The Alachua County Library District (ACLD) Governing Board approved a long-range facilities and service plan during an April 11 workshop. The plan is intended to last for fiscal years 2025-2029 and includes the continuation of many existing goals. 

Library director Shaney Livingston presented the plan to the board, laying out priorities including several facilities improvements, repairs and new construction as staff continually evaluates ACLD’s current spaces. 

As rain dripped down from the ceiling into the meeting room, Livingston included a replacement of the Headquarters Branch roof, as well as painting the building’s exterior and fixing windows. 

The district also plans to complete renovations at the Archer Branch and construction of a new building at the Hawthorne Branch. 

Livingston said staff had evaluated the Hawthorne Branch for expansion, but that would have involved pushing the building into the parking lot, and the Friends of the Library have a different plot of land adjacent to the original building. Livingston said staff decided it would be best to build a brand new facility on the FOL lot and tear down the old building. 

The library district is also currently working to purchase a property in Micanopy to build a 5,000-square-foot facility. Livingston said that the project has been in the works since late 2022, but ACLD has hit roadblocks in the form of development size waivers, trees in the way and a civil engineer required to take a look. 

“It’s not as easy as we thought it was going to be,” Livingston told the commission, noting that without the current owner’s civil engineer’s estimate, the district does not have a purchase price so cannot know whether it will actually buy the land. 

Hawthorne Branch’s new building is also to include single-use, gender-neutral bathrooms. Renovations at Archer Branch will also allow single-use restrooms to be addressed this year, as approved by the board in a Feb. 22 meeting. The February meeting was the last time the board met, as two governing board meetings were canceled between then and April 11. 

ACLD has single-use restrooms available to staff at 10 of its 12 branches, according to Livingston, but the district is working to get Hawthorne and Archer on the same wavelength by the end of this year. 

At the Feb. 22 meeting, the board unanimously voted to direct staff to address the lack of single-use staff bathrooms at Hawthorne and Archer branches, to look into recommendations for public single-use bathrooms at Alachua and Headquarters branches and to work to have the Library Partnership and Newberry Branches also operating with single-use bathrooms for staff and public by the end of 2025. 

“Our physical space is just as important as the variety of materials that we provide on the shelves and online,” Livingston told the governing board. 

Complaints about a lack of single-use bathrooms arose late last year and came to a head in early 2024 as some current and former staff members raised concerns over workplace environment. 

The board voted to create an ad hoc committee in August 2023, to advise on improving the workplace environment. The board dissolved the committee, which had yet to meet, earlier this year. 

Staff retention was another one of Livingston’s listed priorities for the coming years, and she applauded the current district staff for their hard work and commitment. 

“Nothing in this plan is more important than the staff,” Livingston told the board. 

The board also approved an “outstanding” review of Livingston at the Feb. 22 meeting, granting her a 6% raise to be applied retroactively to her anniversary date. 

The governing board lauded Livingston and her staff again at the April 11 meeting, after an independent audit came back with no revisions or comments. For the 19^th year in a row, the district won the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, according to Todd Hutchison, chief deputy comptroller. 

Hutchison said the district had a “very good year” and noted that the district has consistently lowered its millage rate every year for at least the past 10 years, though not always to the rollback rate. 

Property tax revenue still increased by 8.2%, which Hutchison said is mainly due to growth in new construction 

The district made $1.2 million in investment earnings, an increase of 227.2% over last year. 

ACLD’s year-over-year expenses rose by 20%, but Hutchison said that is nothing to be alarmed about, as 75% of the change was a result of changes in pension liabilities and obligations, both in the Florida Retirement System and the district’s standalone pension plan. 

Total expenses exceeded total revenue by $1.6 million, and the district finished the financial year with a net position of $19,806,363, a decrease of 7.78% from last year. 

The district’s actual expenditures were less than final budgeted expenditures by $2,563,998, and Hutchison said the district ended the year with $3.5 million to add to its fund balance.