The controversy continues, two weeks after a crowd of more than 30 residents showed up at a Saratoga City Council meeting with raised eyebrows to oppose council members' interest in using the library's community room to hold their meetings.

One by one, dismayed residents, many of whom belong to different nonprofit organizations and are retired, voiced their opinions while their band of supporters applauded after every speech.

Mary Jane Fenn, who works at the library, urged council members to listen to what the residents had to say.

"We want the community room for the community," said Fenn. "There are over 15 local nonprofit organizations and not many places where these groups could meet."

Bill McDonnal, who was actively involved in the passing of library bond Measure N, said he is outraged that the city would even consider taking first priority of the room.

"Leave the community room alone," he said. "You don't belong there."

McDonnal said he felt betrayed because when the bond was passed, it included an agreement that gave nonprofit groups first priority on the community room.

For many years, the facility has been the home for many groups such as the League of Women Voters of Southwest Santa Clara Valley, the American Association of University Women and the Saratoga Historical Society. Some of these groups pay a minimum of $10 to use the facility.

According to Marjory Bunyard, who has been involved with such groups and is the former president of the League of Women Voters, "having a place where people can meet to discuss issues and be informed in smaller groups is what builds the community."

Tom Blaisdell, who was the treasurer for Measure N and is a member of the Friends of the Saratoga Library, said that if the city council members decide to take priority of the community room, many organizations will be forced to find alternative places to meet, which can be costly and inconvenient. In addition to the already heavy bookings made by different groups, Blaisdell questioned the impact it would make on the community if other city groups such as the planning and finance commissions decide to use the facility.

"If they all use the community room, then 60 percent of the evenings would be used for city business, leaving 40 percent for community use," said Blaisdell.

Donald Miller, who has used the community room in the past to give slide shows about countries around the world to the AAUW, said he was shocked to learn of the city council's intentions and feared what it will do to the community.

"To take away the ability of volunteer cash-starved organizations to have a central place to hold meetings at a modest cost is to kill the spirit and vitality of Saratoga," said Miller.

At the meeting, Cynthia Chang commented that she rushed to the meeting without even eating her dinner because she felt the issue was too great of a concern to miss. Chang, who is a board member for the Los Gatos—Saratoga Union High School District, thanked the council members for their continued service to the community, but questioned their reason for using the community room.

"Why can't you continue to use the city's facilities?" she asked council members.

The members were not able to respond at the meeting because the issue was not an agenda item. However, Mayor Nick Streit commented on the issue outside of the meeting.

According to Streit, the council was simply exploring "better alternatives" to the civic theater, which does not have an ideal setting for public meetings. "The theater is the worst place possible," said Streit. "With other council chambers, the dais is usually lower to allow council members the have eye-to-eye contact with the public."

In addition, council members and the planning commission share the facility with theater groups, who have limited space to store their props and furniture due to the dais that is also stored backstage.

However, Streit said that he understands and appreciates the community input.

"I would agree to take the community room off the table because there are so many people who need the facility," said Streit.

The council will continue to look for available and more convenient places that will suit as many residents as possible.

"We just want to provide a better experience for everybody who attends our meetings," said Streit. "We also want to make the least amount of impact on organizations that may be affected."

In addition, while four of the five council members present at a prior meeting said they were interested in using the community room for their meetings, Council man Stan Bogosian, who signed Measure N in March 2002, said that he doesn't feel the city council should have priority on the community room.

"The policy should stay the same. The library charges reasonable rates for nonprofit groups and it should stay that way."

At that same meeting, Councilman Norman Kline said that "if city commissions want to have their meetings in the room, they should have priority over non-city groups."

However, Kline, who has been a big supporter of the library for 25 years, later commented that the council members were simply discussing options and were still receiving input from staff at that time. He also later stated that he does not think the city should use the community room to hold their meetings for a number of reasons.

"There has been no demand from the citizens to change our location," said Kline.

In addition to limited seating and a non-ideal setting, he stated that it would be almost impossible to book meetings in the community room due to library policy, which states that groups may not schedule bookings more than three months in advance. City council sets their schedule a year in advance.

The item is scheduled for a public hearing at the April 1 council meeting. The issue also will be discussed further at the Good Government Group meeting on April 3 at 7:15 p.m. in the Patio Room of the Saratoga Community Center.