Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus last year formed a task force to tackle the problem of homelessness in the area.

Recently, she formed a regional group to discuss affordable housing, how to maintain the stock of it in South King County, and close to home, what the City Council could do about land-use policies that perhaps prohibit micro-housing projects in Auburn.

Another common topic has been the source of income discrimination, and what preventative measures like Section 8 Housing can do about it at a time when too many landlords are refusing to rent to prospective tenants with vouchers.

But what had begun as Auburn Chief Administrative Officer Dana Hinman’s update to the City Council on progress made by the mayor’s homelessness task force took an unexpected byway when a councilman brought up the topic of homeless people hanging out at the Auburn Library.

Referring to conversations he’d had with friends grousing about seeing homeless people there, Councilman Bill Peloza asked whether the City could establish an anti-loitering policy in the area around the library.

No, because for one thing merely being at the library is not a crime, said Police Chief Bob Lee.

“We’re in constant contact with the library. Our bike officers are down there, they know all the players. But the library allows the people to be there. They will not trespass them. They’re not doing any harm. As we always say, ‘We can’t arrest ourselves out of it,’ ” Lee said.

“They are people,” Lee added. “It’s a place for them to gather. You can’t force them off of that property.”

“So, there’s nothing citizens can do?” Peloza asked.

Well, said Lee, while a number of people who were at the library to drop off their ballots in the lead-up to the recent election were upset about the present of homeless people there, Lee recalled, police were able to move some of the more aggressive among them along.

As for unhappy comments from the public, Lee continued, yes, police hear them too, “unsightly nuisance” being among the most common phrases.

Undeterred, Peloza pressed on.

“King County must have a loitering policy,” Peloza said. “We have a King County councilmember over this area. Can he help out?”

No, Backus said, the councilman cannot because the library system is a completely separate entity from King County government.

“So we can’t do anything about it?” Peloza said.

If a person is committing a crime, harassing others, doing the sorts of things that raise public safety concerns, Lee said, officers may take action. But, any individual who is merely sitting there, whether that be inside charging a phone or outside with a cart, if he or she is not causing a disturbance to anybody, that person has a right to be there, same as anyone else.

Peloza tried another tack.

“Well, I don’ t want to press you on this, but people are saying they don’t want to go to the library any more because of the conditions that they are confronted with when they enter the library,” Peloza said.

“We can’t tell the King County Library system what to do with the library,” Backus said. “And it’s not just at our library here, every library in the system is having similar issues. … Wherever those libraries are, it is the policy of the library system that they do not trespass individuals. They feel the library should be open to everyone.”

Hinman said the mayor’s task force is making progress.

“The good news is that the Auburn Library has a dedicated social worker on site now, and that hopefully will help with the overall issue (of homelessness),” Hinman said. “The chief and his patrols do a good job of moving it along. But in all cases, whether it’s a feeding program or it’s a known gathering place like the park or the library, we need to get services in there.

“Because really, that’s the ultimate goal. Yes, we need to protect our property, and we need to make our parks and things safer for people. But we also want to make sure we have better on-demand resources, which we know is probably the biggest weakness anywhere, and here especially, where our police officers may show up to deal with some loitering of transient folks,” Hinman said, “But we would also like most definitely to connect them with resources as well. So that we move them, not just out but up, and out of the situation they are in.”