Speaker 3: Thank you. Let's go on now and move on to item 17.
Speaker 0: Communication from Councilman Price. Councilmember Your Anger. Councilwoman Sorrow. Councilman Austin recommendation to direct City Manager to identify the additional resources needed to implement changes from the City Auditor's Library Services Performance Audit of 2020.
Speaker 3: Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This item was coauthored by myself and Councilman Aranda, and it's really premised upon the auditor's findings in regards to our library services and areas where we can improve access and usability by our citizens and those visiting the city who want to use the library. It's especially important right now, I believe, for us to take a look at our library services and make sure that we are serving the public in the best way that we can. Given the increased reliance on technology being provided through our libraries for access for people, for employment, for schooling, and access to materials that are maintained by the library, for everyone who is looking to do a lot of the work and virtual learning that they're doing these days. I think it's really important for us to notice that we have an incredible library system in the city of Long Beach, but it is underfunded. We have not placed enough resources into the library to account for the changes in user trends involving the library and the changes in technology and the need for us to be able to be flexible and adapting to what it is that the users of the library need. One of the areas that's been very important to me in terms of library services is identifying hours for the library that are useful and meaningful to residents. I really laid out a great summary of our current system and how it is not meeting to the best of its ability, the needs of all residents throughout the city. And so this item really asks the city manager to look at our current library services to see what services can be reallocated or modified within our existing budget to improve access to the library by all of our diverse communities, and also to look forward to the years to come in terms of what kinds of resources will be needed for our library to be able to meet industry standards, best practices in the area of library services. So let me turn it over without saying too much more to Councilmember Ronda, who can speak to this item as well. And I do want to thank in advance our library services director who met with us and I mean her her feedback and her work with the libraries has been phenomenal. So, Ms.. Williams, we thank you for being open to some of these changes and being willing to work with us on how we get there. So I turn it over to Councilman Ronda.
Speaker 2: I came here.
Speaker 3: 100%. And you're teed up, Max, of course.
Speaker 2: Why is want to be glad I didn't get to build the protocol. Thank you. A customer of rice for introducing the topic and thank you for your work on this. As we get through the wordsmithing and cooperated trying to get the items as strong as we possibly could. I want to also thank Councilmember Sorrow and Austin for joining us on this item. It's important to have the support and also acknowledge that they also know that there has been some issues with this. Of course, this would be here without the great work of our city auditor, no doubt, and the hard work of our staff and looking into library services and and how we could make it better. It's not that we want to find any any issues or any areas of concern, but they do come up and they rise up. And some of them were quite, quite outstanding to us in regards to access, especially when we're not talking about all the hours, but in terms of access to non-English speaking materials as well as programs and and the lack of adaptive technology for persons with disabilities and the fighting system that we find has been very harmful, especially to communities of color. I would think that hopefully with the additional review that we're going to be doing, that we can look at those areas that are going to be most impacted, and especially to disenfranchized and communities of color. And one of the ones that stands out the most is obviously the the filing system by that is disproportionately harmful in communities of color. And what we might want to look at is basically as we eliminate fines, let's get the books back. I mean, basically, we're looking at areas of of of be we need our materials. And when there is a fine system that punishes people and makes people not want to returnable because of the fines and the way they accumulate and just become basically untenable, that basically we could look at a way of having a buy in forgiveness, just return the materials and we're forgiving or we refreeze it and you'll be forgiven. But we so that we can get the materials back and be available for reuse and other people can take advantage of those as well. So be I would be very strong in supporting a system such as that. But then again, we need to look at what's going on and how we can best implement such a program like that. I know that it would have some financial impacts for the library, but then again it's about materials, access and as well as being able to be a service to our community or that we can only be a safe haven for them to study, but also to to learn. So I'm looking at, well, as the possibility of getting more bilingual staff and obviously with bilingual material and being able to provide greater opportunities with technology as well so that we can expand and grow our library system as much as possible. So with that, I'll I'll leave it to my other colleagues. I know they want to come in as well. