Glendale council delays vote after heated debate over North Shore Library funding

Mayor Brian Kennedy asked the Glendale Common Council on Monday to approve a revised funding agreement that would let the four North Shore communities finish interior construction of a donated library shell in Bayside, saying Glendales share would be limited and the deal would preserve decades of shared services.

The council instead voted to delay a final decision until after the three partner villages vote, directing the city administrator to return with renegotiation options. The delay followed more than two hours of debate in which council members, library board members and residents weighed the cost to Glendale taxpayers against long-standing regional partnerships and promises made by Bayside fundraisers.

The dispute centers on an estimated $2.4 million shortfall in the private capital campaign to finish the Bayside shell. Under the draft funding agreement before the council, Glendales maximum capital contribution toward the shortfall would be $1.2 million; after selling the first-floor space Glendale owns and applying anticipated outside grants and donations, Mayor Kennedy said Glendales net exposure could be about $488,000. Kennedy described that amount as roughly the cost of a city…