(Radio Iowa) – Sioux City leaders are considering slashing the budget of the city library by about one million dollars, or 25 percent. City council member Rick Bertrand says the main goal is to modernize the library system. “Anytime you start messing with just public services, people get very nervous,” Bertrand says. “This is what a healthy community does to get healthy and how to utilize the resources we have and maximize out, so that more people are served, and more people can enjoy the library.” Bertrand says he favors more community-based libraries with amenities like coffee shops, but library officials say they still need a central location, and major cuts would have a negative impact.

Library director Helen Rigdon says the Sioux City Library system already has one of the smallest full-time staffs in the state for a city of its size, and the proposed cuts would reduce the number of employees from 31 to 25. “Staff morale is about zero right now,” Rigdon says. “They feel like, and I feel like the city council or some of the council members do not value what the library gives back to the city.” Rigdon says city leaders wanted suggestions on modernizing the library, but her board wanted to wait until a new director is hired. Rigdon is retiring at the end of April. “There has been a good amount of support for the library on social media, which we appreciate,” she says. “We just hope that the city council will realize what we give back to the city and everything that we have, and that we can work this out, and it will not be such a detrimental cut.”

A final budget meeting is planned for March 18th.