Council Approves Master Plan for Library

City Councilors met in regular session Monday, Oct. 21, and approved a resolution adopting a master plan for the Las Cruces Public Libraries that sets goals for the next 20 years.

The Library first presented a master plan 24 years ago, in 2000. Carol Brey, Director of the Quality of Life Department, noted that the Department presented a draft of the 2024 master plan to City Council during a work session on June 10, 2024.

Sarah Booth, Deputy Director of the Las Cruces Public Libraries, introduced the City’s library consultant, Brad Waters, owner of Godfrey’s Associates, Inc. of Dallas, Texas. Waters and his team have conducted research, interviews, and community discussions about the status of the library and how the library can best serve the community for the next 20 years.

The proposed master plan includes recommendations to renovate and expand Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, increase the overall staffing of the library to better serve the needs of the community, increase the City’s funding of the libraries including the recommendation to form a library foundation to help secure capital and building at least three branch libraries within the city.

The consulting firm proposed a five-year gain in staff expenditures, a 10-year plan to expand library space and a 20-year plan to expand the library’s geographic coverage.

The master plan Phase 1 includes adding a new entrance, an atrium lobby, to Branigan Library along with a revocation of the ground floor. The projected cost is $15.5 million. A Phase 2 would include adding an additional 15,000 square feet of working space to Branigan Library. The projected cost of Phase 2 is estimated at $16.6 million.

The master plan also includes a long-term goal of creating a four-library network with three 35,000 square foot branch libraries. Each branch library is projected to cost about $21 million.

Currently, there are no funds earmarked for any of the master plan projects. City Council’s approval of the master plan gives staff the go-ahead to begin the process of identifying funding sources to meet the goals of the master plan.

Councilors also voted to accept several grant awards for various projects within Las Cruces. They include:

• $10 million for natural gas infrastructure to replace critical gas lines.
• $200,000 to help fund the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo.
• $106,608 for Visit Las Cruces to help advertise and promote Las Cruces.
• $400,000 to improve the intersection of East Lohman Avenue at Walnut Street.
• $193,650 to repave a portion of West Amador Avenue.
• $574,200 to plan, design and construct a domestic violence shelter.
• $1,138,500 to plan, design and construct a kitchen at Community of Hope.
• $2,524,500 to plan, design and construct an integrated healthcare building for LCFD.
• $100,000 to help in the construction of Fire Station 9.
• $300,000 to help in the construction of the East Mesa Recreation Complex.
• $100,000 to help plan, design and construct parks and trails.
• $5,915,250 for the expansion of the Mesilla Valley Resource Campus (Amador Crossing).
• $650,000 to help purchase equipment for LCPD’s Real-time Crime Center.

City Council voted unanimously to accept all of the grant awards and the reauthorizations of a handful of grant-funded projects that have not yet been completed.

Monday’s City Council meeting, along with all other City Council meetings and work sessions, can be viewed on the City’s YouTube Channel.

Las Cruces City Council will next meet in a work session at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, at Council Chambers, 700 N. Main St.