Council committee reviews $2 million FY26 CIP request for library maintenance, kiosks and cameras

Deputy Director Chris Marsleck presented the library department’s request to appropriate $2,000,000 in the FY2026 CIP for technology and facility improvements. The funds, already allocated in the FY26 CIP budget, would be used to upgrade security cameras and intrusion monitoring across branches, expand self-service checkout kiosks (bringing kiosks to all locations and enabling credit-card payments), add improved outdoor signage to nine branches, upgrade meeting and program technology, and fund deferred-maintenance projects at older libraries (Gaston Park, Cherokee and North were flagged as priority branches).

Marsleck said some self-check kiosks at Raleigh, Orange Mound, Frasier and Central are in place and grants helped place them; the requested funds would bring kiosks to additional locations. Council members asked for a branch-by-branch deferred-maintenance inventory with cost estimates and how the requested $509,000 for deferred maintenance relates to overall backlog; General Services (Melvin Jamieson) and Chief Operating Officer Antonio Adams said a full facility-conditions assessment (last comprehensive FCA in 2018, with updates in transition) is being updated and an installation/repair schedule will be provided before the next budget cycle. Marsleck said escalator replacement at the Central (Benjamin L. Hooks) Library is scheduled for completion in mid-2026 (escalator replacement) and elevator modernization will be completed as part of the project.

Council held the item for two weeks to allow staff to deliver additional documentation (location-level deferred-maintenance costs, updated FCA data and same-night minutes requested for the eventual appropriation vote).