Chair Swearengen Washington: Psalms 37 verse four.
It says delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
We are delighting ourselves in him.
August 4th meeting of the Libraries and Neighborhood
Improvement Committee of Memphis City Council is hereby called
to order.
Call the roll, deja.
[Roll Call]
Councilmember Cooper-Sutton: We have
an update on facility conditions and maintenance
at the Benjamin Hooks library, district five, super district
eight, requested by chairwoman Jana Swearengen Washington.
>> We want an update on the facilities.
They needed to address power washing, cleaning
of the windows, and carpet.
We want to make sure it is inviting.
It is in East Memphis in a stellar location.
We want to be welcoming to our constituents and community
members and make sure it is representative.
That is our main library.
It sets the tone for the other libraries.
We wanted to see what the progress was.
>> Melvyn Jameson, director of Services 125 North Main Street.
>> Eric Ayers, libraries.
>> Gerald Spencer, deputy director.
Melvin Jameson: Quick update on building and mechanical systems.
At the central library, 3030, I want
to talk about three major building
systems, including the sewer, boiling system,
and cooling towers.
We put a new cooling towers at these locations.
They are in great shape.
We've been doing preventative maintenance.
They have over 12 years of life remaining.
With good maintenance, it should last longer than that.
The other two I want to talk about
is the water cooler chillers.
They are more than 20 years old.
One chiller is operating in fair condition
and the other one is being repaired.
These chillers have between 2 and 5 years remaining.
We have to start planning to get those chillers replaced.
There are four boilers.
Those are 25 years old they are in fair condition
and operating fine.
We have to start the operating budget
to change those out in the next 2 to 5 years.
I was at the site yesterday.
I go to the site frequently.
I was thinking about what you said.
We need to really make this a building that
is inviting and esthetically pleasing for the citizens.
Before I got out I pulled this out to look at the grounds.
I pulled up and I saw grass that was too tall.
I saw debris laying there that should have been picked up
a while back.
It wasn't kept the way I wanted to see it.
I got on the phone and took pictures and sent text
to my folks.
We agreed that we will do better and we will make this work.
My teams are here right now providing these grounds
maintenance things that need to happen.
We are getting things back manageable the way
they should be.
Eric had a vendor come out this weekend
and provide pressure washing around the front areas
of the library.
While they did do the pressure washing,
they didn't get enough done.
We are going to do something deeper and coordinate
with the vendor to provide sandblasting
to remove the underlying dirt that is in the paved areas.
We have a licensed window cleaner.
We will engage them to provide cleaning to all of the glass.
We are getting cobwebs, dirt and debris removed
to make it look like it should.
The escalator project is scheduled for completion
on August the 30th, this month.
We will bring that in.
There are a couple items remaining .
The elevator will begin immediately
after the escalator is complete.
That is an additional 12 weeks.
That will be completed on November 30th, 2026.
Is there anything else you would like to add, Eric?
Dr. Eric D. Harris: We are meeting with ServiceMaster
this afternoon.
Carpets are contracted every six months to be cleaned
but there is such heavy use in the meeting room,
that we need more frequent cleaning.
The carpets are scheduled to be replaced
this year with our CIP funding that started at Central.
During the fiscal year 27, we will replace the carpet.
Until then we are meeting with them
about getting some cleaning done.
It is not where it should be by any means.
>> Whose responsibility is it to spot check these places so it
doesn't get in this condition anymore?
Dr. Eric D. Harris: It is all of our responsibility.
We have so many different people in the library
Councilmember Carlisle: Do you have a manager there?
Dr. Eric D. Harris: Yes, Ma'am, we have several managers.
We have maintenance and building departments.
We've made a commitment to redo how we do things.
Before I go on too far, I want to say
that I appreciate you turning the heat up on this
and opening our eyes.
From a library's perspective, there
were things we were doing that I wasn't seen.
Now we are looking at it.
