SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
LIBRARY ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
ACTION SUMMARY
Members
1st District Representative
Patricia Manuras
March 18, 2015
2nd District Representative
Claire B. VanBlaricum
Cachuma Lake Recreation Hall
2225 Highway 154
Santa Barbara, CA
3rd District Representative
Judith Dale
4th District Representative
Barbara Raggio
Meeting officially convened at 10:00 AM
5th District Representative
Laura Selken
Roll Call
City Representatives
Carpinteria Representative
Gaby Edwards
CSA 3 Representative
Pamela Holst
Buellton Representative
Dan Baumann
Goleta Representative
Margaret Connell
Guadalupe Representative
Amelia Villegas
Lompoc Representative
Alice Down
Santa Barbara Representative
VACANT
Santa Maria Representative
Maureen Theobald
Solvang Representative
Shirley Stacy
Library Directors
Lompoc Library Director
Jessica Cadiente
Santa Barbara Library Director
Irene Macias
Santa Maria Library Director
Mary Housel
Board of Supervisors
Representative
3rd District Supervisor
Doreen Farr
County Staff
ACEO & Interim
Community Services Director
Renée Bahl
Members Present: Supervisor Doreen Farr, Patricia Manurus, Claire B.
VanBlaricum, Barbara Raggio, Laura Selken, Gaby Edwards, Pamela Holst,
Judith Dale, Margaret Connell, Amelia Villegas, Maureen Theobald,
Shirley Stacy, Dan Baumann
Members Absent: Alice Down
Directors Present: Irene Macias, Mary Housel
Directors Absent: Jessica Cadiente
County Staff Present: Elizabeth Farnum, Renée Bahl, Evangeline
Benchek, Marie Gensler
ADMINISTRATIVE AGENDA
I.
Meeting Called to Order: by Chair, Supervisor Doreen Farr.
II.
Roll Call: each person called out their names introducing themselves.
III.
Public Comment: Public Comment period is set aside to allow public testimony
on items not on today’s agenda. The time allocated to each speaker will be set at the
discretion of the Chair.
IV.
Approval of Minutes of December 17, 2014:
Mary Housel submitted a revision to clarify 3rd paragraph on Page 5,
regarding Zone 3 to read as follows:
Housel: Took a different approach – Has maintained historical
allocations for branches and extension services dating prior to her start
with the library. Incremental adjustments made each year. County
allocations are roughly based on population x per capita (see
attachment). Extension Services is a support unit to the branches and is
funded by a portion of branch allocation. Some communities like
Administrative Professional
Evangeline Benchek
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Cuyama needs a bit more than the per capita allocation, which barely funds 11 hours/week. The
highlighted amount of $51,856 is 16% and is regarded as administrative overhead for branch services
provided by main library.
Irene Macias made a correction on page 3 regarding Zone 1, Paragraph 1: to add the word “Goleta”
where it states, “In regard to Central Library, we allocate everything west of the boundary of city of
Santa Barbara to Goleta. Then strike the words: “to the main S.B. Central Library,” and to conclude
this sentence and keeping the words, “and everything north of the boundary to Goleta Beach.”
On Page 3, Paragraph 2 correction to last sentence where it states, “Regarding Central Library, the 9%”
to insert the words, “Administrative Fee from non-city libraries,” and strike the word, “goes,” then to
conclude this sentence, keep the words, “into the General Fund.”
On Page 3, Paragraph 3 to strike the last four words in the sentence, “take over Library expenditures”
and insert the words, “renew or terminate it’s contract with City of Santa Barbara for Library Services.
Barbara Raggio made a correction to Page 4, Paragraph 6 to strike the last sentence, “Regardless of
whether they live in Lompoc most will go to Buellton.”
Shirley Stacy made a correction to Page 4, the very last sentence should replace the word, “serving,”
with the word, “serve.”
Action: A motion was made by Margaret McConnell and seconded by Judith Dale to
approve the minutes of December 17, 2014 with all corrections. All approved. Motion passed.
STANDARD AGENDA
1. Black Gold Budget – Receive and File
Maureen Theobald, Santa Maria Representative gave a PowerPoint Presentation, please see
attached.
Maureen Theobald informs the LAC that there is a new State Librarian, Greg Lucas, has a
background in journalism, he also hosts a blog that talks about political issues, and is friends with
Governor Brown. We are hoping his contacts with the State Legislature will help encourage
funding in support of Libraries.
