Residents press Cottage Grove council to restore library staffing; petitioners propose $50,000 solution

Dozens of Cottage Grove residents used the council’s public-comment periods to urge restoration of library staffing after the city’s draft 2026–27 budget proposed steep reductions.

Several speakers said the original budget proposal would reduce library staffing to a single staff member after June 30, 2026. Petition organizer Marina Gerky told the council that more than 1,100 people had signed a petition in support of the library and cautioned that 654 signatures would be sufficient to start a recall petition. “Libraries matter,” Gerky said, and described libraries as essential access points for internet, literacy and safe space.

Sarah Loy, who helped organize petition efforts, asked councilors to reallocate $50,000 from underused funds (she pointed to a housing-development fund that she said has been unused since 2022) to keep at least 2.7 FTE so two staff members are on duty. “We only need $50,000 from your $12 million budget,” she said. Other residents — including Dan Lebertson, Samantha Duncan (Friends of the Library), Jessica Bitner and Joe Magner — echoed the request, saying volunteers cannot replace trained staff and that library services support children, low-income residents and community cohesion.

City staff and councilors clarified budget process details during the hearings. The city manager noted the budget committee approved the proposed budget after four meetings and explained the governor/state shared revenue line items the city receives (staff cited an anticipated $132,000 in state-shared revenue and other smaller tax receipts). Councilors and staff discussed whether funds could be shifted or whether the manager should be given limited discretion to allocate additional dollars.

Some commenters criticized the tone of recent public meetings: Bill Christensen said a minority of Friends-of-the-Library attendees had used the microphone to attack council members, while other speakers disputed that characterization and denied any violence at rallies. Johanna Zelors and others said they were physically shoved entering the building on the day of public engagement; Zelors said she had been shoved twice.

The council did not vote on restoring library staffing during this meeting. Councilors discussed potential sources (promotions fund, housing-development fund, internal reallocations) and indicated the issue would return to future meetings for further consideration.

Public next steps: councilors asked staff to prepare options and scheduling to continue budget deliberations; no formal budget adoption occurred at this meeting.