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Three top Pittsburgh officials asked City Council to delay action today on a proposal that would allow the Carnegie Library to lease, then buy, all of the city-owned branch libraries.

"It's very clear Andrew Carnegie is rolling over in his grave right now," Councilman Jim Ferlo said at a Monday morning news conference. "What he envisioned as a public trust for decades to come is about to end."

City Controller Tom Flaherty and Councilman Bob O'Connor joined the call for a public hearing before council takes a final vote on the proposed lease agreements, scheduled for today.

City officials and anxious residents worry that if the city no longer owns the 14 properties, the library could unilaterally shut down branches without public comment.

Glenn A. Walsh, a Mt. Washington resident who opposes selling city-owned branches to the library system, said he is concerned that older library branches in Hazelwood, Lawrenceville, the West End and Mt. Washington would be replaced with diminished, "storefront" branch libraries.

"There should be no option whatsoever for the Carnegie Library to buy those buildings," Walsh said.

Residents presented a copy of a petition with 38 signatures they submitted to council Friday, asking for the hearing. But Council Clerk Linda Johnson-Wasler declared the petition invalid and denied the request. Several residents said they plan to seek a court order to prevent council from taking a final vote today.

Residents filed the petition in response to an amendment introduced at last Wednesday's council meeting that would not only formalize a long-standing lease arrangement between the city and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, but would allow for the sale of city-owned branch libraries to the Carnegie for $100 each.

O'Connor and Ferlo were the only members to vote against the lease agreements. Alan Hertzberg was absent for the vote.

Once the library system bought the branches, it could resell them for profit, the councilmen and controller said. Flaherty values the branches at $12 million and the Main Library in Oakland, which the Carnegie owns, at $115 million.

Some residents said they are concerned that city neighborhoods will lose their century-old library buildings if a City Council vote paves the way for the Carnegie Library to sell its branches.

Carnegie Library Director Herb Elish, however, said library branches would be improved in every neighborhood. If some branches were closed, he said, improved facilities would open nearby.

He laid out a scenario in which the library system might decide to close buildings and open new facilities in the same neighborhoods. In those instances, the Carnegie would buy the existing branch building from the city for $100, close it and then give the city the option to buy the building back at market rates. That would allow the Carnegie to get more public money for the new branch, he said.

The city owns 13 of the branch libraries, and the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority owns one in East Liberty. The ownership of the three others — Allegheny Regional, the Hill District branch and the MLK Jr. Reading Center — couldn't be determined, according to Flaherty.

Elish said at last Wednesday's council meeting that the city would not give up any control that it now exerts. The library now can simply walk away from any branches it no longer wants to operate.

By formalizing its lease agreements, the library system could conduct its own bidding process and assure donors where their money will be used, Elish said. The library system intends to buy branch buildings before starting renovations, he said.

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