Dartmouth proposes library MAR change

Dartmouth has suggested changes to the Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR) funding formula used by the state Board of Libraries when considering library certification. This letter from Mr. Cressman to the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) lays out the changes that are proposed.
The MMA sent the email, and will follow up with a letter, to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance asking that the proposal to change the Library Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR) be included ...


... in House 1 (the Governor's budget) or any municipal relief bill that the governor might file this month.
With many municipalities struggling with their budgets, a substantial number of cities and towns are in a similar circumstance. The funding problem is actually sort of a "down in the weeds" issue, but in a nutshell, the yearly MAR is the average of the prior three years appropriations or the MAR whichever is higher raised by 2.5%. The result is that once a town does not achieve the MAR, that town must play catch up which is difficult or impossible in the current environment. Click here to read on!

Faunce Corner - Route 6 congestion

At last night's Select Board meeting, we heard from representatives of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) on a study which they conducted to relieve congestion in the Faunce Corner Road and Route 6 corridors.
Specifically, SRPEDD recommended realignment of Tucker Road across from the terminus of Hathaway Road on Route 6. You can link to the report here.
The plan calls for a traffic light to be installed at the newly created intersection and removal of the light at Tucker Road. This alignment will allow travelers from Hathaway Road to turn onto Route 6 at a light and will help relieve traffic which backs up on Route 6 from the Tucker Road light into the intersection with Faunce Corner Road, blocking travelers from Old Westport Road and those traveling along Route 6. It will also reduce the number of accidents at Tucker Road and Hathaway Road which are dangerous intersections with frequent collisions.
The Select Board decided to hold a public hearing ...
... on the plan at our June 7th meeting. The proposal will be expensive and will require taking of some lands and buildings. One possibility to reduce the expense would be to route the realignment of Tucker Road through the North Dartmouth Library property. This would require that the library be demolished to make way for the roadway.
I support this proposal and would like to see it done. The traffic snarls at Route 6 and Faunce Corner Road and the accidents are going to get worse and soon. Traffic is already to the point where the backups occur almost daily with normal traffic and are horrendous from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The net result is that it makes the area less attractive to business because travelers are going to avoid having to deal with it and go elsewhere.
It is not that I do not want a library in North Dartmouth, I do. But given the choice between gridlock and the present library, I would choose the new road. There was a proposal a few years ago to build a new library building on Cross Road on land adjacent to Potter School. The town owns the land. I would like to see that done along with the road realignment. I see the building as a multi-use facility with a library, senior center, and perhaps a police substation. There is plenty of room on the site. Why not have a playground there as well?
If you would like to put your two cents worth in at the public hearing, please attend the Select Board meeting on June 7th.
See you there.
Click here to read on!

New Library Director, Director of Develpoment hired.

At tonight's Select Board meeting, The Library Board of Trustees announced that they have hired a new Director of the Dartmouth Public Library, Jennifer Inglis. Ms. Inglis will assume her duties on April 22nd.
Also at tonight's meeting, Executive Administrator David Cressman announced the hiring of a Director Of Development, Deborah Melino-Wender. Ms. Melino-Wender will assist other departments in writing grants and was also appointed as Select Board representative to SRPEDD, the Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District.
In other business, the Select Board endorsed a request by Town Clerk Lynn Medeiros for purchase of new document management software. Ms.Medeiros also addressed the need for additional staffing in the Clerk's office, While expressing sympathy for the dearth of staff, the Select Board stopped short of endorsing adding staff citing the need to look at the budget overall to ensure the affordability of added staff.
The Select Board voted to place an article on the Town Meeting warrant removing term limits for members of the Waterways Commission and to place an article adding a municipal wind turbine bylaw to the zoning bylaws. The Waterways Commission bylaw limits members to two consecutive terms. The new wind turbine bylaw would allow wind turbines, which meet all the criteria set out in the commercial wind turbine bylaw, on municipal lands as an as of right use (i.e the installation would not require a Special Permit). I will post the language of the proposed bylaw in the near future. The Planning Board will be asked to weigh in with their evaluation of the new bylaw before Town Meeting.
The Select Board appointed Selectman Mike Watson and Executive Administrator David Cressman to the Charter Review Commission ...

