February 17, 2010

LIBRARY CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Final Minutes of Feb. 17, 2010

1. The meeting was called to order at 6:05 by Sue Cauthen, Chair

Members present: Ted Bamberger, Enne Braun, Sue Cauthen, Houston Garcia, Linda Guitron, Roger Kallen, Margaret Lee (arrived 6:50 PM), Neil Mills, Clarice Moody, Gladys Soto, Peter Warfield, Dan Weaver

Members absent: Lucille Cuttler, Jan Seeman (three vacancies)

The chair announced that Lucille has injured her back and may be out for a while. Members signed a get-well card to be sent to Lucille.

1. Linda Guitron was selected to take minutes.
2. Public Comment—Zack Stewart, a North Beach architect, made known his opinion against building a new North Beach branch library. He is in favor of renovating the present building. His stated reasons included: (1) “The new site is too small.” (2) “A new building will cost $8 million or more while restoration of the present building is estimated at approx. $3.5 million.” (3) “The present library is a landmark Appleton & Wolfard building.” (4) “Several citizens’ groups have challenged the building of a new North Beach branch library.”
3. Library Fy 10 Budget Cuts: Controller Figures

• Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian, and John Doidge, Chief Financial Officer of SFPL, shared a powerpoint presentation of the Library’s new budget, dated Feb. 4, 2010, which will be presented to the Library Commission for approval on Feb. 18. In the last budget there was a $6 million shortfall and now it is $4.8 million. Other points:
• Revenues are close to $76 million, and come primarily from property tax set-asides and the general fund.
• Labor costs are approximately 75% ($60 million) of the Library’s $78 million budget..
• Hours at all branches should remain the same for next year.
• The Library is cutting the books and materials.budget by $1.6 million, reducing it to the FY 08 level, dropping the technology budget $200,000 to $1.9 million, and making a $2.7 million staff reduction. Work weeks are to drop 2.5 hours to 37.5 hours, a 6.5% salary cut. .
• Five-year circulation trends show significant increases in circulation.
• The Library must budget for opening day collections for 8 branches.

Questions from LCAC Committee members:

Neil: Has heard on the news that hours at branches will be cut; true? Answer—No.

Roger: What about the mayor cutting many city employees’ hours to 37.5? Answer—If occurs, the budget proposal will have to be modified.

Sue: One commissioner has asked for cuts in the book budget; will it happen? Answer—No.

Peter: Branches should have alternate services while undergoing renovation. Why doesn’t the library have $50,000 for a rental space for Park Branch? Answer--The Library Commission designated a bookmobile, no temporary site for Park. Programs like story-time will be at alternate community sites. An alternate site is still a possibility if the community locates a free location. Branches get alternate sites only if accessibility is an issue, such as exists at Ortega and Bayview.

Gladys: Isn’t the reserve rather small? Answer—There will be about three months of further negotiations and the reserve may be increased.

Ted: Staff hours may be reduced by the mayor’s office; what about potential lay-offs for Library staff? Answer—The Library doesn’t know yet; they have to work with HR.

Houston: What are some of the miscellaneous sources of income? Answer—interest, rental income. The Fuhrman Trust is a gift which gives the Library rent from land and oil drilling rights. This money is dedicated to the Business Resources and Economics section on the 3^rd floor of Main.

Dan: How did the debt service cost go down? Answer—Because of a lower interest rate.

Enne: How about getting volunteers from the “Over 50” Group to help out the regular staff? Answer—It should help but right now the Library doesn’t have a volunteer coordinator. Part of that person’s job would be to support senior services.

• Michelle Allersma, Revenue Manager, from the Controller’s office gave a short presentation.. Michelle said we are lucky to be a city and country. San Francisco hasn’t been affected as much by the housing bubble; but, there is a lot of uncertainty about the amount of property tax receipts. Commercial values have gone way up but profits are falling. As a consequence, the City is receiving many appeals from businessmen to lower property tax. Five thousand businesses have appealed this year. The City has $60 million set aside to pay for the appeals if the City loses. In the past San Francisco has had about a 10% growth every year in property tax receipts. Next year it will only be about 2%. Additionally, all sales tax revenue is down. In the past, SF has relied heavily on sales of high-end luxury goods and rental of hotel rooms. John Doidge commented that the City has many diverse sources of revenue, but the Library does not. It is very reliant on property tax.

Public Comment:

Question from Henry Pan from Galileo Academy. : What about the rainy day fund? Answer: Most of it has been spent.

Zach Stewart said the Recreation & Park Department is virtually broke while SFPL is doing well because of its set-aside and has funds to restore such Appleton libraries as the Marina branch.

Question from Joan Wood of North Beach: Can Controller’s Office tell the Library how to spend its BLIP funds? She said management seems obsessed with wasteful spending, such as building new libraries instead of restoring them. Answer—no but the controller could do an audit if one was requested. Wood said she wanted to see the library’s funds used to restore and landmark the North Beach library, which was termed the most historically sound of any of the Appleton & Wolfard libraries.

1. Senior Services Resolution—Passage of the draft Senior Services Resolution was moved, seconded and passed 10-2.

Whereas, the LCAC has been working with San Francisco Public Library to provide services tailored to the needs of the Baby Boomer population; and

Whereas, it is critical to provide challenging library activities for active over-50 adults as well as the infirm and homebound:

Therefore be it resolved that:

The Library Citizens Advisory Committee commends Kathy Lawhun and the 50-Plus Task Force for developing a viable and growing program of library services for seniors.

At a time of economic austerity, San Francisco Public Library is offering seniors an organized, comprehensive .network of activities and assistance and doing so with extremely limited resources: i.e., a budget that is only 1% of the total SFPL budget.

YES: Bamberger, Braun, Cauthen, Garcia, Guitron, Kallen, Lee, Mills, Soto, Weaver

NO: Moody, Warfield

1. Bookmarks—Linda passed around the LCAC bookmarks. Ted asked that members visit their supervisors and hand-out the bookmarks. The chair thanked Linda, Houston and Margaret for all their work in getting the bookmarks produced. Sue will check on how soon the Public Library will be able to actually print and send out copies to the branches.
2. BLIP Oversight Resolution—After much discussion the members decided they needed additional information. Sue will, if possible, set up a presentation for the March meeting with representatives from the Controller’s Office and from GOBOC. Peter commented that he and Dan could do a presentation on the topic. Dan suggested that everyone go to their closest renovated branch and see how well the renovations are working. Clarice said this Committee could be effective in addressing space issues. Each member is directed to visit their local, renovated branch and write up something for the next meeting.

Public Comment: Joan Wood recommended a BLIP audit to rein in any wasteful spending. Zach Stewart said a previous con said SFPL was wasting money on the BLIP program.

IX. Redistribution Program—Ted passed out a flyer about the Library’s redistribution program. He said they needed help in distributing books culled from the collection. The books are weeded to make space for new titles and given to senior centers, hospitals, public schools, and other public entities.

X. Approval of November, December minutes and January notes—The minutes of November and December were approved.

YES: Bamberger, Braun, Cauthen, Garcia, Guitron, Kallen, Lee, Mills, Moody, Soto, Weaver

NO: Warfield

The January notes were corrected to read “The meeting was called to order at 6:03.” The paragraph on absences was removed. Weaver moved and Soto seconded a motion to approve the notes, which passed 11-1..

YES: Bamberger, Braun, Cauthen, Garcia, Guitron, Kallen, Lee, Mills, Moody, Soto, Weaver

NO: Warfield

• Adjournment—The meeting was adjourned at 8:20