Theobald also encourages attending the City Council Meetings which are open to the public and
meets on the 4th Friday of every month, in rotation between Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Goleta.
Recommendation: Supervisor Farr recommends writing a letter to formally invite Mr. Lucas to
visit the Board of Supervisors and to take this opportunity to focus on Libraries and honor him as
the new State Librarian. This letter could describe the importance of the Black Gold
System, express the need and discuss previous contacts he may have had in Santa Barbara. Attach
the Value of Libraries Statement to the letter and encourage him to visit Santa Barbara County.
2. Funding and Budget - Zone 1, 2 and 3 – Receive and File
Preliminary budgets received and presented by Directors of Zone 1 & Zone 3. Director of Zone 2
was absent and unavailable to discuss but Zone 2 preliminary budgets were distributed in advance to
Committee members.
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Zone 1: Irene Macias describes how Carpinteria Library reserves have dwindled so she has created
budgets for the next (3) years to utilize the reserves that are remaining; and will ultimately have to
reduce service from the current 45 hrs. 6 days/week to 37.5 hrs. 5 days/week.
Claire VanBlaricum asked out of CS3/Goleta tax “formally Measure L;” Does Goleta give
separately from the General Fund? Margaret Ester answers, “There is no General Fund Contribution
from Goleta.”
Irene Macias describes that Montecito reserves are running out and will reduce hours from 45 hrs. 6
days/ week to 32 hrs. 5 days/week.
Judith Dale comments that Solvang Library also serves as a type of Visitors Bureau and should be
considered when addressing City Council Members. Supervisor Farr wants Shirley Stacy to verify
whether or not the Wi-Fi extends over the campsite parking lot.
Zone 3: Mary Housel explains Cuyama is quite small and costs more to run and operate than what
the per capita revenues can support. In the last three years as Director she has basically kept to the
budgets based on how her predecessors allocated funding, and the City of Santa Maria has had her
hold budgets at a status quo throughout the branches.
In regards to Guadalupe, there are more revenues than expenditures which is the traditional pattern
with this branch. The City of Guadalupe contributes $20,000 towards the rent, which has gone up
slightly, but was able to get a tax-free rebate from the County because it’s used as a library, so it
makes up for close to the $20,000.
We also have an Extension Services fund which serves as a support system to help with the
branches; so if there is anything in the black I roll it over and place it into Extension Services sheet
as revenue.
Barbara Raggio asks why is there such a dramatic difference in salaries throughout all of the
branches?
Macias answers that we have different classifications and different pay scales. Also, it has always
been our policy to have two people in the building during business hours and which Santa Maria and
Lompoc don’t do.
Housel: Guadalupe, Cuyama and Los Alamos have only one person.
Macias: At Solvang, Carpinteria, and Montecito, there is a full-time person at a higher-level
classification and does programming and oversees the branch. The other two jurisdictions have
some oversight from the main branches. But we allow the Branch Supervisors to have some
oversight because of their higher classification.
Mary Housel: Santa Maria really didn’t do programs so we had them allocate some time to do
programs at the branches, we have (4) a year at Orcutt and Guadalupe and (2) at Cuyama and Los
Alamos. There is a Summer Reading Program at all the branches. The Central Library book
selectors make the purchases for our branches. We staff at low-level almost at minimum wage.
There are no professional librarians at any of our branches.
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Los Alamos is staffed similar to Cuyama and will be at 12-14 hrs./week. Friends support the
utilities, County pays telephones and insurance; City IT Department has a savings up to every 5
years, serves as a computer replacement fund.
Orcutt has quite a difference between revenue and expenditures and this is a historical allocation that
is reflected here. We have (3) clerical, part-time staff members there. It is our busiest, most viable
branch as far as population. Rent is high; we pay $4597/month for the facility. It would be great to
move into a County Building.
Santa Maria receives Measure U money which now supports (8) more hours a week. When we lost
State funding we went from 58-hours/week and dropped down to 48-hours/week so we opened up
more nights and mornings with this money; but there is a sense that when it runs out not sure what
we’ll do. Regarding Black Gold fee, we charge only $25,000 to the branches and Santa Maria kicks
in the rest and it’s written into Santa Maria’s budget. Bottom line is that we are at a deficit. At the
beginning of the year we had (12) part-time vacant positions and were not allowed to fill them.
We’ve finally been given permission to fill these positions and have been slowly doing so.
