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News Release

04/27/2007
Trustees authorize staff to prepare for a number of possible scenarios

With nine weeks until the end of the fiscal year, the Providence Public Library’s (PPL) Transition Team, which has been meeting weekly since March, today continued its efforts to map out various contingency plans and potentially necessary action steps in preparation for a decision by the City on how and to what extent it will fund municipal library services in the coming year.

Today’s Team meeting followed directly on the heels of a special PPL Board meeting yesterday during which Trustees met to review the progress of and take action on the Team’s recommendations, including approval to authorize Library staff to take steps needed to be prepared for a number of possible scenarios come July 1 – the beginning of the new fiscal year. Following a lengthy debate, trustees voted to approve three financial models developed by the Transition Team so that the Library can be prepared for any eventuality.

Guardedly optimistic in leading the Team’s discussion, Trustee and Team Chair Rob Taylor commented on the status of talks with the City, “The good news is that talks with the City have not broken down…we have plans for another meeting in the coming days. The bad news is that we have a lot of complicated issues to work out and not a lot of time.”

In outlining varied issues for planning and potential action in the weeks leading up to July 1, the Team identified a number of implications around facilities and services within any of the scenarios studied to date. Library Director Dale Thompson pointed out that, much like the needed Board authorization yesterday, some planning must be done and possible steps may need to be taken even while the Library continues to work out an agreement with the City. Taylor asked Library staff to begin to formulate a timeline for planning and potential actions.

The Team also noted that even with an agreement with the City in the coming days, the City’s proposed budget is still subject to approval by the City Council and this doesn’t normally happen until after July 1. Taylor stated that he has asked Kas DeCarvahlo, Mayor Cicilline’s designee to the Board, to serve as a City liaison on the Transition Team so that the group’s discussions and any transition details can be communicated directly to the City and will contact him again.

The Team discussed a plan for communicating directly with the public the current situation and the range of possible options outlined by the Library for continuing the current level of municipal library services, some which allow for the community’s critical involvement and participation. Thompson noted that PPL will hold a series of meetings with patrons and members of the communities in which branch libraries currently operate. (Meeting schedule follows.)

The financial models for three separate scenarios reviewed by Trustees include: the City fully funding its municipal library system through a contract with the PPL to provide level services; the City only partially funding its municipal library system through a contract with PPL to provide scaled back services; or the City deciding not to provide municipal library services in any arrangement with PPL. In this last scenario, and with no other arrangement for the provision of municipal library services in place, PPL could be forced to make significant cutbacks in personnel, potentially up to 60.

Trustees were asked to authorize Library staff to prepare for budgets that would be based on any of the contingencies presented, and particularly with regard to the likelihood of lay-off notices which may need to be sent in the coming days, if no agreement is in hand by May 1. Decision on an actual budget would come in a separate Board vote prior to July 1. Actual lay-offs would depend on if and what kind of agreement may be reached with the City for municipal library services or any other arrangements that could be put into place.

Discussion included upbeat comments by the Mayor’s Board designee Kas DeCarvahlo concerning the ongoing discussions between City officials and Library representatives. However, PPL representatives Trustee Rob Taylor, also Chair of the Library’s Transition Team, and attorney Dan Prentiss noted that, while what DeCarvahlo presented as possible by way of an agreement with the City sounded encouraging, much of it had yet to be put on the table in actual ongoing discussions.

Trustees were guardedly optimistic, voting to take steps to be prepared for any eventuality. Making the motion to authorize the staff to take whatever steps necessary while discussions with the City continue, Vice Chair William Simmons stated, “I am hopeful that what I am hearing Kas say is all possible, but it is prudent for us to keep all of our options open at this point.”

Board Chair Lisa Churchville noted that “While we are immediately focused on 2008, we are looking for a longer-term resolution; a business-like relationship with the City that can be the basis for future decisions. We must be able to continue with our mission and it is equally important that we achieve public oversight for taxpayer dollars in this process.”

The Library’s Transition Team will hold its next meeting on Friday, May 4 at 8:00 am.

Community Meetings Scheduled in May PPL has scheduled the following community meetings at neighborhood libraries in order to give community members a status update on ongoing discussions between the City and the Library and to present a number of potential options that PPL has outlined for the public’s consideration for the future of municipal library services in Providence.

Monday, May 7 -- 6:00 pm Mount Pleasant Branch Library, 315 Academy Avenue

Tuesday, May 8 -- 5:30 pm South Providence Branch Library, 441 Prairie Avenue

Tuesday, May 8 -- 7:00 pm Rochambeau Branch Library, 708 Hope Street

Wednesday, May 9 -- 6:00 pm Olneyville Branch Library, 1 Olneyville Square

Monday, May 14 -- 6:00 pm Knight Memorial Library, 274 Elmwood Avenue

Tuesday, May 15 -- 6:00 pm Fox Point Branch Library, 90 Ives Street

Wednesday, May 16 -- 6:00 pm Smith Hill Branch Library, 31 Candace Street

Thursday, May 17-- 6:00 pm Wanskuck Branch Library