Well, our long hot mildly-warm summer debating the City’s proposed library takeover is nearing its climax.
The City Council agenda for Tuesday, August 24, has a new business agenda item with lots of interesting details about the City’s proposal.
For starters, staff is recommending the City go forward with the takeover plan, and further recommends (just as I predicted) that the City hire Library Services & Systems, Incorporated, of Maryland, to manage the City’s three libraries at a cost of $3.1 million for FY 2011-2012. They propose that the City & LSSI takeover our libraries by July 1, 2011, a very aggressive timeline.
But before we get to that, let’s take a look at the agenda item:
- Staff repeats the same financials it has stated all summer long: Santa Clarita taxpayers paid $6.4 million into the COLA Library system in 2008-09, while COLA’s costs for running the libraries in the SCV amounted to $6.06 million in that same time period, a surplus for COLA amounting to over $400k. That’s not including property tax and special library tax revenue; staff says when you consider that, we’ve provided $14.4 million in surplus revenue to COLA from FY 2003-2004 through FY 2008-2009. (Contrast that with COLA Library Margaret Donnellan Todd’s KHTS editorial here)
- Staff says the Council should schedule a public hearing (apart from Tuesday’s Council meeting) on this matter
- As stated on the city’s library site, staff notes that using City-hired employees to run the library would cost substantially more than hiring an outside firm
- Total start-up costs (buying the Valencia & Newhall libraries, COLA’s collection, furniture, fixtures and equipment) for the City would be approximately $8 million
- The City says it will develop performance measurement standards to ensure “excellent” delivery of library services. That’s encouraging.
- The city says it will increase the hours the CC and Newhall branches are open by 10 hours per week, a 19% increase. It also says it would increase the amoount budgeted for books from $450,000 to $550,000. Not clear where they’re getting that $450,000 figure from (is that how much COLA spends each year for books in SCV?)
- The other big matter: Can SCVers outside the City’s boundaries borrow materials from Santa Clarita City Libraries? I don’t see that addressed at all in the agenda item.
- What about intra-library loans? Staff says the City could join the Southern California Library Cooperative, which would enable access to the collections of COLA, City of LA, Orange County, and other libraries. Staff says Santa Clarita would have access to “collections totaling over 29.6 million items.” Staff recommends that the City “charge no fee for patrons borrowing books through inter-library loans.”
- Perhaps reacting to some of the comments here on SCVTalk and some LTEs in the Signal, the staff defends LSSI, saying the 31% of the company’s Moorpark City Library staff has Master’s degree in library science. The agenda item says LSSI workers are “paid competitive salaries and benefit packages, typically including a matching 401k retirement program.” Staff has attached a White Paper written by the Riverside County library system detailing its experiences with LSSI
- The agenda item includes some (in my opinion) cheap shot quotes from newspaper articles about COLA cuts. But the item notes that no COLA cuts have affected the SCV branches, though it notes that COLA has told the City that once the new Newhall library opens, service cuts at Valencia and CC branches might need to be made
- The agenda item also quotes from SCVTalk, to my knowledge the first time SCVTalk has appeared in a City Council agenda
- The Local Control Angle: “Should the City Council decide to operate the City’s libraries, decisions that would be made locally would include the books and materials to be purchased, the employees to be hired, the special programs to be hosted, the fees to be charged, and the policies to be administered. All decisions relative to public library services in Santa Clarita would be specific to and for Santa Clarita.”
- Finally, the agenda item says the City Attorney has researched the COLA Librarian’s claim that the City would not be allowed to collect funds from a 1997 Library tax vote. “The City attorney has determined that upon withdrawal from the County Library, the City can levy and collect the special library tax approved by the voters of the City of Santa Clarita.”
Overall, there doesn’t seem to be a lot that’s new here, though you can tell that the City is sensitive to some of the criticism that’s been leveled against it since this matter arose in June, particularly on the matter of the professionalism of LSSI and on COLA Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd’s comments in The Signal, KHTS, and SCVTalk.
Speaking of LSSI: it doesn’t appear the City gave any real consideration to hiring its own librarian and library staff. As they note in the agenda, the proposed timeline is aggressive and problematic “because we would have to recruit and hire a City Librarian and other top library employees, a process which could take several months.” It also happens to be more expensive, as they note. So they recommend doing what we knew they would recommend all along: outsource the operation of our libraries to a private sector, for-profit company. They say LSSI can handle a 9 month transition timetable.
As for the RFP that appeared on the City’s website earlier this month, staff says that only LSSI responded. They reviewed LSSI’s proposal (which is not linked in the Agenda) and found it to be “comprehensive and responsive.” Staff says they’ve visited some LSSI-run libraries and interviewed staff there.
For SCVers outside the City limits, this agenda item can’t be good news. There’s no mention of what people in say, Stevenson Ranch, can expect once the City takes over the library. Over at SantaClaritaLibrary.com’s FAQ section, the City answers the question of non-resident library access with a simple and unconvincing “Yes.” (Also, the question is worded funny- “Can I still go to the City libraries? Of course you can!)
Along with the intra-library loan issue, I expect non-resident access to be one of the main topics at Tuesday’s Council meeting and the follow-up public meeting. We Santa Claritans may get enhanced service out of this proposal, but what about our neighbors in unincorporated County areas? Only Castaic’s library will remain part of the COLA system.
So after reviewing the agenda item, what are your thoughts?
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