pay $1.5 million to help build a new library in downtown Gladstone.

“It’s unfortunate it’s come to this, but we really do feel we’ve held up our end of the bargain,” Gladstone Councilor Kim Sieckmann said Tuesday. “The county has been doing nothing but dragging its feet.”

Clackamas County’s commissioners couldn’t disagree more. They say they’re moving to cancel the 2008 contract they signed with Gladstone to help pay for a new library because Gladstone has repeatedly violated terms of that agreement.

A stumbling point with Gladstone involves the large number of residents promised library service in the adjacent Oak Grove area. About 70 percent of the new, combined district’s revenue would come from them, with Gladstone residents chipping in the remaining 30 percent.

The county early on told Gladstone it needed to consult with Oak Grove – whose own library is scheduled to close once a facility opens in Gladstone.

Commissioners, as well as Oak Grove library advocates, say they’ve been shut out of any meaningful say in where a new library should be built or how big it should be.

“Lacking a complete turnaround on Gladstone’s part, our only option at this point may be for the county to build a new library capable of serving folks who were promised to get one,” said John Ludlow, board chairman. “If that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we’ll do.”

A boiling point, if it’s finally reached between the two jurisdictions, has been a long time coming.

The county referred a ballot measure asking voters to establish the Clackamas County Library District in 2008. Financed by a permanent tax levy of 39 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, the idea was to get the county out of the retail library business by putting 10 cities in the county on a path toward owning and operating their own libraries.

Gladstone residents passed a council-referred measure calling for a library to be combined with a new downtown City Hall in 2014. Officials there counter that they have acted in good faith to include Oak Grove.

The city’s current library is beset by a leaky roof, mold and inadequate parking. At one point last winter, there were even mushrooms sprouting from rotting window castings near the main entrance.

“I personally feel that this has a lot to do with the coming election,” Sieckmann said. “And there are a lot more voters in the Oak Grove area than there are in Gladstone.”

County Commissioner Jim Bernard, who will face off with Ludlow for board chairman in November, rejected the assertion.

“This has nothing to do with elections,” Bernard said. “The record is very clear that Gladstone has breached its commitments to the county repeatedly. That’s what is at stake here.”

The city, in a letter to Ludlow and the county, said it intends “shortly” to file its own breach of contract claim in Clackamas County Circuit Court.

Both sides say they expect to prevail.

“Our legal folks tell us this will take about six months to be resolved,” Ludlow said. “That’s plenty of time to get people calmed down and figure out where we go from here.”

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