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Councilmember Zendejas. Actually. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Who's next? Contrary. Ringo went next up. Yep. Comes from San Diego. Sorry about that.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I really want to thank. My colleagues were bringing this item and our city auditor and staff for this, especially for their focus on addressing equity and access to our amazing libraries. Before I was a council woman. Part of my background is that I volunteered in our former main library in what was what has become the Center for Adaptive Technology, our cat center, working with the disability community on things like closing the digital divide and building access to city resources for people who may not be able to do so anywhere else. So I know firsthand how critical we services are. And it pains me greatly that that we don't have a library in our first district and that we still have such a long way to go to creating access for our community that deserves this in my district. As we work to expand the services available in our libraries, I think that we need to remember and address that there are many residents of our city that don't have access to libraries near them or near where they live. And in many cases there are the exact communities that are that would benefit greatly from having access to tools like computer labs with all the other services and resources that are libraries can provide as we continue to address everything through a lens of equity. I think that part of that should be considered how we can work on expanding our libraries to those who currently have the least access to libraries due to geographic or technology or language barriers. I know that funding is limited, and that is the piece of that of the conversation and one that has been a barrier in these plans in the past. But it is my hope that we can prioritize efforts as we begin to see the effects of federal relief spending. And we can continue to put the services first as we build our city back and stronger together. So I'm really thankful for this item. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Sara.
Speaker 1: You mayor. I want to thank our coauthors, Councilmember Women Price and Councilmember Ranga for bringing that item forward on this. Libraries have a very special place in my heart and childhood because it's one of a safe place I went to in order to get services and to be able to just have a place to go to while I was waiting for my parents to pick me up. And so I know that that's also true for many of the residents, the libraries that are in my district. I think the two most widely used is Mark Twain and BURNETT given the density of around the area. And so I'm very supportive of identifying additional resources that can allow us to address some of these critical issues listed. And we're seeing that obviously libraries during this pandemic is beyond just a place to check out books. But it has been a place that people have been using to connect to the Internet, to print out materials and furthermore just places for homework assistance. And I think it has the potential to do so much more to address many of the needs of the surrounding community, particularly even just for business owners as well, should they need, you know, workshops that are needed to help them recover, to even potentially down the line, just a variety of workshops that help meet the needs. So that's why I'm very supportive of this item and look forward to seeing report back in 90 days about ways that we can address it. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilmember Austin.
Speaker 2: I thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I also want to thank Councilmember Price for bringing forth this very thoughtful item. I also want to lift up and thank our city auditor for in her office for doing the audit and making the recommendations. It just shows that our city auditor's office is is is hard at work and always looking to improve governance and efficiencies and in our city. I wanted to to ask, because I think most of the recommendations here are laudable. These are these are items, obviously, I signed on to in support of this item. So I support, but I wanted the city manager to just explain to the council, if you can, what steps have already or we are already doing through the budget recommendations for FY 21. Yes.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Councilmember.