... and will ask the Finance Committee, School Committee, Planning Board and Town Meeting Moderator for appointments to the nine member body. Selectman Joe Michaud and Mr. Cressman were appointed to the Bylaw Review Committee. The Town Meeting Moderator will appoint two Town Meeting members and Town Clerk Lynn Medeiros will serve on that committee. The Town Charter section on the Charter and Bylaw Review can be found at this link. Contact Moderator Steve Sharek if you would like to serve on either of these two reviews. His contact information can be found in this post.
This evening was newly elected Board member Shawn McDonald's first meeting on the Board. Thank you for nominating me to be chair. Thank you to the other board members for electing me as chair. I am honored and will do my best to live up to your confidence.
Click here to read on!

Library Director search nears completion

The deadline for applicants for our new library director is Februaury 28th. Several candidates have been considered from among those that have already applied. The Library Board of Trustees will be interviewing the finalists from the selection process on Tuesday, March 2nd.
A subcommittee has been narrowing down ...

... the list of applicants and will present a few to the Trustees for their final selection.
Click here to read on!

Dartmouth Library receives certification (with reservations)

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners has announced a list of municipalities that sought waivers for the FY2010 Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR) and will receive the certification that is required for state aid to libraries. Dartmouth was one of 96 communities that sought and received such a waiver although our town was one of four whose waiver was granted with reservation. The state Board considers a waiver with reservation to indicate that a significant gap exists between library funding and funding of other departments.
Only the Town of Hull had their waiver request rejected and lost certification.
One consequence of state certification is that the towns can continue to participate in the state's SAILS inter-library loan program. The amount of state aid that is provided in modest about $40,000 but the ability to access the collections across the state is valuable. Given the financial strains faced by municipalities ...

... across the Commnnwealth, it is likely that funding will continue to be an issue for a few years.

I posted about the certification requirements here back in 2008. If the 96 towns who were not able to meet the commissioners requirements formed their own inter-library lending association, or joined one other than SAILS, I think that the state might decide to change their requirements. Back when I wrote the linked article in 2008, there was some thought of privatizing library services. I am still not convinced that privatization would be a bad thing. I am certain that the state's funding requirements are going to be a problem for Dartmouth in 2011 and beyond. Make no mistake, the Dartmouth Library Trustees are doing the best that they can in a difficult situation but the deck is stacked against them. The funding requirements do not consider cost saving measures that may be taken. They require increased spending year over year.
Click here to read on!

Library play tonight

The library will have a murder mystery dinner theater tonight. I will be playing the part of Sir Arthur Conan Hoyle in the production. The place is Southworth Library, time 6:30 PM. Tickets are $30 and available at the door. See you there?

My only previous acting experience was in the 8th grade production of Lil' Abner in which I had one line as the "government man" I still remember it, I think. "Well madame, we certainly wouldn't bomb any community that made a necessary contribution to society" Missed my cue to go on stage and everyone stood around until I could be shoved out there. Break a leg!
Click here to read on!

Lots of news this morning!

The Standard Times print edition and website has news this morning that the Library Board of Directors has decided not to renew the contract of the Library Director and also in this article on the decision, and that Mr. Miller has withdrawn from the Select Board race for Diane Gilbert's seat as reported on Curt Brown's blog. That leaves Ms. Gilbert, who is running for re-election and Ms. Stone as candidates.
The op-ed page had a letter from Mr. Sedgewick and a letter from Ms. Morris-Grime criticizing the Select Board. Mr Sedwick feels the Select Board ...

... has failed to set a direction for the town. I would maintain that the board has done so and offer as examples the two items he singles out, non-renewal of the Executive Administrator's contract and the decision not to fund the Youth Advocate position. He may disagree with those decisions but they do represent policy decisions by the board.

Click here to read on!

Library trustee pens opinion letter

Ms. Lorraine Carey has a letter to the editor in today's Standard Times here Ms. Carey is on the Dartmouth Library Board of Trustees. I am not sure what facts, positive suggestions or constructive criticism that she is looking for. What has been asked ...

... by the Select Board and Finance Committee is that the Library Board of Trustees issue a Request For Proposal (RFP) to LSSI and any other interested parties to determine if contracting out library services could save the town money. We don't know what the result of that RFP would be, so we lack the facts needed to make a decision on whether or not contracting out the services is a viable option or not. THe Board of Trustees had apparently made the decision that it is not. I submit that they don't have enough information to determine that without issuing the RFP.
Curt Brown also had a brief article in today's paper that the Trustees met in executive session to discuss non-union contracts.
Click here to read on!