There's a comment sheet for our service master and janitorial
crew.
If anyone on staff sees things that need corrected,
they enter it onto a notebook and the supervisor
is notified of it at least that day and a correction
is made the same day.
We've implemented this and it's already made huge gains.
We implemented that after the last time I spoke.
We are taking full responsibility for it
and we need to do better.
We are doing better because we were told we need
to look at things differently.
Councilmember Carlisle: I appreciate you all addressing it
and we want to be consistent, not just this one time.
We want to spot check and make sure our facilities are
welcoming, inviting, and representative of Memphis.
I had a meeting over there and I was embarrassed.
We don't want to be embarrassed.
This is distracting.
We couldn't even enjoy the meeting.
We were looking at the dirty carpet.
I like things clean and in order.
If we can continue to be consistent and make sure
we are doing what we need to do and have
teamwork between general services, service
masters, and everyone.
We appreciate your response and are looking forward
to the consistency.
Dr. Eric D. Harris: One complicated piece
is the sidewalk restoration.
They did a good job pressure washing the best they could
but they discovered something we didn't know of.
I explained this to my wife this weekend at the nail shop.
When the building was built in 2001, they put in the sidewalks
and they looked new.
They came back three years later and added an artsy material
that was black and metal flake glitter to the sidewalk
to make the sidewalk look shiny.
It looked really nice.
If you ever go to a nail shop and get something
done to your nails, they strip it down
and will put a color on it.
Then they put a sealant on top of it to keep it from chipping
and to keep the pain from going away.
I'm saying all this on record.
That wasn't done when they added the extra layer to the sidewalk.
You are looking at 25 years of dirt and grime
getting onto the sidewalk and going deep into the cement.
We did the first pressure washing
and it looks better but is nowhere
near where we expect it to be.
We are looking to do things deeper.
We need a deep treatment to get everything out and get
it resealed so we can make it look like what we
want the library to look like.
I want the community to understand that the sidewalks
are more complicated.
We will work on it consistently until it
is acceptable to everyone.
Thank you.
Councilmember Cooper-Sutton: Councilwoman Logan.
Councilmember Logan: I would appreciate
if you can send the maintenance plan for all the libraries.
A couple years ago and last year,
we were here talking about that.
I mentioned the type of garbage can liners.
We had an event and they were trying to take out the garbage,
and the liners were so thin that all the garbage spilled
on the floor.
The managers and myself were trying to pick up
the trash from the event.
I mentioned this at a meeting earlier this year or last year
Premaku determines the quality of the product ? --
Who determines the quality of the product?
There was a mention about restaining and pressure washing.
When something is made of wood they look old and rotten
and not kept.
This isn't just a main library.
I understand the need and that is why I mentioned
it is the central Library.
That is where most people go.
I like to see that level of maintenance and manicure
for all of them.
Moving forward, which we talked about before,
this should be put in the budget for maintenance.
If you cannot get something new this year or next year
at the library or at our public amenity places,
this needs to be implemented for --
implemented first and then we can do maintenance.
There are older buildings.
We just have to have that or they will deteriorate fast.
I know you know this, but we don't always
factor this into the budget season
and we are back at square one.
If we could put together a maintenance plan,
what does it look like?
What does it cost, what would be included, how often,
and what is the yield?
How would that improve the life and quality
of our public amenities?
That is what people see when they walk up.
That is what they experience, regardless
of what we have in our minds.
Melvin Jameson: Yes Ma'am, I have a draft in
and we will get back to the landscaper and architect.
I look forward to bringing that to you soon.
We will have the -- maintenance plan and also one that will bid
to cover all exterior services.
Councilmember Logan: Do you have a list
of when you will rebuild libraries in certain buildings?
For those who are older and may not be able to be redone,
like the library in Cordova and Ferguson, there is black stuff.
Two pressure wash this you don't need to be on the list.
That is not what we are looking for.