Five days after the abrupt November 12 decision to close the only two libraries in Colton, California, library board President Peter Carrasco was anticipating an outpouring of library support from disaffected area residents at the city council’s November 17 meeting that night. “A library is an institution in the community. It’s not like closing down a department store,” Carrasco told American Libraries several hours before the meeting was scheduled to begin. “We have to rally. We have to send a message to the city government that this is unacceptable.”
Carrasco got his wish: Some 100 people crowded into the council chambers to make their voices heard, according to the November 17 San Bernardino County Sun. “There are things that can be done when you ask the community for help,” Colton library Friends Vice-President Linda Tripp declared. “You need to reach out to the community before you do something this drastic.”
It was that very absence of outreach that angered Carrasco, who told AL that the library board was “left completely out of the loop” by city management, which made the decision without first consulting with trustees and notifying him by phone after the fact. “We didn’t advise because they didn’t solicit our input,” he asserted. As for library staff, Carrasco said that city officials “showed up at the library and basically told our library manager [Ruth Martinez] that she was out of a job with no previous warning.” That harsh announcement came hard on the heels of CPL’s five full-time staff members having received furloughs of 50 hours, he noted.
Characterizing the decision as “a last resort,” Deputy City Manager Bill Smith told AL the sudden library closures and layoffs were actions “we did not take lightly.” He explained that the city would realize a savings of $500,000 by dismissing all 17 Colton library workers and shuttering the libraries until June 30, 2010, when FY2010 comes to an end, “or longer.” He also said that an additional 43 municipal employees from other general-fund departments were laid off in an effort to close $4 million of a revenue shortfall projected at $5 million for the current fiscal year.
According to the November 13 Walnut Creek Contra Costa Times, the city was also looking to win salary concessions of 15% from unionized municipal workers, some of whom had agreed October 29 to 10% pay cuts. Interim City Manager Bob Miller had given the unions until November 17 to respond before issuing more layoff notices, the Times reported.
Smith went on to say, “Now, if an opportunity presents itself to reopen the libraries, even on a limited basis, we certainly will do that as soon as possible. But I think I’d stop short of saying that is happening anytime soon. We are looking into some options.” A local-government watchdog group, Colton First, seemed to be considering options as well: “I think a forensic audit and a cash audit is in order to see where the reserves went and how the money was spent,” Colton First member Ron Lawrence said in the November 9 Sun of the city’s overall cash crunch. The group followed up at the November 17 council meeting by recommending that the city could begin freeing up funds with which to reopen a library by eliminating a $42,000 auto allowance for the council's six members, according to the Sun.
Acknowledging that “in a recession difficult choices must be made,” American Library Association President Camila Alire issued a statement November 17 that emphasized libraries’ role as “part of the solution when a community is struggling economically.” She asserted that “the library closures will surely have a negative impact on the economic wellbeing of Colton as its citizens will no longer have access to resources that can help stimulate the local economy,” and encouraged area residents “to contact their local leadership to express their opposition to the closures [and] urge City Manager Bob Miller to reconsider.”