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HomeMy WebLinkAbout15-City Administrator ~ITY OF SAN BEIC)JARDINO ~ To Mayor Evlyn Wilcox and Members of the Common Council Library Board Of Trustees -- Statement MEMORA~Uh-i Ct. (2) ~, From Steve Whitn~" "'~,1~ City Librarian'~ ~ Date .., . 0, August 3, 1987 . ;. ",.-. <? Subject .. Approved Date The Board Of Trustees of the San Bernardino Public Library met in a Special Meeting on August 3, 1987. and adopted the attached statement for transmittal to the Mayor and Common Council. Thank you for your continued support of the San Bernardino Public Library and the services it offers the community. ~ Steve Whitney, City Librarian cc. Library Board Of Trustees efry Oil rH.~~~" ~~ r \... ...... "-" , STATEMENT of Board of Trustees, San Bernardino Public Library It is with concern that the Board of Library Trustees noted the reaction of the Common Council to being apprised or reminded of the responsibilities and authority of the Trustees under the City Charter. We recognize that the Council has faced, and faces each year, a difficult challenge in apportioning available funds among the various departments and functions of the City. We know the Council has been doing its best to meet that challenge in a fair and responsible manner. We have sought to cooperate with the Council and intend to continue such cooperation with the Council in that and in every other respect. However, such cooperation does not extend to abandoning our responsibilities under the City Charter, including that of determining the program of library services and the proper alloca- tion of moneys available to the library so as best to meet that program and the library needs of the people of San Bernardino. The Trustees consider and deal with these needs and related problems on a month-in, month-out basis for several hours, and often many hours, each month. The Council, because of its many other duties, cannot devote this kind of time and attention to library affairs or to becoming acquainted with the details of library requirements and policies. Although meetings of the Trustees are open, of course, and although special invitations - 1- ( ',e.' ......,. , have often been extended to members of the Council to attend meetings of the Trustees, it is extremely rare that a Council member does so attend. None of the current Council members has ever attended a meeting of the Trustees. It is perfectly proper that Council members not attend such meetings unless they so wish, as the press of their other business is undoubtedly enormous, and the Council has no responsibilities in this area under the express provisions of the Charter. Without going into the historical reasons for establishing a separate independent Board of Library Trustees, it is easy to see the continuing wisdom of this. In the past, including the recent past, such wisdom has generally been recognized by the Council, the Council has generally been glad to have no respon- sibility in this area, and the Council has not sought to direct or second guess the jud~ment of the Board or suggest that the Board either has or should have no function. After all, five Library Trustees are not, in the metaphor of the moment, five potted plants. The Board anticipates that it will not be necessary to close any branches (or significantly change any hours) if its budgetary allotment from the City is $2,120,675.00. Certainly the Board does not want to close any branches. Some of the mem- bers of the Board have, as Board members, participated in the planning and review of construction of nearly everyone of the branches, spending countless hours in this process. Those facili- ties are truly near and dear to their hearts. But it does not serve the people well to have five open library buildings with no books on the shelves. It is already - 2- l' I... - '",=,' necessary to contemplate elimination of one-third of our magazine subscritpions, which will necessarily include the favorite magazines of some readers. The bookshelves in the very important children's section of the Norman Feldheym Central Library are often nearly bare because the number of books lags far behind the demand. Despite the tremendous increase in the number of of people in the community served by the library and the increase in circulation from 371,000 books in 1954 to 844,000 in 1986, our full-time staff has not increased by even one person and is often stretched to the breaking point to meet the hours we are now open. These represent problems of allocation of inadequate funds with which we wrestle on a year-around basis. As the President of our Board stated, we shall do our best to keep all branches open, but only if it can be done within our overall goal of best meeting the library needs of the public within the budget available. We intend to perform our duties as charged by the City Charter. We trust that the Council will not try to meet the financial problems of the community simply by killing the messenger who reminds them of the provisions of the City Charter, impetuously calling for heads to roll, or allo- eating to library services a punitively low amount, but will responsibly assist us to meet our responsibilities. Apparently some members of the Council have observed that the City Charter provision established in 1905 mandates that the City allocate at least $2,000 per year for library purposes. In order to give the City Council the prompt response it has requested, we shall not at this time research the question of what - 3- t"" i...~ "'-' ...... the total City budget may have been in 1905, but assume that the increase from $2,000 to $2,000,000 representing operating costs of the library is not disporportionate to the increase in the total budget of the City during that same period. That is probably irre- levant, however. The Charter does not mandate giving anything to any other department or branch of the City. But the Council has always recognized its responsibility to give every department of the City, as well as the library, an adequate amount insofar as available funds permit it. To do less would be total irrespon- sibility, and we are confident that our Council is a responsible one. The aims of the Common Council and the aims of the Board of Library Trustees are essentially identlcal -- each of us wants the best, within the limits of av~ilable resources, for the people of San Bernardino. We request that in pursuing these aims, the Common Council will respect the area of responsibilities and authority of the Library Board of Trustees. We assure you of the respect of the Board of Trustees for the Common Council, that the wishes of the Council will be given every consideration, and that the Board of Library Trustees will, as it has in the past, always keep uppermost in mind the best interests of the people of San Bernardino. - 4-