Meeting Minutes
Multnomah County Library Bond Oversight Committee
June 16, 2026
4:00 - 6:00 pm | East County Library Hybrid Meeting
Committee Members Present
Ana Brophy, Courtney Rosenthal, David Hoang, Marelea Lutino, Michael Armstrong, Nicole Pexton, Randall Edwards, Rosie McGown, Susan Aldrich. Alexia Wellons was absent.
Staff Present
Annie Lewis, Library Director; Kate Vance, Bond PMO Director-DCA; Maddelyn High, Library Director’s Assistant / Committee Staff Support; Maggie Chavez, Multnomah County Supplier Diversity Officer; Mike Day, Bond Consultant; Tracey Massey, Director-DCA (virtual)
Welcome
Committee Chair Nicole Pexton welcomed folks to the meeting, and attendees and guests introduced themselves. Library Director Annie Lewis shared a land acknowledgement.
Public Comment
Public comment was requested for submission via email ahead of the meeting. No known emails came in for public comment, and no members of the public submitted comments during the meeting.
Committee Business
There were no corrections to the minutes for the March 17, 2026 meeting.
The committee reviewed its work timeline for the remainder of the 2026 calendar year, and into the first quarter of 2027. Committee members discussed issuing a final report that covers ~18 months (rather than a single fiscal year) to encompass some bond close-out activities.
Library Systemwide Updates
Lewis highlighted several recent systemwide updates for the library:
- The new East County Library has stayed busy since its opening weekend in May. Library staff are learning a lot about unique feature operations (AV, rooftop, auditorium), and accessing ongoing operations needs and looking ahead to Fiscal year 2028 for any potential staffing changes.
- The library’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget was recently adopted – reductions were accomplished without major impacts to frontline services.
- Summer Reading recently kicked off and Lewis highlighted other summer programs, noting that the next fews months are a busy programming season for library staff.
Spotlight: RWEA Listening Sessions
Multnomah County Supplier Diversity Officer Maggie Chavez joined to share a summary of and key takeaways from Regional Workforce Equity Agreement (RWEA) partner listening sessions from February 2026. Chavez reminded that the RWEA is a project labor agreement (not an intergovernmental agreement), and signatories opt-in to participation.
Chavez also reminded that the library bond program was the first entity/project to implement the RWEA, and noted that in terms of the RWEA, the bond program is at 100% completion (since it encompasses primarily the construction phase). The main success is that the library bond program met goals for apprentices, women, and people of color participation across the bond portfolio.
Chavez then shared highlights from each of four listening sessions with different partner groups: prime contractors and owners reps; community partners; trade partners and organized labor; and subs and material suppliers. Some key takeaways include:
- Feedback about administrative burdens (lots of paperwork and coordination required)
- Some pipeline gaps from pre-apprenticeship training programs to apprenticeships
- Feedback that high standards are challenging to meet without small business resources to support meeting mandates and some goals felt unrealistic when small crews were involved
- Some financial strains report due to health insurance requirement for smaller firms and due to CMCGs having different experiences with payment timelines
- Partners shared that, overall, the RWEA encouraged much stronger and more frequent communication.
Committee members discussed findings, offered appreciation for this work, and asked questions; and Chavez and others responded with lessons learned. Committee members expressed interest in a broader sharing-out of lessons learned; seeing data differences between smaller and larger firms (when close-out info is available); and in any retention data we may have for women pre-apprentices.
Chavez closed by sharing that the current RWEA agreement expires in March 2027, and renegotiations can begin this fall for the next iteration of the agreement; and will likely be a push to bring in additional public agency partners.
Bond Implementation Update
PMO Deputy Director-DCA Kate Vance shared recent celebrations and milestones, including the East County Library opening on May 16. Since the new library opened, visits are hovering around over 1k+ folks a day (Central Library in downtown Portland sees about 1,300 folks a day on average, as a comparison).
Buy-back work (betterments and enhancements) are now completed at Albina and Midland libraries. The additional work required short closures, and surplus funds were successfully utilized for things like additional accessibility enhancements (taking buildings above and beyond code).
Vance shared that St. Johns Library is next up, with a public opening on June 27; followed shortly thereafter by Belmont Library (the last major bond project) in late summer. Belmont Library received its certificate of occupancy earlier today!
Vance shared a bond budget summary, noting that the program added ~$500k in interest earnings since the committee last met. Vance also shared updates on recent budget changes and decisions, including a reconciling IRS payment (the bond earned more interest than allowable, due in part to historic high inflation, so an additional IRS payment on debt interest earnings was required).
Bond budget summary (25) we’ve spent nearly 410m dollars – 89% of budget – as of end of April
Kudos to Kate and budget analyst Jade who manage fiscal stewardship and changes – stellar report card from auditors, reflects well on our team
Vance shared that the bond program achieved its COBID participation goals, and the last LMCOC meeting took place in May.
Bond buy-back work continues; and the team is working to compile close-out data, lessons learned, and more.
Action Items + Closing
The meeting adjourned at 5:36 pm.