MOORPARK : Library Expansion Plan to Be Reviewed
At a time when Moorpark is spending city money to increase hours at Moorpark’s county-run library, the City Council this week will review a county plan to expand the library itself.
But some council members have questioned the appropriateness of expanding the facility when the county is hard-pressed to keep the library open or stocked.
“I think you have to ask the question,” Councilman Scott Montgomery said Monday. “Why are you making a bigger building with empty shelves that you can’t afford to keep open instead of financing the hours to keep the library open?”
Councilman John Wozniak has also strongly questioned the expansion plan in light of the county’s slashing of weekly library hours from 51 to 20 last August during a bruising round of budget cuts. The council last month voted 3 to 2 to spend $14,670 in general fund dollars to increase library hours through June.
Mayor Paul Lawrason said the city is merely being asked to give input to a library expansion the county has promised for more than a year.
“We need to go forward with the expansion,” Lawrason said. “When it comes to books and population to staff the library, we need to work that as a separate issue.”
The council will discuss the expansion plan at its meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday in City Hall, 799 Moorpark Ave.
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