Pleasanton library commission backs meeting-room rental fee and sends materials policy change to council

The Pleasanton Library Commission voted unanimously Aug. 7 to recommend that the City Council adopt two resolutions: one to revise the library's materials recovery policy and a second to update the City master fee schedule to allow meeting-room rental charges. The commission amended the staff recommendation to postpone approval of printing, photocopying and scanning fees and asked staff to return with additional information. Leah, a library staff presenter, told commissioners the meeting room is heavily used for library programs, city-sponsored workshops and Friends of the Library events and that the room saw about 33 public reservations in the last fiscal year (it was closed two months during a lighting project). She said benchmarking of other Bay Area city libraries showed a range of rates and that a market-rate rental with sliding discounts (city programs, nonprofit, business tiers) would be modeled using the city's recreation fee approach. The staff presentation outlined a sample subsidy model in which the city would cover a fixed percentage of a market rate and renters would pay the remainder; staff gave an example in which a $250-per-hour market rate would produce a $175-per-hour renter charge after a 30% city subsidy. Leah said the council would not approve individual rental rates but would approve the discount framework and that the commission's recommendation would send the matter to council for final action. Commissioners pressed staff on current availability, given reduced library hours, and on staffing and facility monitoring costs if rentals extend beyond staffed hours. Leah said the library has limited public availability after the hours reduction (from 62 to 48 hours) and that if rentals occurred outside normal open hours, the fee model would need to recover the cost of a facility monitor. The commission approved the recommendation by roll-call vote (Commissioners Chen, Emerson, Joshi, Stroud, Whitwell and Vice Chair Kinsey all voted Aye). The commission also instructed staff to bring the printing/photocopying/scanning proposal back for further vendor analysis and for commissioners to consider alternatives such as different free-page allocations, payment methods and equity impacts.