That show of support for the arts; that turn out against a recommendation that was out of step with the community showed that the residents do have a voice. The Arts commission listened; they understood that City staff’s recommendation to terminate the MOU was wrong and the voted unanimously to continue the MOU with the PAC. Now it is up to the City Council as to whether or not they will listen to the residents and their own Arts Commission!
The next issue up is the local Save Santa Clarita Libraries organization which has been collecting signatures on a petition. That petition is asking that the City Council suspend or stay the contract with Library System & Services, (LSSI) for at least the next 12 months to reevaluate that decision. The Save Santa Clarita Libraries are planning to present that petition at the Santa Clarita City Council meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2011.
There needs to be the same kind of turn out to the City Council meeting like there was at the Arts Commission meeting. Residents need to pack the City Council chambers on Tuesday; it needs to be an overflow crowd of residents who care about what is being perpetrated on the local libraries by a City leadership that is largely out of step with residents in the City of Santa Clarita and surrounding communities.
This is about making your voice heard; this is about residents coming out in mass to be heard and to tell some of these pseudo leaders that they are out of touch with voters. It is a couple of hours of your time that could and should make a difference. A large showing of concerned and informed residents will be a show of force; it should be a sign to the City leaders that they need to heed the message being delivered. That they need to reconsider the ill-informed decision they made to privatize the libraries within the city.
More and more information is seeping out that the City Council rubberstamped approval to contract with LSSI is proving to be more costly than originally presented. City emails obtained by the Save Santa Clarita Libraries organization clearly show that City staffers had already made the choice to privatize the libraries long before Council members Ender and McLean were even looped in. Those two Council members were merely scripted to present this ill-conceived plan which will ultimately cost City taxpayers much more then the current arrangement with the County.
What is even more amazing is that the current City leadership did not even have the decency or courtesy to engage the County Library System, the current library operator. City staff did not have the business acumen to discuss any issues with the County Library System; they did not ask about renegotiating the current service contract, increasing operating hours, adding additional service etc.
How can you get the best deal for your constituents if you are not engaging all the potential operators for the Libraries?
The current proposed contract with LSSI was a done deal before the City even posted the “Request for Proposal” on its website. In an email dated August 12, 2010, Santa Clarita Purchasing Agent Bischetsrieder sent to Darren Hernandez, Director of Administrative Services for the City of Santa Clarita, that a second bidder “would not be able to submit due to the short timeframe….” This shows that the City of Santa Clarita rushed into this library takeover scheme and has denied the public a competitive bidding process that, if done properly, would have actually benefitted the community at large.
You can read more emails documenting the timeline of this scandalous library takeover at www.SaveSantaClaritaLibraries.wordpress.com, as well as to sign the petition. You can also see read my commentary from a few weeks ago titled; “Library takeover microcosm of City’s m.o.” to get a much fuller picture of the underhanded manner in which the City is handling this process.
If you care about the local library system; if you care about a fair and transparent local government; if you are tired of a small group of dilatants riding roughshod over the Santa Clarita Valley then please consider attending the Santa Clarita City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 22, 2010 at 6:00 PM. You don’t have to speak; you don’t have to give your name; all you need to do is be there to support your neighbors and those volunteers who are going to be presenting a petition to put a stop to this library takeover.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
I hope that you will be one of the good people and come out on Tuesday night to overwhelm the Santa Clarita Council Chambers and have your voice heard!!
Dave Bossert- Commentary
Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.
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