Thankfully the City has agreed to give $100,000 more to help with our deficit but I’m constantly
being told to find more funding. And all I can really do is maybe raise some fees/fines but this
really isn’t a revenue producing type of department.
Claire VanBlaricum: The Measure U money why is it listed on revenue and expenditures?
Mary Housel: Because we are spending it out towards staffing and it isn’t included into into the
salaries amount. Claire recommends making it clearer because the way it is shown here makes it
somewhat confusing.
RECOMMENDATION: Supervisor Farr recommends that these values should accurately reflect
the activity at each branch.
She states: I believe you said that Santa Maria subsidizes the Black Gold cost to the smaller
branches. I want to see what is extra that is not being covered in this transfer. I want to see the true
number to operate each of the individual branches. For instance, in the event that they were to peel
off to be their own library what does it really cost to run that operation?
The City is contributing more to a portion of the areas that are within the City’s jurisdiction. But the
County gives a per capita based on population to everybody regardless if they are in the City or a
County. So there is an argument to be made here that in these unincorporated areas, the County still
has to contribute and acts just like their City, maybe since the City contributes more on top of their
per capita within their City’s jurisdiction, maybe the County then can contribute more to these
unincorporated branches to help offset some of these negative figures.
In reference to the Extension Services sheet, wondering if there is a way that we can decode some of
what these bare bones numbers are because it’s difficult for me to try to make the argument because
you’re being so fair to some of these unincorporated areas you’re responsible for and plugging into
the areas that really don’t have the funding in their budgets for some of the services with these
Extension Services transfers.
Housel: Since I started 3 years ago, we’ve been keeping to the templates that the City has provided
for us which includes the Extension Services sheet.
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Macias: With Zone 1, we have done away with the Extension Services sheet and have not included
it in our budgets for a number of years now.
Dan Baumann: Well for instance, I think if I were sitting in the Guadalupe City Council and see that
$17,000 surplus - I would think well maybe they don’t really need our $20,000 so you do run the
risk of showing that as a positive number like that. My basic comment is in all of these budgets, I
see they’re using all of these reserve funds but I don’t see any indications of what these reserve
figures are.
Judith Dale: I might be able to help Dan because I did sit on the Lompoc Board of Trustees, and as
you all may or may not know is that Lompoc is going from an autonomous organization and they
are now going to be moving under the City of Lompoc as Santa Barbara and Santa Maria have. I
see that as a positive thing but it is causing some ripples because it’s a change in administration to
say the least. So it’s going to be interesting with Lompoc becoming a City Dept., maybe it should
serve as a catalyst should Buellton move into Zone 1. Having been a Trustee for the last (3) years I
can speak a little bit if you have some questions on Lompoc, Buellton and Village. I hate to speak
for Jessica, but the big “bugaboo” right now is how to divvy up County money between Lompoc
and Village.
Baumann: If you look at Buellton, the increase from FY14-15 to FY15-16 is salaries which go up
showing an increase of about 50% - is that due to the reclassification of jobs?
Dale: Right, because the City of Lompoc is saying if you want to become a City Dept. and if
Buellton stays in the Lompoc District you have to abide by our personnel policies. So Buellton’s
costs go up substantially. That’s been a stumbling block for Buellton to be united with Solvang
because of the salary differences. But now those differences are going away, or going to be anyway
so you should really seriously consider if Buellton moves into Zone 1.
Laura Selkin: I just have a one question, about that Chevron Lease, what is that?
Renée Bahl will follow up with Jessica Cadiente to ask about what that is.
3. Draft Library Agreement 2015-16 - For Discussion
Renée Bahl: This is just a draft agreement which essentially was last year’s agreement with the
dollar amounts highlighted because we don’t exactly know what they are and I’m working with the
Library Directors on the Maintenance portion of it to be sure that’s clear. So really it’s going to
depend on the allocation and whether there are any changes and to make sure of how that money is
allocated.
4. Zone Boundary – For Discussion
Supervisor Farr: Discussion about changing the boundaries between Zone 1 and Zone 2, and
whether Buellton would become part of Zone 1. Years ago, I entertained the idea of creating a new
zone for these store front libraries of Santa Ynez, Los Olivos as well as Buellton and Solvang
becoming their own sort of Library District but there was some opposition and a lot of issues. So it’s
really not a new issue overall because of the tight connection between the Solvang and Buellton
libraries. Jessica spoke to me prior to her accident and she felt pretty strongly that Buellton going
into Zone 1 was a good idea.
