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Board member urges county action to improve Rio Rico library and community room access
Summary
Board members said progress on improving the Rio Rico Library and an adjacent community room has stalled. The board discussed missing commitment from county officials, needed building repairs and the role of the county in providing furniture and meeting space.
Board members told the Nogales Public Library Board they are frustrated by slow county progress to equip and improve the Rio Rico Library and a nearby community meeting room that community groups want to use.
A board member delivering the Rio Rico update said the library’s lack of a usable community meeting room undermines programming and public access and said repeated requests for county action have not produced follow-through.
Nut graf: Board members described the Rio Rico facility as an important local hub for community meetings and children’s programs but said they have struggled to secure county funding, furniture and building repairs to make the space usable for scheduled events.
The board member said the county had provided a helpful meeting recently but that long-standing work — including repairs, funding for a community room’s furniture and other facility upgrades — has been slow. "Everybody says they're for it and nobody does a thing about it," the board member said, describing frustration in trying to move county action on improvements.
The group also discussed a March meeting of authors at the University of Arizona and a planned walk-through of Nogales’s Grand Avenue library building with interim City Manager Joel Kramer to show needed repairs: flooring replacement, a broken window, sidewalk repair and accessibility changes such as a simplified ramp in place of a curved approach.
Board members noted operational constraints at branch libraries including nonworking phones and printers, limited furniture and shelving changes at the main Nogales library that have temporarily reduced on‑site stacks. Vice Chairwoman Havel described a new children's area at the Sonoita branch but said the community room there remains under county control and lacks furniture for meetings.
Ending: The board said it will press the county and city leadership for budget and repair plans, and it listed acquisitions, weeding and the bylaws amendment as topics to revisit at the next meeting.