State library database

The state database on all things library can be found at this link. Mr Lynam has distilled some of the data into a comparison file which you can find hereMS Excel format. The headings on Mr. Lynam's report are somewhat cryptic. Look at the other sheets ...

... for definitions to decipher the headers.
I have been posting less frequently lately because I am buried at work. I will have a series of posts soon laying out the saga of the perpetual contracts given to some town employees.
Click here to read on!

Library department people costs

I have been getting a lot of requests in comments to provide the breakdown on personnel costs in the Dartmouth Public Library.
Mr. Friedman of the Finance Committee wrote about the library in an opinion letter in the Standard Times today. Mr Friedman notes that the top two earners in the department combined make over $150K. That amount is more than 15% of the total budget. He also points out that the Trustees gave the Director a contract in excess of the appropriation by Town Meeting.
When the Town Meeting did not appropriate the increase, the Trustees paid it from grant money. I don't think that grant money may counted as her salary. Now the Trustees are asking, in FY10, for a consolidation (in their word) which rolls the grant into the appropriation for the Director salary. They can not contract with the Director in excess of the appropriation (see here). I feel that the grant is not a salary increase and it is improper to call it so.
But back to the people costs, I don't have them in electronic file...

...format so I'll type them out here(these are the FY10 or next year's request which reflect a 15% reduction in the total budget as asked by the Budget Director),
Position_____________Salary/wage______ hrs/wk
Library Director_____________________$85,651.69___________40
Assistant Director__________________ $70,520.46___________40
Professional Librarian X 2______________ $54,631.06_______40
Administrative Clerk_________________$51,470.45___________40
Library Associate X 2____________________$41,752,37________35
Pre-professional Library Assistant X 2___$39,020.89_______35
Pre-professional Library Assistant___$35,665.67___________35
Library Assistant____________________$29,399.75___________35
Library Assistant ___________________$29,030.78___________35
Substitutes__________________________$37,116.00
Pages________________________________$15,261.90
Custodian(full time)_________________$44,593.92___________40
Custodian(part time)_________________$18,754.42__________ 18

The total people cost of library services is $696,547.92 or about 79% of the $873,350.66 budget request. By contrast, the library materials budget is $54,767.75
Click here to read on!

Proposed Town Website Guidelines

The Select Board and Executive Adminstrator have asked the library department to assist in improving the town website. To that end, the library formed a Website Development Committee which has recommneded a policy guideline for the town's website. The cover letter from the library and policy statement can be found here.
I think that the committee has done a good job ...

... and I commend them for their efforts.
Although it is not on the agenda for Monday if the opportunity arises for discussion of and adoption of the guideline, I will bring it before the Select Board. If not, then I will ask that it be on the next meetings agenda.
Click here to read on!

Library has no choice but to reduce costs

The Standard Times had a couple of items today about the Dartmouth Library. See op-ed here and Curt Brown's article here. The jist of the two is that the Library Board of Trustees and administration do not want to look at (note I said look at) contracting out library services.
A Library Trustee and the Administrator say in the article,

"Murphy-Aisenberg and Medeiros said the library has instituted ...

... measures to cut costs and it is aggressively pursuing fundraising efforts to raise revenue."

It is good that they are agressively cutting costs and raising funds because the library budget is likely to be cut by several hundred thousand dollars for FY10 and probably again in FY11. So the library has no choice but to reduce costs. They will not have the money to do anything else but reduce costs. The question remains what level of services can they provide with the reduced budget.
The whole argument that we can not be a member of the SAILS network if the town contracts for library services is not true. If, and that is still not known unless we actually issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to LSSI and others, the contracted library services could be delivered for less money, the library might lose certification because we did not increase spending. Loss of certification would result in loss of SAILS network privileges. There are a lot of uncertainties in the two last sentences. The town could reduce those uncertainties by simply issuing an RFP and seeing what gets returned. The Library Trustees will not issue an RFP so we don't know if the town can save or not. Basically they have come to their decision without even obtaining facts to weigh that decision. Finally, the library may lose certification anyway since library funding certainly will not increase 2-1/2% and will probably significantly decrease.
It is also not true that communities do not contract with Library Systems and Services Inc (LSSI) to save money. See my post here,

"the county hired LSSI to reopen libraries on a much reduced budget"

Our town's fiscal situation is poor. Every opportunity to reduce costs while maintaining services should be explored. Bottom line is the library department is unwilling to do that. Time will tell if that was a wise choice.
Click here to read on!

