County updates library bond: Albina opens, IMSS goes live; audit finds no significant issues

Multnomah County Board of Commissioners received a quarterly briefing on the county's library capital bond program on Wednesday, where library and county staff reported the recent opening of the Albina Library, the May 6 deployment of an intelligent materials management system and financial and audit updates for the bond portfolio.

The briefing was led by Katie O'Dell, deputy director for the library bond program, and Kate Vance, deputy director, who highlighted the Albina ribbon cutting and other project milestones. “We have our typical briefing agenda, but we have two spotlights today,” O'Dell said as the presentation opened. Vance noted the program is more than halfway complete, listing four new or expanded libraries opened under the bond — Holgate, Midland, North Portland and Albina — and six refresh projects finished. County staff reported more than 2,000 visitors used Albina on its first day of public programs and service.

The board heard an update on bond finances. Staff said the program earned about $900,000 in interest and that portfolio-level contingency savings remain "very healthy." Kate Vance said the $900,000 in interest earnings was moved to address specific needs at North Portland (to fund sewer repairs) and Saint John's (for approved contingency items). The presentation noted that, even after recent contingency releases, about $3.5 million in released savings remain available for bond work. Commissioners asked for follow-up documentation showing the 26 contingency items approved by executive sponsors; staff agreed to provide that list.

County staff also described workforce and supplier-diversity outcomes tied to the bond. Mike Day, the library bond PMO director, said the Multnomah County Library bond program is the first major capital bond program in the region to implement the regional workforce equity agreement (IRWEA) and that the program is working with partners — including Metro, the City of Portland and Portland Community College — to raise recruitment and retention of diverse workers. Day told commissioners the program has recorded more than 700,000 construction labor hours to date and engagement by roughly 4,500 construction-trade workers. Project-level metrics shared for the completed Holgate project showed 62.7% apprenticeship participation and journey-level women participation of about 10.4%, exceeding a stated 9% aspirational goal; overall journey-level participation for people of color was shown as 38.4%. The presentation and subsequent discussion emphasized that the program treats those targets as aspirational and focuses on “good faith effort” engagement with contractors and unions, while several commissioners pressed for clearer accountability if goals are not met.

The briefing included a technical rollout report for the county's intelligent materials management system, or IMMS. Jacob Parkas, library capital bond IT program manager, described IMMS as "a database that tracks all the materials for the Multnomah County Library" and said it integrates with the library's Symphony integrated library system and the automated materials-handling equipment. Parkas said IMMS went live May 6 and moved about 22,000 items from the operation center to library shelves in the first week, increasing on‑shelf availability and allowing collections to float to branches with demand. David Flood was named as the IMMS project manager on the implementation team; staff said remaining bond refresh projects and larger projects will be brought onto IMMS as each site opens.

Commissioners and staff also reviewed an audit of the bond program covering fiscal year 2024. Eric Cardano, the county chief financial officer, described the two-part engagement: a recurring agreed‑upon‑procedures review that confirms bond proceeds and related expenditures align with the ballot language and capital eligibility rules, and an enhanced audit (conducted this year by Baker Tilly, following a Moss Adams merger) that evaluated the program's D3 structured decision process and performed site‑level reconciliations of budget, forecast, commitments and actuals. Cardano said the enhanced scope included reconciliation of contracts and change orders above $500,000.

Nicole Paxton, chair of the bond oversight committee, presented the auditors' findings to the board. "There were no significant findings, so that's huge," Paxton said. The auditors did report a limited procedural gap: they could not complete one agreed‑upon‑procedures step because the executive stakeholder committee did not maintain formal meeting minutes for the sessions reviewed, leaving auditors unable to verify a particular item of committee reporting. The audit team recommended two modest process improvements for oversight reporting: define a materiality threshold for budget transfers to clarify what changes should be reported to the oversight committee, and provide more detail in change‑order reporting (amount, date and root cause such as design error, contract issue or unforeseen condition).

Board members asked for follow‑up on several items raised during the briefing: the full list of contingency releases, appendix slides that show dollar amounts (not only percentages) for COVID‑era contracting participation, and further detail on workforce‑equity process improvements and health‑coverage barriers for small contractors. Staff said they will provide those materials in follow‑up and continue to brief commissioners quarterly. No formal board actions or votes on bond items were taken during the briefing.

The briefing closed with staff saying they will pursue the auditors' process recommendations and continue D3 oversight of any premium or project‑budget changes that draw on bond premium funds. The oversight committee and the county CFO said the enhanced audit work will continue annually through substantial completion to provide ongoing external assurance of budget and procurement practices.