Ventura Is on Its Own in Library Talks With County

Overriding the pleas of local library activists and a county official, the City Council on Monday voted unanimously to begin independent negotiations with the county to improve library services.

Ventura must decide whether it wants to form a city-run library system, continue to participate in a reorganized countywide library system, or consider some combination of the two.

Intent on quickly solving Ventura’s library crisis, City Manager Donna Landeros advised the council that Ventura postpone making a decision on whether to break away from the county library system until after negotiating with the county.

Instead, she recommended the city decline to join in a countywide Implementation Committee--which is being created to serve as the informal policy-making board for the Library Services Agency--and negotiate independently with the county.

Hoping to ensure that Ventura would have sufficient clout to deliver the quality of library service its citizens want, Landeros would report back to the council in 60 days about whether the city should remain within the county’s 16-branch system, which now includes Ventura’s three branches--the E.P. Foster, Wright and Avenue libraries.

Monday night’s council meeting culminated months of research about the operation of the city’s libraries. Beverley Simmons, a San Francisco-based library consultant, presented the council with a final draft of her assessment of the community’s library needs. The report, which includes a plan to enhance library service and operations, was written after three months of interviews with more than 250 residents.

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The report concluded that county management has left Ventura’s libraries underfunded, understaffed, lacking in technology and space, with complicated schedules and outdated materials. Simmons recommended that the city withdraw from the county system and hire a city librarian.

Landeros, who stopped short of endorsing Simmons’ proposal, has distilled the consultant’s report into a two-page document--called Library Vision for Ventura--which she plans to use in negotiating with the county.

Speaking against sitting on the Implementation Committee, Landeros argued that Ventura would be forced to negotiate on two fronts--with the county and with other cities. She has maintained that Ventura should have a weighted vote on the committee--one that adequately reflects its larger population. Ventura residents make up 25% of the county library system’s visitors, yet the city will probably have only one vote out of nine on the Implementation Committee.

Landeros also said she wants to ensure that revenue and taxes generated in Ventura stay within the community. Without guarantees that Ventura will get power, money and equity representation on the county committee, the city should not participate, she said.

“I strongly believe that participating in the committee is simply premature. More simply stated, it is the cart before the horse,” she said.

Her stand has provoked an outcry from library groups throughout the county, as well as from Supervisor Frank Schillo, a library advocate.

Schillo, along with members of Save our Libraries and the San Buenaventura Library Advisory Board, urged the council to stay involved in the county system. They besieged council members with phone calls before Monday’s meeting, and turned out in force.

“They are making a mistake by not being a part of the Implementation Committee,” Schillo said before the meeting. “They are limiting themselves.”

Schillo, who will sit on the Implementation Committee with Supervisor Cathy Long, said he does not want to negotiate with Ventura independently. Schillo said that contrary to the fears of Ventura officials--and despite the county’s slowness in resolving library problems so far--the Implementation Committee will move quickly.

“By March we will have specific recommendations that will include all the cities in the county--right now every one except Ventura is planning to take part,” he said.

Cherie Brant, a member of Save our Libraries, also attended Monday night’s meeting to encourage the city to attend the committee’s first meeting this Thursday.

“I can understand that the city may have some reservations. However, if they don’t participate and represent the city, the city will miss out,” she said.

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Before Monday’s meeting, most council members supported Landeros’ recommendations, but were undecided about whether Ventura should permanently abandon the county library system.

Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures, for one, sees clear advantages to sticking with the county system, such as sharing cataloging duties, resource libraries and permitting interlibrary loans.

Mayor Jack Tingstrom said he, too, would like to see the city work with the county and has gone to Sacramento to plead for more state money for the county library system. But he said he is growing tired of waiting around.

“I’m exasperated,” Tingstrom said. “And now that all the pressure is being brought about, you say you’re going to change. . . . I’m skeptical.”

Councilman Ray Di Guilio suggested his fellow council members be cautious, because if Ventura withdraws from the Library Services Agency it could possibly end the system.

“If Ventura does not stay in the system it could be the final blow . . . We want to be sensitive to that,” he said.