Erie County Council to vote Tuesday on water research center at Blasco Library

A new water research center is one vote away from becoming a reality at the Blasco Memorial Library.

Erie County Council will vote on a resolution Tuesday to approve a 25-year lease agreement between the county and Gannon University. The agreement will greenlight the development of a water research and education center ― to include a fishery and aquaponics lab, a butterfly conservatory and a science classroom ― on the eastern wing of the library’s first floor.

Gannon University will pay $22,956 annually to lease the space and is prohibited from breaking the lease within the first 10 years, as per the lease agreement.

The resolution to approve the agreement was not listed on the public agenda of council’s finance committee meeting Thursday. Councilmember Ellen Schauerman, who heads the committee, brought forth the resolution as a last-minute addition to the agenda. Finance committee meetings don’t include public comment periods.

Since the measure is a resolution, it doesn’t require a second reading and can be approved by a single majority vote of council at Tuesday’s regular meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in Room 117 of the Erie County Courthouse

The public will be allowed to comment on the resolution Tuesday. It will be the only opportunity for the public to voice their thoughts about the project, which will take up more than 3,000 square feet of space at Blasco Library, a public library designated by the state as a district library center.

Council members say resolution was rushed, not transparent

Erie County Executive Brenton Davis has championed the project, stating on his campaign Facebook page that the center will help transform Blasco Library into a larger regional asset, attracting more investment and visitors to the area.

But Councilmember Andre Horton said the last-minute arrival of the resolution was reminiscent of the proposed Fairview Business Park project, in which council voted to greenlight a land transfer with little public input and later voted to rescind the deal after facing public backlash.

“This doesn’t lend itself to transparency,” Horton told the Erie Times-News. “The Blasco Library is one of our most prized resources in the county. I think there should absolutely be more public input, especially coming on the heels of the Fairview Business Park project fiasco.”

Former Councilmember Mary Rennie, who previously served as executive director of the Erie County Public Library, referred to the resolution as the "Fairview Business Park, version 2."

“The incredible sneakiness of it is just mind-bending,” she said. “How can somebody say on one hand that in their heart they think they’re doing what’s best for the people and yet they won’t allow the people to be a part of the process? That’s just outrageous.”

Councilmember Terry Scutella added that he wouldn’t “rubber stamp” the project, telling the Times-News, “When we rush things, we screw them up.”

Council Chairman Brian Shank disagreed and praised the project as a “game-changer.”

He said he hasn't heard any pushback from his constituents and that the lease agreement was a good deal that didn’t need to be dragged out by council or require a separate public hearing.

“We can’t do a public hearing for everything we do. We would never get anything done,” he said. “We want to listen to the people. We want to make sure that what they say is heard. But I think this (resolution) is not really appropriate for a public hearing."

Shank added that council members have previously added items to the agenda at the last minute and that the rest of council always accommodates that. He said council should be equally accommodating when the county executive has a late-arriving agenda item.

The Davis administration did not respond to an email from the Times-News on Friday inquiring about the resolution.

Davis: Gannon will be investing in county, not Port Authority

The proposed center, the Great Lakes Research & Education Center, is the brainchild of Gannon University, and is a part of its $24 million water quality initiative known as Project NePTWNE, pronounced "Neptune," after the Roman god of freshwater and the seas.

Originally, the university planned to build the center at the historic Union Fish Company Building at 116 W. Front St. at Wolverine Marina. That was the plan sold to members of Erie County Council in March when they approved $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to develop the center.

But plans changed after the Erie Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, which owns the Union Fish Company Building, insisted the university would only get a 30-day notice if asked to vacate, according to Gannon University spokesman Doug Oathout.

By contrast, the county’s lease agreement would give the university a year-long notice after the first 10 years.

Davis added that the $1.5 million in Rescue Plan funds would now be invested in a county-owned building as opposed to the “shoddy old building at the Port, which could be unreliable for a lease (and would) place the project fate and work in the hands of a Port Board," according to his campaign Facebook page.

The center would be located in an area of the library that currently holds offices and some reference materials, which would be moved to the second floor, according to the administration's rationale statement to council.

Rennie: Blasco Library is reducing children’s services and programming

In a statement to the Times-News, Rennie called out the Davis administration for pulling back children's services and programming at Blasco Library while simultaneously planning for a water research center.

She referred to how the administration recently moved two children’s librarians from Blasco Library to branch locations because there wasn’t enough parking space available at Blasco Library to accommodate its popular children’s programming.

“But apparently, we do have parking space for new staff and visitors to a popular Great Lakes Research Center, complete with an aquarium? If that seems illogical to you, you are not alone,” Rennie stated.

Rennie applauded Gannon University's water research initiative but disagreed with relocating the center to the library. She blasted county officials for not investing enough in human capital.

"The Blasco Library is the only outlet to serve Erie City proper, where the concentration of child poverty is the highest in the county," she stated. "As a community, we cannot afford to lose the services it provides for families and children."

More on Great Lakes Research Center: Blasco Library could soon house 3,000-square foot water research center. Here’s what we know

More on Project Neptune: Gannon University seeks to clean Lake Erie and boost economy in the process

A.J. Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNRao.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County Council to vote on water research center at Blasco Library