by Kylie McQuarrie
Staff, trustees, and the public asked for a library levy lift for years. Fortunately, library administrators finally agreed. Timberland Regional Library’s (TRL) expenses finally surpassed its revenue in 2023, solidifying a financial crisis that had been building for years. In May 2022, a TRL employee publicly asked Timberland’s Board of Trustees to vote on a levy lift. The employee, Alice Rosewater, told the Board, “I’m here to express the urgency of putting a ballot measure before voters to lift the levy lid for the property tax rate. . . Our communities are hurting right now. We need a library system to be running at full capacity to support them, to be given the resources and staffing they need to thrive.” Rosewater emphasized that workers were already being told to do more with less while being promised the budget was “healthy.” She shared information from the Washington State Library showing an 80% success rate for state library lid lifts going back to the 90s, then stated that union members were ready to go door to door asking their neighbors to vote yes on a lift more or less immediately. “You just need to give us the go-ahead.”
At the following board meeting, then-executive director Cheryl Heywood carved out the time to casually shoot down the idea of a levy lift wholesale. According to Heywood, “there’s a lot of complexity around the matter” of levy lid lifts. She cited high inflation as a risk factor and said “a majority of economists” predict a recession in 2023. She then tallied all the special tax districts in TRL’s five-county system (226, per Heywood). She seemed to infer that there were too many districts to make it worth the time. While not explicitly opposing a lift, Heywood made a soft argument similar to that espoused by Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope in his voter pamphlet statement against this year’s library levy lift. It is an odd stance to see a library director take. It is worth noting that Heywood didn’t attempt to make up the missing levy revenue in other ways; a public records request for all TRL grant applications in the last five years returned zero results.
Thankfully for the pro-library crowd, Heywood resigned in March 2026 after massive public outcry following her sudden announcement of an unexpected deficit. Finance director Paige Preston and multi-department head Brenda Lane exited library employment a few months later following reports of chats between the two during a lengthy public comment section reacting to the layoffs. In the chats, the two openly mocked employees, board members, and public commenters, including one commenter who teared up while talking about a potentially failed school bond in her county. Lane told Preston she felt bad for the commenter, then said “of course, I voted no.” The bond passed by a narrow margin.
With a public desperate to get their libraries back and a new administrative team at the helm ready to tackle the levy lift head-on, the TRL Board of Trustees voted unanimously in July of this year to put the measure on the ballot. You will be able to vote on the measure on or before November 3 (find nearest ballot box here). Interim director Andrea Heisel has worked hard to educate the public on the upcoming lift through radio and news interviews, city council presentations, info booths at county festivals, and around a dozen presentations about the levy at local branches. It’s refreshing to see a library director actively advocating for the library system, and it also brings up an interesting question about choice, and what communities gain when they can choose to opt into a system. Under the old administration, the public didn’t get to choose whether their tax dollars went to the library or not. The amount we contributed decayed under our noses while the Heywood administration shortened open hours, tried to close branches, and overspent on “refreshes” that often precluded community involvement. We never had the chance to tell Heywood we’d rather contribute more money than lose library hours.
For years, we’ve wanted to decide for ourselves what to support. Now, thanks to the TRL staff (current and former), board members, and current library administrators, as well as the public, we finally get to choose our library’s fate. Rosewater told the Board four years ago, “At a certain point, fear of failure can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Less than 30 days away from the election, I’m hoping the opposite can prove true too — maybe hope for success can make that success inevitable past a certain tipping point.
Kylie McQuarrie is the co-founder of the Patron Coalition for Local Libraries (PCLL), a grassroots organization committed to supporting a thriving, successful five-county library system.