Local libraries lose state certification

Today's Standard TImes had an article that Freetown and Wareham libraries have lost their state library board certification. Dartmouth's library escaped that fate by obtaining a waiver. The amount of state aid is lost is small. The state doesn't contribute that much to local library budgets. The biggest loss is the ability to access materials through the interlibrary loan network, SAILS. Libraries that lose their state certification cannot borrow books from the network.
Freetown Selectman Lawrence Ashley was critical...

... of the state boards action saying to the Standard Times,

"Everyone on the Board of Library Commissioners should be fired. It is incredulous that they will not give the library a chance. Can't they see that the town has been doing the best it can? We are trying to balance everything out. We laid off teachers, police officers. It's sad. I think they have a very myopic view of the world. They are punishing all these people, many of whom don't have the ability to buy books or computers. The board is doing more harm than good."

Towns represented at a regional summit this past Tuesday indicated the most towns would not be able to meet the state funding requirement for certification which is a 2-1/2% increase every year in the library budget. Most towns are cutting budgets. One possible solution mentioned was for libraries to form their own lending consortium outside of the SAILS network.
Click here to read on!

Library forum - Jan 21 at DHS

I received this announcement from Audrey Quail at the Dartmouth Public Library

State of Massachusetts Libraries Public Library Summit
Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 6:30 P.M.
Dartmouth High School Auditorium
555 Bakerville Road
Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02748

Concerned about the funding of public libraries in your city or town? Are there better funding alternatives? More cost - effective possibilities? Let’s start the conversation. Be sure to attend this informational program that will focus on how public libraries are funded and the regional services, collaborations and resource sharing that currently exist.

The panelists for this program will include:
Robert Maier, Director of Mass. Board of Library Commissioners
Cindy Roach, Regional Administrator, Southeastern Mass. Library System
Deborah Conrad, Executive Director, SAILS Library Network
Sharon Weiner, Dean of Library Services, UMass Dartmouth
Laurie Dias-Mitchell, Director, Library Media Center, Dartmouth H.S.
Rosemary Neto Hazzard, President of the Dartmouth Library Foundation, Inc.
Marcia Beardsley, President of the Friends of Dartmouth Libraries

These panelists will provide an overview of the unique interaction between local, regional and state library services in Massachusetts and the outsourcing and regionalization of services

more after jump ...

...

currently practiced by our public library
systems. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.
This summit is being sponsored by the Dartmouth Public Libraries Board of
Trustees.
For more information, contact Denise Medeiros 508-999-0726 ext
371 or email denisem@sailsinc.org.

I will try to attend and see what I can learn. How about you?
Click here to read on!

Oregonians happy with LSSI library

Frankg has sent me an article from the Grant's Pass OR Daily Courier written by Howard Huntington. The Jackson County library system had been closed due to budget constraints and Library Systems and Services (LSSI) was contracted to reopen them on a reduced budget. You can find the article here. The article begins,

Officials and citizens had almost nothing but praise in interviews about the job Library Systems and Services has done running the local library and 14 others in the Jackson County system. “We couldn’t be more pleased. They’ve met and exceeded all the aspects of our contract,” says county Commissioner Dennis “C.W.” Smith

More after jump...


...

“They are very creative with their personnel and all the employees seem to be very happy,” Smith says. “While the hours are limited, we are almost where we were” before all 15 libraries closed in April 2007 for lack of funds.

Jackson County is operating 15 libraries on a $3.5 million budget at reduced hours. In contrast, our library, Southworth, is open 63 hours a week at a cost of almost $1 million.
Click here to read on!

Regionalization? Has the time for reform come?

Bob Unger of the Standard Times has an opinion piece today questioning whether or not we can find the political wherewithall to regionalize services. He quotes a developer for Pennsylvania as saying "That dog won't hunt", meaning that the parochial issues within each town prevent the realization of savings which exist for those who must pay the bills. Some commeters have questioned why there is any dismay over the sweetheart contracts given to a few town employees. The reason I am dismayed is that these contracts represent the very problem that Mr Unger hopes will be addressed. Will our town and others continue to protect and reward narrow interests or do what is best for those who are footing the bill, the taxpayers? Recent developments are not hopeful...

