Council Member Laurie Agendizes the Library Issue Santa Clarita City Council Meeting July 13, 2010

Transcription by Susie Kaufman Laurie Ender, during her invocation, praises Friends of the Library: "This morning, there was what I thought was a wonderful article in The Signal about our local Friends of the Library group. And if you haven’t had a chance to read the article yet, I hope you’ll go online and look at it. Friends of the Library is a local nonprofit. There are about 200 members. And they work for all three of our libraries, as well as for the Bookmobile, doing programs and fundraising and collecting books. They have book sales. And there was a line in here that I really loved, talking about sorting through all the books that are donated. That they’ve seen everything from raw and very moldy strips of bacon, a book with two freshly dead goldfish in a plastic bag, and even a 1980 passport issued in the Soviet Union. I love that these volunteers work so hard to… to make our library so successful and so busy. And we’ve just really been in the library spirit, so I wanted to commend them and thank them for their work. And share, in their honor, a quote from author Clarence Day… who said, quote, the world of books is a most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, nations perish, civilizations grow old and die out, and after an era, new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still fresh as the day they were written, still telling men’s hearts of the heart of men, centuries dead. So… thank you to everyone who helps make our library such a wonderful place, Particularly the Friends of the Library."

Laurie Ender asks (about 36 minutes later), “after being in the library spirit” that staff “agendize this issue for consideration, during the public hearing, on August 24th”: "Uh… I also have some information to share. I’m really excited about this. I had mentioned libraries earlier, but, um… Mayor Pro-Tem McLean and I have been spending a lot of talking about libraries. We serve on the Ad-Hoc Committee… Council Ad-Hoc Committee for Libraries – and everybody knows about the library that we’re building in Newhall.

We… we have had an opportunity to visit several other cities… and tour their libraries… and see what’s happening there, as well as go to each of our own local libraries. And… there’s some things that I’d like to share and ask of, from the Council.

Essentially, with opening the Old Town Newhall Library, we will now own two of the three libraries in Santa Clarita. …City-owned buildings. Our goal has always been and continue to be insure that our residentsare receiving the best library services possible. We’ve looked at the amount of the library cash revenue that the County of Los Angeles has collected from our residents, and we note that more money is collected in local library taxes… than is spent in our local libraries every year. Although we have not had our services cut, we’ve been very fortunate this year… we are concerned that the ? made at libraries across Los Angeles County – and, in fact, across the entire country – will eventually affect Santa Clarita. The Library Ad-Hoc Committee has been looking at ways – not only to keep our libraries open – but to enhance our services and expand our hours. If the City were to assume the responsibility for our local library services, we could use all the local library tax dollars to do a lot of different things. We could increase the hours of the Canyon Country and Newhall libraries by ten hours, at each branch, every week. Opening those libraries on Sundays, when they’re not open. As well as keeping the libraries open an extra hour per night, Monday through Thursday. That’s a 19% increase in library operation hours. We could also use the money to help pay for the construction of the Newhall Library, which would free up the redevelopment funds for use on other redevelopment projects in Old Town Newhall. Or… we could use the funds to build a bigger library for the Valencia Library, which is severely impacted by being a too small a facility.There are an awful lot of options to consider. And all of them benefit the community. I want to point out that State law allows the City Council – allows us – the sole discretion to make the decision to assume the responsibility of local library services.The City would then receive all library property tax revenues from within the City of Santa Clarita. Law also provides that we can buy any County library facility, within the city, at fair market value – which would be the Valencia Library facility. This is a big decision, and it’s a very exciting one for our residents. At this point, the Ad-Hoc Committee would like to recommend that the City Council agendize this issue for consideration, during the public hearing, on August 24th. Most importantly, we’d like to see extensive outreach and discussion among stakeholders, residents, and other community leaders, during the next several weeks. I am so excited about the possibilities for our libraries. The thing that we need… has really jumped out at us is how much libraries have changed over the last 15, 20 years. And… how used– they’re so used by so many different… uh, people in the community. Age levels. Demographics. And they really are a center for… not just learning, but community gatherings. And I think we have some terrific opportunities.

So, with my Councilmembers' permission, I would like to ask that we bring this back on August 24th, with some information from staff."

Professionally Transcribed by Susie V Kaufman [email protected] 661.251.6669