Speaker 2: As part of the FBI 21 adopted budget, there was a direction to really study additional hours. The council was very interested in looking at what else we can do with our hours and our library system. There was a proposal in the F 21 budget to do something along those lines, but it was it just wasn't quite ready at the time for the council, I believe. So we are bringing that back. We'll have some additional information probably in the next couple of weeks. And then we've also been working really closely with the auditor on these, looking at doing as many as we can within our existing resources. And then we'll report back on what other resources we might need to take the next step through the F 22 budget process. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And I thought I remembered discussing library hours and looking at that, but that didn't make it in the process. That's great. I'm glad we're looking at it now. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I did for you. That was part of the point 21 I'm direction was not to move forward with the staff proposal at the time, but to then look at other models and come back with you with information. So that's what we are reporting back in the next couple weeks. Okay. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Council members pricing your engi and our auditor on this. I took a minute and it it's very interesting bringing it to my attention. I hadn't taken time to read it, but I read the entire audit and and I'll tell you something, certain things and I certainly appreciate, one, the fact that we're raising up and we need to do this better and more often. But we're raising up the needs of individuals with disabilities. And that's referenced in this item and is referenced here. The status and the efforts within our Library Services Department to do so. I also want to sort of elevate you and Councilmember Rosario mentioned this, but grow the library's continues to evolve. And we know that. I mean, people use it. The library's as a computer lab, a workforce center, all of those things. And the Obama library in my district has certainly been an example. We've done everything from community gatherings to, you know, everything has been the heart of the community because we've opened it. And so as we reevaluate some of these recommendations, I think we should take off the shelf. The conversation here was a proposal, and it was readjusting some of our hours. But what it did was. Placed social workers before the library in order to take an affirmative step toward providing more, more comprehensive services out of libraries. Now, with the exception of what Mary mentioned, council members say they have mentioned the first district. The libraries are generally in every part of our town, even in areas where we don't have other things like. You know, I learned recently that the West Side has no computer lab. North Long Beach has no workforce center. It's changing, but we all have libraries. So I would love to see as a part of this how we can make sure that we bring some of those elements, social worker peace, which didn't make it into the audit, but it has come up at city council. I think it was a year ago it came up to City Council as an effort identified for social workers and how to be social work workforce. Not quite sure, but I want to see some affirmative steps to providing services that are lacking in the community, because I think there's going to be much more needed and significantly more need for that in the recovery. So again, I think this is a great item and I'm happy to support it and I look forward to the report that comes back. Thanks.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Vice Mayor. Well, let's go ahead and go to public comment. As we go to public comment, I know that our city auditor, Laura Dowd, wanted to say a few words. So let me turn it to her and the clerk, if you can do public comment, please.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Mayor. And I wanted to thank all the council members all for your very kind comments and supportive comments and for Councilwoman Pryce and Councilman Urunga and council member and Austin and Councilwoman Sorrell for this item as well. I just wanted to add how fortunate we are here in Long Beach to have 12 beautiful libraries that provide such valuable services to our community. One of the things I'm really pleased with on this particular audit was that our auditors conducted seven focus groups with community members and interviewed several stakeholder group representatives to understand the community needs and the community wants. So this we started this audit before COVID at a time when we were able to meet face to face with several of the focus groups and and listen to them and to their needs. And I want to thank also the our department head, Glenda Williams, for her support during this during this audit and the great input that she gave to us. And I'm I'm very pleased with these recommendations. And I will just say one thing that most of our recommendations there were 2929 of them in. And Glenda agreed with all of them. Most of the recommendations have to do with using existing resources that do not require additional resources. The one that does require that has to do with resources is the not collecting or waiving the overdue fines. But we found that the cost that's being spent on collecting fines really outweighs the benefits. The revenue of the revenue received that a portion of the library's time is devoted to collecting overdue fines and reconciling the money. And if this were eliminated, the staff time of the library clerk clerks could be reallocated to the patron services and provide more provide greater benefit to the patrons who need their services. So we are also recommended that they keep the lost or damaged items. So if somebody, you know, damages or loses something, that they would pay for that. But with the waiving of the overdue fines, we felt that this would eliminate that.
Speaker 4: Barrier for those so that.
Speaker 1: They so everybody could have access to the wonderful materials that our library has. And we also recommend that the library, you know, continue to promote themselves to the community and in our focus groups. Several of the people were unaware of all the wonderful services and programs that they offer. So we want to do a better job at promoting our wonderful libraries and everything that they have to offer to our community. So thank you again for this for your support on this.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Let's go to public comment, Madam Clerk.
Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Barbara Sosa.
Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor and City Council Member. Me? Good. And you're here.
