Multnomah County updates library capital bond: North Portland opening set for Feb. 8, East County tops out, St. John’s groundbreaking celebrated

Multnomah County staff and the independent Library Bond Oversight Committee told county commissioners on Thursday that the voter-approved library capital bond is advancing on schedule, with large projects in construction and a North Portland Library reopening celebration set for Feb. 8, 2025.

The briefing, led by Annie Lewis, director of Multnomah Libraries, and the library bond project team, summarized recent milestones: a ceremonial groundbreaking at St. John’s on Nov. 13, the structural “topping out” of the East County Library and a completed renovation at North Portland that received its certificate of occupancy in late 2024 and will open to the public in February. “The placing of that beam really memorializ[ed] the setting of the last beam,” said Mike Day, library capital bond program director, recounting the East County topping-out ceremony and thanking tradespeople and community partners.

Why it matters: The bond is intended to expand library space, modernize historic buildings and add services countywide. Staff said the program addresses a long-standing imbalance in library square footage east of I-205: 40% of the county’s population lives east of I-205 while 24% of library space is located there prior to bond projects. The bond funds are being used to expand or renovate seven branches (Albina, Belmont, Holgate, Midland, North Portland, Northwest and St. John’s) and to build a new East County Library estimated at about 95,000 square feet, plus systemwide upgrades such as gigabit internet and a materials handling and distribution center.

Budget and timeline: Kate Vance, deputy director for the library bond, said the programwide authorized budget stands at approximately $457.5 million, restricted to bond work. Vance reported recent revenue from interest and incentives and said project-level guaranteed maximum price amendments have reduced budget uncertainty. Randall Edwards, past chair of the Library Bond Oversight Committee, told commissioners the county’s early bond sale and premiums increased available funds versus the initial bond authorization; the oversight report noted about $218.1 million of bond funds spent through the end of the last fiscal year and approximately $31.5 million in uncommitted contingency remaining. The committee rated budget and schedule conservatively as areas to watch but found no red flags in financial stewardship.

Workforce and contracting: Staff highlighted the Regional Workforce Equity Agreement included in the county’s procurement approach. Kate Vance and others said the bond portfolio is exceeding apprenticeship and social-equity goals and reported substantial participation by certified disadvantaged (COG/DBE/COVID) firms; one slide noted roughly 31% of subcontracting going to certified firms and approximately 450,000 cumulative trade hours across projects. Commissioners asked for more disaggregated dollar figures for certified firms and for project-level breakdowns; staff agreed to follow up with those specifics.

Community engagement and design: Project teams described extensive outreach during design and construction, including paid design advocates, youth participatory programs and community art processes. Katie O’Dell, deputy director, and community engagement strategist Suzanne Shaw (referenced in the presentation) emphasized thousands of engagement touch points and local art installations—such as a permanent 12-by-16-foot glass wall by artist Sade Du Bois and wooden relief work by Melanie Stevens in the North Portland Black Cultural Center—that reflect community input.

Oversight committee findings: Nicole Paxton, chair of the Library Bond Oversight Committee, and committee members presented an annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. The committee used a traffic-light approach to rate program areas and found no items rated red. The committee noted the bond team’s progress in meeting workforce goals, managing budget contingencies and delivering projects ahead of the originally projected schedule by roughly two years, while cautioning about external risks such as permit timelines, inflationary pressures and supply-chain issues.

Follow-ups requested by commissioners: Commissioners asked staff for additional details and staff agreed to provide follow-up materials, including: - A post-bond calculation showing how library square-footage distribution east of I-205 changes after East County and other expansions (the 40%/24% figures cited were described as pre-bond/current). - Projected permit and milestone dates for Belmont and other projects that experienced permit delays. - Usage data for temporary service sites (for example, hold-pickup locations) with home-library origin disaggregation (staff said they cannot provide patron-level demographic data but can report users’ home library locations). - Dollar amounts and disaggregated subcontracting totals for certified disadvantaged firms on major projects, to supplement percentage figures shown in presentations. - A copy of the independent auditor’s report and management responses (the committee said Moss Adams completed the independent procedural audit for the fiscal year and an enhanced-scope audit focused on change management is still in progress).

What the oversight committee recommended: Committee members urged continued attention to documentation of the project change process (the audit cited two areas for documentation improvement) and to persistently advancing women’s participation at journey-level trades even as apprenticeship participation meets stated goals. The committee also encouraged county staff to use the community-engagement approaches developed on this program for future capital work.

Looking ahead: Staff said North Portland’s community opening events are scheduled for the weekend following the ribbon cutting on Feb. 8, 2025, and that East County remains on track through construction phases after topping out. Commissioners and oversight members also discussed recruiting additional oversight committee members and continuing outreach to historically underrepresented contractors.

No formal votes or policy actions were taken during the briefing; the session consisted of staff updates, committee presentations and requests for follow-up information.