...in that regard. The taxpayer was not represented at the table when employees are given lifetime appointments. The patrons and the taxpayer are not represented when the Library Trustees refuse to even try to find out if they can save tens of thousands of dollars while continuing to provide service at our library. The taxpayer is not being represented when Dartmouth has three separate Fire Districts, all with their own narrow interests, providing service to one town.
When the town government refuses to pursue cost saving by means such as contracting out trash collection or library services, regionalizing dispatch services, animal control, and many other services, consolidating fire districts and town departments, or creating competition for delivering public education by having charter schools, the largest group that is being disadvantaged is the taxpayer. The taxpayer is more often than not the forgotten group in discussion about layoffs and service reductions but they are the group who lose the most. The taxpayer is paying more than they need to for services or is losing services while not getting any reduction in the cost to themselves. I am well aware that bringing up all these points means that I am going against the entrenched interests in the Fire Districts, schools, police, town employees, Library Trustees and others. I was elected by the voters and taxpayers to represent their interests on the Select Board. I try to keep that in mind at all times. The primary question should and must be, Is this good for the taxpayer? Other considerations must take a back seat to the best interest of those who pay for it all. What are your thoughts? Can the town do this or are we too beholden to special interests and old patterns?

Click here to read on!

Still don't get it!

The Library Trustees have issued a report in which they conclude that they should not even consider contracting out of library services. Link to the report here. What this report does not get is that the funding for the library and every department in the town will be cut in FY2010. I am talking about reductions from last year's funding, not a cut in their requested increase. These cuts are likely to fall disproportionately on services that are nice to have, not those which the town must have. I think most would agree that the library is in the nice to have category. The Trustees disagree.

"Many Dartmouth residents ... see the library as a vital community resource like Police and DPW and are willing to support it financially."

We shall see how the town feels. Whether the Library Trustees or any other department care to acknowledge it, the town cannot continue to employ the same number of people and deliver the same services. The town must reduce the number and cost of direct employees. I have written about why this is so many times on this blog. The level of benefits that are mandated for town employees by state statute and our bylaws make those employees very expensive to the town. I am not talking about their wages but benefits. Don't take my word for it, ask the Finance Committee. The town has no control over increases in energy prices or health care benefits. We can only control the increase in the costs of services that the town provides. The main component of those costs is the people we employ and their benefits.

An excerpt from the Library Trustees report...

"There is no evidence that outsourcing of the public library operations has saved any of the communities involved any money."

From this post

"In the first four years of operation by LSSI, we have saved a documented 2.6 million dollars. At the same time, we increased hours, increased programs five-fold, doubled the amount of dollars dedicated to new materials, and the customer service at the library increased significantly."

The Trustees report concludes,

"After lengthy study, the Dartmouth Public Libraries Board of Trustees believes it is not in the best interest of the residents of Dartmouth to pursue the outsourcing of additional public library services at this time."

Again what they are not getting is that either the town will have reduced or no services at all or we will find innovative ways to deliver them at lower cost.
Click here to read on!

Laws and libraries

We have been struggling in Dartmouth with our library funding and state certification. There are several conflicting interests between state requirements and recent developments in our Dartmouth libraries. Here are the requirements for state certification.
The Dartmouth Public Library must be open at least 63 hours per week. See 605 CMR 401 (3) & 78 MGL 19b
The Dartmouth Public Library must allocate a minimum of 13% of its "total annual budget for books and periodicals." See 605 CMR 401 (5)
There is a formula for determining minimum funding. 78 MGL 19B states that

"No city or town shall receive any money under this section in any year when the appropriation of said city or town for free public library services is below an amount equal to the average of its appropriation for free public library service for the three years immediately preceding, increased by two and one-half per cent of said average."

In Dartmouth, we have taken several measures to reduce costs at our public library. These include closing two branch libraries and reducing the hours and appropriations of the libraries.
The law requires us to spend 2-1/2% more than the average of the past three years appropriation while containing no provision for taking into account the closing of some of the branches. The state grant amounts are modest ($40K) but our budget shortfall is large ($325K). So we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. We must cut costs to keep the town solvent but we must spend more in order to keep our certification. I have been told that our library lends more books to other libraries than are lent to us. I hope that the state library board would take that into account at certification time as well but the law seems clear. You can read the MBLC's Waiver Letter
There is an accommodation policy to allow reduced hours and materials expenditure which results in lowered grant amounts. Click here to read on!