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Hillsborough Library Leaders To Ponder Wish List

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By KENNETH KNIGHT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2009

Updated: 02/25/2009 10:50 am

TAMPA - Wimauma and Bealsville, two rural Hillsborough County communities that have never had public libraries, may be a step closer to turning that page.

A citizen board that ranks unfunded county library capital improvement requests boosted their chances Tuesday by pushing the two proposed library projects to the top of list.

A planned 10,000-square-foot library to be built at an undetermined site in Wimauma, which is in southern Hillsborough, was ranked the top priority, and a similar facility to be built in Bealsville in eastern Hillsborough was ranked second.

Members of the planning committee of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library Board said they revised the last capital improvements list based on the communities' need for full-time library services.

"There is not a library in the Wimauma service area," planning committee Chairman Bob Argus said.

The board will decide Thursday whether to accept the recommendations of its planning committee, which reviewed 12 major projects hoping to receive funding from Hillsborough County. In addition to Argus, planning committee members James Harkins IV, Laura Vickers and Patrick DeMarco supported the priority list.

Two of the most surprising rankings were proposed expansion projects at the New Tampa Regional Library at 10001 Cross Creek Blvd. finished near the bottom of the list.

A proposal to enclose a 5,000-square-foot patio on the south side of the library was ranked ninth, and the 10,000-square-foot expansion on the east side of the building placed 10th.

The ranking of the New Tampa library's unfunded expansion plans in 2007 earned a No. 3 priority out of 11, behind proposed expansions at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library and Riverview Library, which ranked first and second, respectively.

This year the planners are ranking the Jimmie B. Keel library as the sixth priority and Riverview Library is eighth.

Said Iravani, who heads the New Tampa Friends of the Library committee pushing for expansion, said he was shocked by New Tampa's ranking. He plans to challenge the recommendation of the ranking of the patio enclosure.

"I challenge anybody to show me in this tough economy a better use of capital investments," Iravani said, citing the minimal cost associated with enclosing the patio and operating it.

He said he thought the project might stand a better chance of getting approved this year because governments tend to invest more in existing structures than new ones in tough economic times.

Six New Tampa businessmen, who included Iravani, Tampa City Councilman Joseph Caetano and other civic and service club representatives, were the only library project supporters to attend the meeting.

Caetano told the planners he had a "point man," who had lined up a major corporation in Hillsborough County that was interested in contributing to the expansion project. The councilman declined to reveal the name of the company.

Caetano said his purpose for attending the meeting was to find out how much money was needed and to determine if the city and county would be willing to chip in their share as well as work with the unnamed company.

Other library projects include a proposed Upper Tampa Bay Library expansion that ranked third, a proposed FishHawk library in fourth, Bloomingdale Library expansion placed fifth, John F. Germany Library expansion in seventh, Carrollwood library ranked 11th and Gibsonton Storefront library placed 12th.

The planning committee members said rankings are not etched in stone. The library board could decide to make changes at the 4 p.m. meeting Thursday.

"This is the first shot, but at least we have a standardized method for a level playing field," Harkins said.

The library projects are to be included in the proposed county budget presented to the county commission in June and adopted in September.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842 or kknight@tampatrib.com.

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