Friends of the Library is a staple of volunteerism throughout Orange County’s municipal libraries. 

Volunteers sell books, host events and often add to their local library budgets. 

But in Huntington Beach, city council members are now questioning if they want to accept nearly a million dollars in donations from the volunteer group amidst a debate over what role volunteers should hold in shaping their local library. 

While Huntington Beach’s Friends of the Library have been around since 1971, they’ve begun vocally disagreeing with city leaders over the direction of the library in the past four years amid a push from city council members to restrict access to some books they felt were pornographic, with voters ultimately throwing out the council’s book review policies last June. 

Read: Huntington Beach Special Election Results: Residents Weigh in on the Library

Under this city council, the local library’s become one of the most frequent discussions in town, triggering intense hours of debate at city hall over privatizing the library’s operations and possibly restricting what books are brought and displayed, eventually triggering ballot initiatives and lawsuits. 

About two months before residents voted down the council’s proposal for the library, Mayor Casey McKeon called to set up contracts and standardized rules for all city volunteer groups due to what he and some council members call their “quasi-agency” status. 

[Read: Huntington Beach Looks to Regulate Nonprofits Helping Fill Service Gaps]

While several other nonprofits and volunteer groups have signed deals with the city, the Friends of the Library are still negotiating over when and how the money they give the city can be used. 

Now, the group wants to give the city $825,000 over the next two years – but the grant would require the money be spent exclusively on books, and requires city leaders to follow a state law that limits what books they can exclude from the library. 

The grant would also guarantee them rights to use the library throughout the year for events, in addition to preserving the current space of their gift shop. 

To review a copy of Friends of the Library’s proposed grant, click here. 

McKeon said he’s optimistic the two sides can reach an agreement, despite calling many of their terms “inappropriate,” in a Wednesday interview, saying the city wants to work with them but needs to guarantee their insurance and maintain control of the library.

“It gives a lot of control of the library to the Friends of the Library,” McKeon said.  

He also called for “true accounting,” of all proceeds from the book sales and fundraisers that take place on city property. 

“They occupy our gift shop, don’t pay any rent, and sell merchandise,” McKeon said. “There’s not a natural flow of money from those transactions to the city, it’s always just been a handshake.” 

Elaine Keeley, president of the Friends of the Library, also said she believes they can reach a deal with the city, but said many of the current issues are coming from misunderstandings on the city’s side about how they can spend the money.

“I think there’s some misunderstandings about our funds and what we can do with them and how we earn them,” Keeley said in a Thursday interview. “Our nonprofit is focused on trying to maintain the library’ s collection of books and materials.” 

Keeley said the group has up to date insurance for its volunteers and has always abided by the city’s volunteering rules, noting she was “baffled,” the city wouldn’t accept the grant and more volunteer work, noting they also wanted to guarantee the library’s collection remains moving forward. 

“We’re sensitive to banning books and following the state guidelines,” Keeley said. “Follow the Freedom to Read Act…it’s pretty simple.” 

She also noted they weren’t legally able to use any of the money on projects like retrofitting the library’s fountains or other capital improvement projects, but that they were interested in starting or joining other groups to make that happen. 

“We want to work with the city,” Keeley said. “It’s unfortunate to be stuck in codifying some things we’ve always done right or some misunderstandings about how money can be done right when we have energy and passion.”