Multnomah County updates board on $456.6M library bond: apprenticeships, contractor mentorships and recent reopenings

Multnomah County’s Department of County Assets presented a quarterly update on the Multnomah County Library capital bond program, reporting stable portfolio performance, apprenticeship and diversity metrics that exceed program goals in several measures, and recent community reopenings and events.

Deputy Director Kate Vance said the program budget is $456,600,000, with modest recent revenue adjustments (about $900,000 in earned interest and $15,000 from Energy Trust incentives). She told the board the program used $750,000 from contingency/interest to align the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the St. John’s project; that appropriation will be carried into the FY26 budget cycle.

Maggie Chavez, supplier diversity officer, described implementation of the Regional Workforce Equity Agreement (RWEA) across the bond portfolio. Chavez said apprenticeship participation across the portfolio is 24.6 percent, with women at 14.8 percent and people of color at 39.8 percent—figures the presentation said represent roughly 3,411 workers—and noted very low recorded wage‑compliance violations (two BOLI violations covering about 50 hours of work out of approximately 408,000 hours tracked).

Communications staff highlighted recent community milestones: Fairview and Hillsdale reopened in August; Belmont had a groundbreaking in early October; Midland opened in late October and drew roughly 2,000 visitors on its first day; Troutdale reopened Nov. 1; and St. John’s groundbreaking was scheduled for mid‑November. County staff also described community engagement activities such as design workshops and construction site tours for local advocates.

The briefing included contractor perspectives: Fortis Construction described a small‑business mentorship arrangement with Viking Engineering & Construction that allowed Viking to participate in pre‑construction and to gain field experience ahead of its scope of work. Viking’s director described the partnership as a growth opportunity and noted the firm’s Gresham roots.

Commissioners asked about why smaller refresh projects are not subject to the same RWEA thresholds, how contingency and bond‑premium reserve decisions are made and reported to the board, and how remaining contingency ($~16M reported in slides) will be used as the program moves into its wind‑down phase. Staff explained owner project contingency management, quarterly reporting to the board and the PMO’s timeline for prioritizing remaining funds over the next two years.

What’s next: staff will continue quarterly reporting and said they will share updates on contingency allocations, FY26 appropriations for St. John’s, and continued RWEA compliance tracking.