Speaker 4: Yes. Please continue.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I am Barbara Selzer, president of the Friends of the Library. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you this evening. The friends of the library are in favor of the recommendation, asking the city manager's office to pursue additional resources specifically for the library and to implement the audit recommendations.
Speaker 2: We.
Speaker 1: System has absorbed recommendations.
Speaker 4: Barbara Sosa. We'll go to our next speaker and come back to her. Our next speaker is Lizette Flores. And Lizette Flores. Please unmute yourself and begin. Our next speaker is Nicole Ballard.
Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Nicole Ballard, president of the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach. Our organization supports the preservation of the African American Resource Area at BURNETT Library and the special collections within the Long Beach Public Library. I wholeheartedly support this item and thank City Council for bringing it forward. The library is needed now more than ever to support Long Beach families affected by the challenges of distance learning and record unemployment. The city auditor's recent report of the library adequately highlights the barriers to accessibility and equity caused by cuts made to the library's budget through the years. Our organization was in fact founded because of budget cuts back in 1997. Our wonderful director, Glenda Williams, the librarian and staff, do amazing work with the little resources they are given and need additional support to meet the increasing demand. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Speaker 3: Thank you. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: We'll try Barbara again.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: Barbara Sosa.
Speaker 1: Hello? Can you hear me? Yes. Great. Sorry about that. Good evening, mayor and city council members. I am Barbara Sosa, president of the Friends of the Library. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you this evening. The friends of the library are definitely in favor of the recommendation, asking the city managers offer office to pursue additional resources specifically for the library and to implement the audit recommendations. We would be willing to help if we can. We all know the library system has absorbed reduction in its annual budget for more than 12 years, and yet the demands of the residents have only increased, especially from the underserved communities, the Asian, Black and brown and seniors . And with the current pandemic crisis, library supporters are afraid it will take a long time to reestablish even the previous service levels for 11 branches and be made to be open to everyone five days a week. I could say more, but I know I'm speaking to the choir. The Mayor and city council have always been library supporters. Please pass this recommendation. Thank you for your attention and consideration.
Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment.
Speaker 3: Thank you. I just want to add again, I want to think, of course, first and foremost, that the auditor and her team and I've always shared with her that the the the great thing about audits and why we welcome them is because they're focused on improving services and making sure that we are making improvements to departments and that we have a voice and a group of folks that are always looking from a different perspective on how we can do better. And I think that's one of the great things for those of us that appreciate, like, good democracy and good government having a a full, robust city auditor's office with a strong auditor that is going through and performing these audits is really good government. And I just want to thank Laura and have thanked her personally many times on this this issue. But to her whole team, they work really hard. And Councilwoman Pryce, thank you. You've always been a strong supporter of the auditor and for all of everyone that signed on to this great item to bring forward. And we look forward to to this item as well. So with that, we do have a councilman Price, did you have any additional comments?
Speaker 1: No, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Actually, one thing I would like to make sure that the city manager is really prioritizing what changes we can make with our existing budget. Now, in terms of some of these access issues, and I know I talked with him offline about this, but you know, it may be that in terms of hours , we need to do some surveying and data collection to figure out, you know, whether evening hours are preferred in one area versus weekend hours in another. Maybe we need to shift some of the resources. And I know he has committed to me personally that they'll look at all of that. But I just wanted to make sure that that I publicly stated that as well. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman. Please cast your votes. Real call.
Speaker 0: District one. I district to.
Speaker 1: High.
Speaker 0: District three. High. District four.
Speaker 2: High.
Speaker 0: District five.
Speaker 1: I.
Speaker 0: District six. I. District seven. By District eight.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 0: District nine.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 0: Motion carries.
Speaker 3: Thank you. With that, let me go ahead and turn over to the next item we're going to do item 14.
Recommendation to direct City Manager to identify within 90 days the additional resources needed to implement changes from the Long Beach City Auditor’s Library Services Performance Audit of 2020 Operations to meet the access and equity flaws identified.