UPDATE: Culmination of Factors Led Mayor to Suggest Delayed Council Decision on Bond Measure, Inter-Local Agreement with KCLS

A culmination of factors lead to Mayor Denis Law's until the community has had a chance to weigh in on the subject.

The Council was expected to make two decisions regarding the  at its Monday, May 16 City Council meeting: the first on a bond ordinance to finance both the downtown and Highlands libraries, and the second regarding the City's inter-local agreement with the King County Library System, KCLS.

A briefing on the inter-local agreement with KCLS had been scheduled during the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, May 16 prior to the City Council meeting; however, the topic has been cancelled and removed from the agenda.

The delay, Law said, is to accommodate the schedules of the other Council members. Over the next several weeks, several council members will be gone for a variety of reasons.

This is one decision where all Council members should be present, he said.

The Mayor would also like some time for the Renton Police Department to implement a new , which was announced earlier this week. A on the same day as the new security plan roll out.

"A delay, I don't think, is going to hurt anything," Law said. "The only danger is that the rate could go up," referring to the second reading of the $18.7 million bond to finance the new downtown and Highlands libraries. Although the bond is" scheduled for a second reading on the Council's May 16 agenda.

"Given this economy, we should be OK," he said of postponing a vote on the bond.

Instead, he's recommended that the Council move forward with the financing and design of the Highlands library, which would require the City's bond council to re-write a smaller bond for the time being.

Law sent the email late Wednesday afternoon, but there hasn't been a chain of emails of phone conversations among Council members on the topic.

"I want them to deliberate it on the floor. On Monday they can chose to discuss it if they need to," he said. "We need to weight the benefits of how we move forward as a Council."

There's always a chance, Law said, that the majority of the Council may decide to move forward with the inter-local agreement and bond decision.

A majority vote of the Council requires four or more member to vote the same way.

In hindsight, the Mayor said the City could have done a better job communicating with the public.

"There probably could have been better ways to engage the public on how this process wool move forward," he said, adding that he feels much of the angst was created by a lack of information and the uncertainty over the future of the current library building.

"We could have done things a little better to relieve that anxiety," he said.

The City Council will meet in the Council Chambers on the 7th floor of City Hall, 1055 South Grady Way, for a Committee of the whole meeting at 5:30 p.m. where they will discuss the re-drawing of Legislative and Congressional district boundaries and receive an update on the Sister Cities policy. The City Council meeting will start at 7 p.m. Although both meeting are open for anyone to attend, public comment is not allowed at Committee of the Whole meetings. Public comment is available at the beginning of the City Council meeting (you must sign up to speak and are limited to five minutes); public comment also follows the City Council meeting (no sign up required).