St. Paul City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Library Project Funding & Budget Amendments
Rondo Community Library Reconstruction Update and Community Engagement
Votes (4)
Authorizing the St. Paul public library agency to accept 3,150,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for Hayden Heights Library Reconstruction Project amending the 2026 St. Paul Public Library budget.
Moved by Council Vice President Yang [4m50s]
The item involved accepting a substantial grant for the Hayden Heights Library reconstruction. Council Vice President Yang expressed strong support for the project, noting visible daily progress. A procedural clarification by Council Member Johnson led to the re-reading of the item as Resolution Public Hearing 26-93, after which a public hearing was held with no speakers.
Resolution public hearing 26-129 accepting the gift of $580,461 from the friends of the St. Paul Public Library and amending the library's 2026 financing and spending plans.
Moved by Council Member Johnson [5m26s]
This item concerned accepting a significant financial gift from the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. The Chair expressed gratitude for the 'exciting' and 'big deal' partnership. As a public hearing item, an opportunity for public comment was provided, but no one came forward to speak.
Resolution 26-918, authorizing the public library agency to accept Minnesota Department of Education grant funds in the amount of 250,000 to support reconstruction of the Riverview Library and record a property declaration related there too.
Moved by Council President Nerre [6m31s]
This item authorized the acceptance of state grant funds for the reconstruction of the Riverview Library. It was noted that this item did not require a public hearing. No discussion from the board was recorded for this item.
Staff report 26-98, Rondo Community Library Update.
Rebecca Ryan and Marina Okuku presented a comprehensive update on the Rondo Library project, which involves a safety-focused entryway renovation, tech-rich spaces, and play-and-learn areas, funded by a combination of city and state grants. They detailed extensive community and staff engagement methods, including surveys, focus groups with elders and families, and dot-voting. Key feedback incorporated into the plans included a more welcoming entrance, improved wayfinding, changes to restrooms, additional quiet and study spaces, and a greater separation between children's and adult areas. Questions from council members focused on the bidding process for play-and-learn spaces, the placement and role of security/staff at the service desk, and how the renovation addresses safety concerns and provides resources for vulnerable populations while maintaining a welcoming, low-barrier public space.
Notable Quotes (6)
I'm very supportive of this item and just wanted to share that I go past the library every day. It's really exciting and fun to just see the daily changes to it. It's currently wrapped all around with very heavy duty, I'm sure, plastic wrap even and and making it through during the rain. And so again, I can't wait to see the many phases of the work and see it come go to the go to the finish line.
So it is a complex project in that three things are happening at once and so the safety and meeting room improvement project pieces have gone to bid. We have awarded the bid and they are under um we are currently in the process of contracting with the firm. So hopefully by our upcoming community engagement session um we'll be able to say who that firm was.
So for the entryway updates, um we focused on um creating a larger and more welcoming entrance and marketplace. So, um you can see in the purple sort of like where the marketplace will be, but that's sort of like um what we think of as like the core of a library. So, where you'll pick up your holds where there might be um casual seating where folks can kind of just hang out in the library um make copies and things like that.
I just would not want that to be um I wouldn't want those spaces to be compromised if we're not able to actually manage, you know. Um and I want to make sure that if someone comes in that they feel safe enough to, you know, like use a lactation room, right? entirely that they do feel safe enough to pray and that um there's not other behavior that's going on in those spaces that we did not intend to but we also want to make sure we're intentional about preventing.
Council Member Buouie, I think you just really stated um what is both beautiful and really difficult sometimes about running a public space that is pretty low barrier for most people. and um in the ways that we need to be responsive to the people walking in the door and the ways that we need to be in some cases quite firm and clear with what the boundaries of our library service actually are.
I'm also looking at the floor plan though and just seeing it like a little bit further back than right at the entry cuz you just specify a little bit about where they will be. And I only asked that question because I think one of the issues in the entryway from my understanding too is that you know people could go to the restroom before really ever coming to the front desk.
Ordinances & Resolutions (7)
Previous meeting minutes approved at the beginning of the current meeting.
Budget amended to reflect the acceptance of HUD funds for Hayden Heights Library.
Authorizing acceptance of HUD funds for Hayden Heights Library Reconstruction Project.
Accepting a gift from the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and amending 2026 financing and spending plans.
Amended due to the acceptance of a gift from the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.
Authorizing acceptance of Minnesota Department of Education grant funds for Riverview Library reconstruction.
Rondo Community Library Update report.