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She talked about the issues especially with the salary disparities is going to be different now with the
Lompoc Branch going into the City, it was something that the City thought was a good idea, and now
with the County and the Library Advisory Committee certainly now is the time to talk about that. So
exactly where would that boundary move to? Because right now it’s right on 101 except from
Buellton – that’s a matter that Renée would have to look at from a County perspective.
Dan, has the Council had a chance to talk about this? We have a letter from the City Manager that
states that they are cautiously supportive of it, keeping certain things in mind.
Baumann: The Council has not discussed this yet, but Jessica, Mark and Judith have discussed
options. After that meeting Mark issued this letter showing some support for it; particularly with
these changes to the Lompoc System. The feeling is to make the timing appropriate, I haven’t quite
spoke with Jessica directly on it but she’s anxious about it because of the big change in FY 15-16
which is soon or can maybe coincide with that timing.
There are some impacts to staffing and from my understanding and position here, I agree with and
share some concerns for the dedicated staff that have been there serving with their hearts for the last
7 or 8 years, and it would be nice to figure out some way to accommodate them. But in terms of the
overall services and library organization I think we all support the move to Zone 1.
Supervisor Farr: Looking at the Buellton Letter from the City Manager, the first concern is that the
Buellton Branch will stay in place. The next concern is maintaining current days and hours of
operation. The last thing has to do with staff which needs further consideration because of
classification issues and whether the current staff there now will be able to continue or may be
replaced with qualified City staffing.
Irene Macias: To address the issue of staffing the person in charge there now is a Clerk 3. And we
generally have a Senior Library Technicians so that’s definitely a higher level of classification and
we’re a Civil Service Organization so we’d have to go through the Civil Service process to
determine the classification levels that would work there. So I’d like to say that I think it’s a good
idea for those two libraries to be in the same zones and to have the same policies and potentially
share staff, which makes perfect sense because they are just 3-miles apart. So we compared what
Jessica has at Buellton in classifications and what salaries are and I looked at Solvang’s and based
on our current policies, classifications and based on that model we have at Solvang, we could not
continue with (47) hours at Buellton. But we’ve had several discussions and considered looking at
different scenarios and like I said, we always have (2) people staffed in the building whenever it’s
open. We would have to move away from that model if we want to maximize hours at Buellton.
We can look at various options but it would be a great benefit to administer and combine the Zones
because the public uses both libraries and we can make good use of efficiencies and share
programming. I think based on the budget we can accommodate Buellton at (32) hours, similar to
Solvang and Carpinteria but that’s with two people on staff during open hours. If we move away
from that model we can reduce down to one staffed and lengthen the open hours of operation and
maybe look at using the expertise of Kerry McKennen, to help with programming. We’re looking at
trying to provide a higher level of service to the residents of the valley, and hope to equalize it in
some way. But from the County’s perspective we’d have to consider where you would draw the
boundaries and how you would determine the service population for each of the libraries? Currently
we have 19,000 in Solvang and approx. 5000 in Buellton. So if this is the driver for bringing
Buellton into Zone 1, then how would you allocate for per capita?
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Margaret Ester: For Montecito and Carpinteria we have a pilot program where we have one
Supervisor that oversees both locations and helps to maintain figures closer to the budgets so that’s
what we would look at. Having one benefitted position as in the Solvang location now, possibly
overseeing the two locations.
Macias: We’d also have to look at changing the model to having only one person at the building in
order to maximize the hours. We couldn’t continue with having two people in the building with this
budget.
Supervisor Farr: I’ve put together a kind of cheat sheet so the cons on it right now you have 47-hrs.,
which could go down to 32-hrs. but could be amended again with staffing policies and classification
levels – we don’t really know that that final number is between 32 and 47 but can work it back up as
close as possible. It would also require a change in staffing as well as a change in per capita
funding. The benefits are more professional staffing, equalizing programming and shared oversight
to help with cost and administration. Now looking at the County side we have to talk about where
to draw those boundaries. Right now we’re at Campbell Road, so I don’t know if it really takes
anything away from Lompoc. And back to the City’s letter, I don’t think the location will change
so that’s not a problem. The hours well, there is a big question there but we can work towards
getting close to, and eventually be at 47 hours. The possible staffing change becomes a public
relations issue now too. But we’ll be providing a higher level of service to the community so, once
they understand the reasons and see the changes in operation, it might not really continue to be a
problem.
