Library Task Force

El Cerrito library at 6510 Stockton Ave.

Applications are now being accepted for an El Cerrito Library Task Force that will convene after the June 2 library tax election.

The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. on April 17, 2026.

The form is available on the city’s website and here.

Mission and Topics

The mission of the Library Task Force is to  “advise the City Council with informed recommendations related to planning for a new or updated modern, safe, accessible, and sustainable Library in El Cerrito,” according to a council resolution.

The library task force will make recommendations on a range of topics including site feasibility analysis, projected costs, projected funding options, library design and features, and a public engagement process, according to city documents.

7 Voting Members

There are seven positions for voting members, including one youth member between the ages of 14 and 18. Only El Cerrito residents will be considered. The City Clerk noted there would be “targeted outreach” to El Cerrito High School as part of efforts to recruit a youth member.

The task force will also have three non-voting members. These include a representative of the Contra Costa Library Commission, the Contra Costa Librarian or her designee, and a City Council liaison. Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Saltzman will be the council liaison.

Whether or Not The Tax Passes

City Manager Karen Pinkos said at the March 3 council meeting that the task force will be needed whether or not the library tax passes. The measure will be Measure C on the June 2 ballot.

“If the ballot measure passes, this task force could be helpful in moving forward with the process, discussing the sites (and) moving forward,” Pinkos said. “If it doesn’t pass, I’m going to need this task force to try to help me come up with what we’re going to do next.”

Selection Method

To select the task force members, the council agreed it would use one method if there are fewer than 12 applicants and another if there are more than 12.

If there are fewer than 12 applicants, the council will interview all of them.

If there are more than 12, council members will read all the applications and then each will choose his or her top 3 or more applicants and list them in priority order. The exact number each council member could choose will be determined once it’s known how many applicants there are.

Library tax supporters outside the March 17 City Council meeting.

Library Tax Supporters Set Up Outside

At the March 17 City Council meeting, supporters of the Measure C library tax initiative set up a campaign table just outside the front doors of Hana Gardens, where the council was meeting.

Former City Council member Greg Lyman, the principal author of the tax initiative, said his group opted to make online appointments to talk with people who signed up to learn more about the pro-library campaign’s perspective. Lyman’s group was headed home before the council meeting started, Lyman said.

Public Comments About Library Tax

Inside the meeting, public comments related to the library tax initiative on the June 2 ballot continued to be critical. Three people spoke about the library at a sparsely attended special meeting on March 7.

El Cerrito residents speaking against the library tax were Michael Coan, Dianne Brenner, and Ira Sharenow.

Michael Coan

Michael Coan spoke for a second time this month about efforts he made to convince election officials and City Attorney Sky Woodruff to remove a statement that the measure offers senior exemptions. He also criticized Woodruff’s “impartial analysis” of the measure, saying Woodruff simply copied the words in the initiative without any analysis.

“The initiative as submitted would deliver no senior exemption and the summary falsely states that it would,” Coan said. “The only two programs specified in the library measure are in fact not exemptions. The first is non-existent. The second is a loan.”

Coan said he wrote to the county Registrar of Voters asking that the words “senior exemptions” be removed. The registrar replied, “Your email was forwarded to the El Cerrito City Clerk’s office for a response as they are the elections officials responsible for all filings regarding the measure.”

The letter added that the county “is not responsible for writing the impartial analysis for this measure.”

In response to another objection to the senior exemption language, Woodruff wrote that the City Council will discuss the matter at its meeting on April 7.

Dianne Brenner

Dianne Brenner said she likes libraries but opposes the library tax measure, now Measure C on the June 2 ballot. She gave several reasons.

First, Brenner said, “What has been offered to us has been a version of: ‘Approve the tax, give us the money and just trust us to figure out later what the library will be.’”

Next: “I would caution people not to be misled by city statements that the BART Plaza library deal ‘would be like a condo.’ There will be no deed that El Cerrito can sell later if we want out”.

Also, she said: “The revenue from this tax can be used to cover a variety of expenses that maybe do not belong in a 30-year financing deal. Is it smart financial management for project design costs, permitting, furniture, and litigation costs to be financed for 30 years?”

Ira Sharenow

Ira Sharenow said he’d like the city to hold an interactive public forum to answer questions.

Sharenow posed questions about the Plaza Station library proposed for the ground floor of a future affordable housing building on a site near Fairmount Avenue and Liberty Street. The initiative does not specify that the tax money must be used to build a new library there, but that location for a library is included in the city’s strategic plan. Four of five council members have said they support a Plaza Station library.

Sharenow asked how and when the approved affordable housing building would get funding, and whether it would need a $350,000 loan from the city. (The city made a $350,000 loan for the affordable housing project at 515 Richmond St. that is currently under construction.)

The initiative states that library tax money could be used to cover library operating expenses, but only for the first 10 years after construction.

“If the library is actually built, what happens after 10 years?” Sharenow asked. “How can the general fund afford to pay the inflated operating expenses?”