Surf City voters won’t get to decide if their public libraries should be managed by a private company.
It comes after Tuesday’s Huntington Beach City Council meeting turned into a fierce debate as opposing council factions accused each other of fear mongering, spreading misinformation and attacking the city library.
The discussion was the culmination of a year of debate around the future of the city’s library, with discussions on what books will be allowed to enter the library, where they can be placed, and whether library management should be turned over to a private company.
[Read: Are Public Librarians Gearing Up to Leave Huntington Beach?]
The council’s Democrat minority members attempted to put the issue of possibly outsourcing library management on the November ballot, letting voters decide if they wanted to move forward with having a private company take over managing the public library.
“I’m very reticent to put things on the ballot that aren’t legally required because we’re elected in a republican form of government,” said Councilman Dan Kalmick. “But because this issue is something that would be years to fix if it went south…I think we should ask the voters.”
But the Republican majority shot down the move, saying they just wanted to get more information on a way to possibly save the city some money on library management.
It comes after the Republican majority successfully got a series of charter amendments on the March 5 ballot when Huntington Beach voters adopted a voter ID law, and a ban on flags like the LGBTQ+ flag flying over city hall by double-digit margins.
Public speakers at the meeting were overwhelmingly in support of putting the library privatization question on the ballot – only one commenter over two hours of speakers endorsed the city council moving forward alone.
The council’s Republican majority said it would be an abdication of their responsibilities not to study the issue, and that they had a duty to look at ways of saving money even if they elected not to move forward with outsourcing library management.
“Whether we like it or not, past council’s actions have created a financial situation that’s going to be very difficult to navigate,” said Councilman Casey McKeon. “If you put all those decisions to a vote of the people, why even have a city council?”
Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark and other members of the council majority also accused the Democratic council minority of “fear mongering” in an attempt to shut down any sort of debate before they could get more information on the issue.
“The fear mongering that’s been happening is a perfect example of what’s going on in our country,” Van Der Mark said. “It’s in the city’s best interests to move forward with the (request for proposals.) Hopefully the fear mongering will stop.”
From there, debate around the issue shifted focus to the city budget, with the Republican council majority accusing the Democratic minority of costing the city money.
McKeon highlighted the Elan apartment project, which converted the apartments to middle income housing, and the $600,000 a year in tax dollars the city had given up for that plan.
“It’d be kind of nice to have that $600,000 back,” he said.
“It’d be great to have that $7 million back from the airshow,” Kalmick replied, referencing a controversial secret settlement with the operators of the Pacific Airshow stemming from the 2021 oil spill beach closure.
[Read: How Much Money Does the Pacific Airshow Bring to Huntington Beach?]
The rest of the meeting largely focused on both sides arguing over Kalmick’s past comments about the library, with the Republicans saying they felt mischaracterized.
“It says privatize. That’s not fear mongering?” McKeon said.
“You can call it privatization, you can call it outsourcing, but it’s a wholesale change in the management structure of the library.” said Councilwoman Rhonda Bolton. “Do what you will. People want to have their say about it.”
Council members closed their meeting in honor of Shirley Dettloff, a former mayor who’d been an outspoken critic of the current council’s changes at the library.
“I’m here to protest against privatizing our public libraries,” Detloff said at the March 20 council meeting. “Once again, with a budget crisis ahead, we’re spending money on something the public does not want. Stop this, but if you must, remember you have a well qualified staff and the voice of the community is not behind this proposal.”
Council members from both factions praised her respectful approach to disagreements over policy.
“I’m just wondering what she would think,” Bolton said, “looking at us now.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