Irene Macias: I just want to make a correction that it was rumored as fact that we would take union
members to fill these positions but that is incorrect. It is an open recruitment anyone can apply.
Supervisor Farr: We are coming across a time crunch whether to meet more often to help move this
issue forward. Could we have a meeting towards end of April to allow Jessica and Irene to see what
this budget would look like? To plan to get going with this idea by May and hopefully to be
calendared into City Council Agenda for Solvang and possibly Buellton, which would allow for
more public participation. Then by June, we’d know if we need to have some modification. I know
it would be a little late because of the timing where the County is asking for everyone to turn in your
budgets but I think for this we’ll have to just go with maybe having to file amendments.
Recommendation: For Irene Macias and Jessica Cadiente to form two budget scenarios. The first
if they stay within the existing status quo, and the second budget describes if Buellton moves into
Zone 1. The LAC will meet again on Wednesday, April 29th, 10 – 12 noon to specifically focus on
status quo verses what staffing would look like, zoning boundaries, etc.
5. Budget Review for the City of Goleta – For Presentation
Heidi Aten, City of Goleta Senior Management Analyst, City of Goleta was absent and therefore
unable to present.
6. Value of Community Libraries Statement – For Vote
Recommendation: That the Library Advisory Committee approve a statement about the value of
community Libraries.
Shirley Stacy would like the Library Statement in two paragraphs. The 2nd paragraph to start at
“The transformation of our public libraries…”
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ACTION: Motion was made to approve the Value of Community Libraries Statement by
Judith Dale, and seconded by Gaby Edwards, all move to approve. Motion passed.
7. Library Directors Zone Updates – Receive and File
i. Zone 1 – Irene Macias
ii. Zone 2 – Jessica Cadiente
iii. Zone 3 – Mary Housel
8. Member Reports/Roundtable Discussions:
Library Advisory Committee Members may present brief reports on library issues, such as seminars, meetings,
events and literature that would be of interest to the public and/or Committee, as a whole.
Adjourned at 12:10 PM
The next Library Advisory Committee Meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 from
10:00AM - Noon at the Cachuma Lake Recreation Hall, 2225 Highway 154, Santa Barbara, CA.
To place an item on the agenda, please contact Marie Gensler at (805) 568-2467 at least two weeks
prior to the scheduled meeting date.
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» Santa Barbara County
˃ Lompoc Public Library System
˃ Santa Barbara Public Library
˃ Santa Maria Public Library
» San Luis Obispo County
˃ San Luis Obispo County Library
˃ Paso Robles Public Library
» Ventura County
˃ Blanchard/Santa Paula Community Library
» Black Gold provides:
˃
˃
˃
˃
˃
˃
˃
Shared catalog for all members with over 1 million items;
Behind the scenes cataloging and administration;
Delivery among libraries three days a week;
Downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, magazines and streaming films;
Telecommunications network connecting all libraries together;
Public Internet at all branches;
Grant writing for system-wide projects.
» FY 2015-16
˃ State funds - $78,389 (anticipated)
˃ Members - $1,290,955
» 2014-15 – new contribution formula was
agreed upon by members, includes 3
components:
˃ Base fee
˃ ATS (computer system)
˃ Shared eContent and subscriptions
˃ Base fee –
+ 15% of everything
+ In 2015-16, total Black Gold cost is $1,290,995
+ 15% of total cost is $148,843
+ Each member pays base fee of $24,807
» Automation and Technical Services (ATS)
is largest component of budget:
˃ $992,290 in 2015-16
˃ Determined by Resources (50%) and Use (50%)
» Resources
˃ Number of patrons in system
˃ Number of devices connected to network
(staff computers, printers, public
workstations, etc.)
» Use
˃ Print and electronic circulation
» eContent and Subscriptions
˃ Shared electronic content such as OverDrive, Enki, Zinio, Indieflix
˃ Budget in 2015-16 is $298,705
˃ Jurisdiction cost determined by circulation
Base
ATS
eContent
Total
Lompoc
$24,807
$75,874
$21,867
$122,548
Santa Barbara
$24,807
$247,952
$91,170
$365,929
Santa Maria
$24,807
$129,245
$34,052
$188,104
Base
ATS
eContent
Total
Blanchard/
Santa Paula
$24,807
$24,779
$4,970
$54,556
Paso Robles
$24,807
$50,243
$17,447
$92,497
San Luis Obispo
$24,807
$313,354
$129,198
$467,360
»Questions?