Deputy Mayor Marcia Smerican was the lone dissenter last week when the Solana Beach City Council voted 4-1, with Doug Sheres joining the majority, to chip in another $49,400 for the joint use library at Earl Warren Middle School. 

Smerican reluctantly had joined her colleagues last year in approving the contribution of $820,00 toward construction of the facility then estimated to cost $3.2 million. Since then the cost has increased to $3.6 million because bids came in higher than expected and re-engineering was required as the result of the discovery of underground aquifers at the site. 

Voting against the additional appropriation last week, Smerican expressed concern that the cost of the project will continue to go up. Dee Rich is one of the five trustees of the San Dieguito Union High School District who voted unanimously to contribute $540,000 for the12,500-square foot facility, which is intended to serve as a resource not only for the middle school students but for the community at large. Other sources of support for the joint project are the County of San Diego, which contributed $100,000; the state bond fund which doled out $960,000, and the Friends of the Solana Beach Library, which collected a remarkable $780,000 in donations. 
-- Donald H. Harrison