Today's Question: What Would You Do To Improve Library Services? The Candidates Weigh In. You Should, Too.

The eight Pleasant Hill City Council candidates met last week to give their views on issues facing the city, and to answer why they would be the best choice to fill the three vacant seats in November. Pleasant Hill Patch was there to record the action.

But we want to hear what you think about these issues. So once a day, we’ll post a question, provide the candidates’ answers, and ask you what you think about those issues. This is your city, and your Patch. Weigh in with your point of view.

Library Services: how will the city restore some of the library funding that was taken away by budget cuts in prior years?

David Durant: The library is a county service. The city contributes through a special program to extend library hours. We should continue to do that, continue looking for special fund and general fund dollars to do that. And continue to offer programs targeted to the people of Pleasant Hill.

Matthew Rinn: The condition of the library is getting to a point where we really need to seriously look at what we’re going to do with that structure. I don’t have an easy answer. We need to maintain a quality library in Pleasant Hill and continue those quality programs. 

Jessica Braverman: We need to have some very specific fundraisers. If (Vice Presidential candidate) Paul Ryan can come to Danville and have a $1000 a plate fundraiser, I don’t see why we can’t do a similar kind of thing in Pleasant Hill. I would like to have the most top-of-class, green library, similar to Walnut Creek and Lafayette, and I think we can do it without taxpayer money.

Jeremy Cloward: I think the library is a viable part of our community, but it’s unrealistic to think right now we could fund a new library. Lafayette spent nearly $40 million in 2010 building new their library. The city budget is $20 million. I would support a proposition on next ballot to see if people want to spend more money on library services.

Jim Bonato: We need to keep Pleasant Hill donating what they can, and keep the doors open as long as we can. We need to find general fund dollars to do that.

Tim Flaherty: Where do we find the money to add to the operating hours? The money is just not there. What services are we willing to pay for and how are we going to pay for them? There could be creative ideas out there. Maybe a more realistic idea is we have to just live within our means for the time being, reach out to volunteers the best we can and then see what happens in the future.

Michael Flake: We need to continue to support maintaining operations. There is demand out there from people who say they want a new library. We’ve got to push on the county. It’s their responsibility to keep the library going. But what’s the scope of a new library? How big is it, what kind of services? Can we synergize with other services like recreation? And if we’re going to take over services, I want the the county to relinquish those funds to us, let us run it more efficiently. Let’s get all our local leaders involved.

Ken Carlson: We need to maintain services we already provide. We can look at the budget and find areas where we can make cuts, and can some of that money we make from cuts go to library? I’d like to take a look at that.  I would like to keep the Pleasant Hill library the central county library.

 There are the candidates’ answers. What about you? What are your thoughts for improving library services in Pleasant Hill? Tell us in the comments.