St. Charles County rallies to stop library closures

ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Opponents here are organizing to block a plan that could close three of the county’s 11 branches.

They have rallied at public library board meetings, launched online groups, and are encouraging each other to visit the at-risk locations and prove the libraries are necessary.

“We want to encourage patrons to check out books, attend programs, get to know the staff and overall increase the door count numbers,” one Facebook group said in its mission statement. “Something physical to show the board how much we value these branches.”

Another Facebook group already has more than 5,200 members. The two groups are together encouraging people to wear red whenever visiting the library district’s branches and to stand outside the buildings, holding signs in support of the libraries.

And supporters also turned up en masse in the audience at Tuesday’s board meeting, as they had Friday night when the plan was unveiled. Each drew about 200 people.

They’ve been mobilized by a plan from St. Charles City-County Library District CEO Jason Kuhl to close the McClay, Deer Run and Kisker Road branches, lay off 39 employees and leave 25 vacancies unfilled.

The plan is necessary, he said, to deal with financial problems caused in part by increased costs of electronic books and streaming sites increasingly used by district patrons.

So far, the opponents have succeeded in getting the board to delay a decision for 30 days. And at the meeting Tuesday, board president Staci Alvarez said it’s possible that a decision could be held off longer than that. “We will take as long as necessary to make the right decision that’s best for the district,” she said.

Another board member, Josiah Schmidt, said “we did not accurately gauge the extent to which our patrons need physical space (libraries) in their neighborhoods.”

“I feel like we were all blindsided by this a few days ago,” said Angie Quigley, one of the speakers at the rally outside the Middendorf-Kredell branch in O’Fallon before the district’s board meeting Tuesday night. “Everybody is here because we all love the library. … People are noticing. It’s making a difference.”

Quigley, 42, lives in an unincorporated area near the McClay branch in St. Charles, one of the three that would be permanently closed.

At the rally Tuesday, protesters carried signs with messages such as “Please Don’t Take My Library” and ‘”Please Leave Our Libraries Open.”

St. Peters resident Bridget Jones and her daughter Brooklyn, 10, attended the board meeting Tuesday. Brooklyn said she loves going to the library. And, she said, she’s read more than 1.7 million words this school year, a feat she and her mom credit to checking out library books.

“As a mom, it makes your heart want to burst because of how she is so excited about reading. I was a reader when I was a kid, and as a parent, I wanted to instill that in my own to kids. But I attribute their love of reading to the local library,” said Jones, in an interview.

Some supporters have proposed putting more limits on streaming services or maybe asking voters to approve a property tax increase for the library. Kuhl said last week that surveys indicate a tax hike would not have enough support to pass.

In 2023, the library district’s payroll was $9.3 million, according to public records requested for the Post-Dispatch’s Public Pay Database. The district had 314 employees, with an average salary of $29,727; Kuhl, the director, was the highest paid at $163,090 last year.

Several elected officials attended the Tuesday rally or board meeting or both and indicated they opposed the closure plan.

Among them were Adam Bertrand, the Francis Howell School Board president; County Councilman Dave Hammond, R-O’Fallon; two O’Fallon City Council members, Debbie Cook and Linda Ragsdale; and State Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-St. Charles County.

O’Fallon City Council Member Ron Epps, who represents the city’s first ward, said he has had “a number of constituents” reach out to him.

“Personally, I believe, this is a tragic idea that they came up with to just close branches. It would leave a huge hole in north O’Fallon,” Epps told the Post-Dispatch.

Brooklyn, the fourth-grader, wrote a short story about a girl who grew up visiting the Kisker Road library branch, only to learn it was closed. She presented the story to the library administration at the Tuesday meeting.

“I think it is amazing that people are standing up and sharing what the library means to them,” Bridget Jones said. “My daughter learned firsthand how to be an engaged citizen.”