April 1937 — The council answered with a survey

On April 2 the council committees declined to submit the WPA project. Instead they asked the library trustees to carry out a survey covering both the north side and a replacement for the south branch on the West Avenue playfield. Alderman George Falk argued the south side was in even worse condition, and that both should be considered together.

The library board had been explicit that the north should go first — the main library was easier for the south side to reach, and on the north side there was "absolutely no more space left for shelving." The committees tied the two together anyway. That decision cost the north side five years, and it is the reason that when the south side's chosen site later went to court, the north side's library went down with it.

At the same meeting, the committees agreed to raise an appropriation for shrubbery around the new sewage disposal plant from $75 to $200, on the grounds that $75 was insufficient.