Boulder Public Library announces reopening for Monday, remediation ongoing as city begins prevention work

Jan. 7—As the Boulder Public Library prepares to officially reopen — sans public restrooms — there are many unknown questions library staff and the city will be working to answer as they develop a new protocol in hopes of preventing the same issue of contamination from reoccurring while also looking at ways to address a nationwide methamphetamine endemic.

"I think we have sort of made the library a de facto day shelter and (library director) David's (Farnan) risen to that occasion remarkably well during COVID, and that is something that we should not have asked the library to be, in my opinion, and I think the buck stops here for that being the setup there," said City Councilmember Rachel Friend during Thursday's council meeting.

The city announced late Friday afternoon that the library will reopen Monday. Not only will its restrooms be off-limits to the public, but so will public computers, circulating laptops and the courtesy phone, which have all been removed to prevent dermal exposure and spread of possible methamphetamine contamination, according to a news release from the city. Library staffers hope to bring back public computers in the near future, but for now, patrons can use public computers at the library branches. Wireless printing will be available from personal devices.

The public restrooms are sealed in an airtight environment while being cleaned, and some materials will be removed, the release said. No public restrooms will be available for a few weeks, until a new system is in place in which library staff and security staff can help monitor the restrooms.

The announcement to reopen comes after the library closed Dec. 20 after testing first found meth in the facility's public-facing restrooms. The library has since been tested three times, and of the 99 samples taken, 11 exceeded the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment cleanup standard of 0.5 micrograms/100 cm², according to the full test report by Quest Environmental released Dec. 30.

Sarah Huntley, spokesperson for the city, said the restrooms in the children's section will reopen to children and caregivers after the facilities have been tested again. The test report found a methamphetamine level of 0.75 micrograms/100 cm² on an exhaust vent cover inside a large family restroom on the main level of the library and 1.2 micrograms/100 cm² on an exhaust vent cover in a small family restroom also on the main floor. The state requires that facilities conduct testing if a methamphetamine level of 0.2 micrograms/100cm² is found, said Shawn Hollister, spokesperson for Boulder County Public Health.

Several exhaust fans and vents in library restrooms also had methenamine levels above 75 micrograms/100cm² — the highest amount detectable by the tests, BCPH Air Quality Coordinator Bill Hayes said during the City Council meeting Thursday.

Boulder released a request for proposal for environmental services that included remediation in November, Huntley said. The city closed its request for proposal last month and has three companies licensed for meth remediation, either already under contract with the city or moving to a contract with the city. Annie Elliott, spokesperson for the city, added Boulder hopes to receive quotes from those companies next week and will then create a timeline for the remediation process. In addition to the $100,000 already spent on methamphetamine contamination, the city estimates it will spend an additional $125,000 on the last part of remediation. Huntley said at this time, the city will not need to cut any already-budgeted expenses or programs to pay for the work and testing.

Until the city begins the next phase of remediation, it's unclear what else will need to be replaced in the restrooms, Huntley said. Moving forward, one thing is known for sure: The days of unsupervised use of the public restrooms are over.

"We have no intention at any time of reopening the bathrooms for unmonitored access,(and) that is going forward, and when I mentioned that we have 2,000 visitors a day, I guarantee you that the public bathrooms of the public library are the busiest public bathrooms in the entire city," said Boulder Public Library Director David Farnan during the council meeting.

It's unclear what the protocol to use the public restrooms will be moving forward — maybe a keycard or a code users must punch in. That's to be determined, Huntley said. What's clear is the library staff will work with security to constantly monitor the restrooms.

Since the library's three security guards resigned — two for reasons related to individuals using drugs in the library restrooms — the city has replaced two guards and is working on filling the third vacancy, Huntley said. The city works with Denver Metro Protective Services to employ security guards. The guards will receive additional training on medical exemptions to help the city regulate the use of the restrooms, Elliott said.

Farnan said of the people suspected of using meth in the library restrooms, those who were able to be identified have been suspended for 364 days. One person was arrested prior to the library closing. No other arrests occurred at the library between Dec. 9 and Jan. 5, according to the Boulder Police Department's police call data.

In 2022, the Boulder Public Library suspended 98 people for various periods of time for violating the facility's rules of conduct, according to data from the city. Of those suspensions, 19 were drug-related, and four other drug-related incidents were reported but did not result in suspensions. Farnan said the average number of suspensions is 80 per year, which decreased from 2017 to 2019, but is now working its way up again.

"Staff receive quite a lot of training on a lot of different things — how to recognize and how to work with various communities," Farnan said Thursday. "We've done an extensive training on working with the unhoused community, extensive training on de-escalation, extensive training on how to work with the mentally ill. But I can tell you that I have not had training on, and my staff don't have (training on) either, is how to deal with a person who is high on methamphetamines."