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By DEREK MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Critics of Sonoma County Library Director Sandra Cooper packed a meeting Monday night in Sonoma to relay their concerns that the library
Sandra Cooper (PD FILE, 2012)
system is being poorly run under her direction.
Several speakers at the library commission meeting were critical of Cooper’s decision to close the county’s 13 library branches on Mondays and what they said was her failure to order furnishings that had been paid for by library support groups.
“It’s a continuing and continuing disconnect, and we all want the same thing,” said Daphne Matthews, a librarian at the Sonoma Valley branch for 21 years.
An overflow crowd of about 50 people attended the meeting at the West Napa Street library.
The concerns raised about Cooper mirrored those in a county grand jury report released last week that said she is an “unresponsive” leader who “undermines the spirit” of the 1975 joint powers agreement that created the county’s modern library system.
Toward the end of Monday’s meeting, the commission only took up the procedural issue of who would draft the response to the grand jury. It has 90 days to do so.
The fact the grand jury response wasn’t addressed until 10:30 p.m. disappointed one man who told commissioners it made people question whether “it was deliberate or not.”
Commissioner Mary Evelyn Arnold, who represents the Sonoma Valley, replied that it wasn’t put there “for any nefarious reason.”
The library commission, which has seven members appointed by county supervisors and by city councils in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, meets monthly and has authority over the director’s job.
County supervisors grilled Cooper last week during a budget hearing, with Supervisor Mike McGuire telling Cooper he believed she has been operating the library “like an island.”
Supervisors are calling for a revision of the library’s operating agreement that could give them more oversight of the director’s job, including possibly the power to fire her.
The staff report prepared for Monday’s commission meeting described the “tone” of the meeting with supervisors as “positive.”
Commissioner Helena Whistler, who was appointed by Supervisor Efren Carrillo, complained commissioners were not given notice about the supervisors’ budget hearing last Tuesday with Cooper and suggested the meeting has been mischaracterized.
She said supervisors “were looking for a plan of collaboration and communication. It’s not just a response to the board. It’s keeping the board and public informed.”
The commission’s agenda included how it should respond to the grand jury report. The commission postponed a closed session discussion of Cooper’s job performance.
Dena Bliss, who leads a group called Sonoma County Save our Libraries, told the commission that Cooper had not addressed public criticism of the Monday closures, except to issue an “apologist statement” saying “why it was not possible.”
Robyn Makaruk, chairwoman of the Sonoma Library Advisory Board, said the group was having trouble getting approval to buy furnishings that had been paid for with donations.
Makaruk said “the communication level has been difficult with the director” and Cooper has “somewhat disconnected” from the library support groups.
Last week, Cooper defended her job performance and said she has been the subject of personal attacks. She said supervisors had a “legitimate concern” about her not keeping them informed on what’s happening at the library.
Cooper, who was hired in 2005, is paid a base salary of $150,820, plus $39,829 in benefits.
You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.
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She gets paid so much because she’s a County department head / administrator type. They can’t live in Bennett Valley or Marin County, send their offspring to private schools, and drive $60k cars (subsidized by the county, of course) if they earned only what they’re worth. These types probably can’t make it in private corporate culture, where the real money is, so they take the next best route to earning more than they deserve – government.
Why does she get paid so much money?
The Library Commission reaffirmed what I have read in the Grand Jury’s report. It appears that the Library isn’t ours “The Publics” yes I said it is no longer The Public Library as many of have us known it to be. It may as well be called the Cooper Book Place or the Fries Collection. Because there is nothing public about it. This Commission should be ashamed at how they handled themselves last night. I hope the man filming it releases that film soon. The arrogance was fuming from the Commission as they resembled nothing close to being a humble servant of the public good. They became angry and defensive at comments made and scoffed at the suggestion that having the “Hot Topic” at the end of the agenda looked to be intentional. Then adding insult to injury by not even talking about it was truly revealing.
Send Cooper on her way, cut the salary and benefits to a reasonable rate and assign the supervision of the position to the county administrator to hire and fire.
There will be a line around the block of willing applicants to fill the position.
The county needs a real manager, not a librarian lending out books running the system.
Now can we all get on to some real issues facing the county like pensions, wages, the roads and how the Board of Supervisors gets paid?
The management style and decisions of Dir. Cooper, as documented in the grand jury report and seen at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, unfortunately represent a barrier to efficient, open and patron-centered libraries. It is disappointing that virtually nothing was addressed with regard to her last night. The commission needs to exercise its authority and resolve this situation one way or another as speedily as possible.
I also hope both the commission and the director intend to do more than just reply to the grand jury within the 90 day response deadline. They should also make every effort to actually complete where possible, or at last begin, to comply with all the orders of the grand jury.
Another matter of concern was the announcement by Chair Freis that SEIU has failed to review employee bargaining papers in a timely manner, thus preventing the employees from yet seeing the proposed contract terms. This is another matter of negligence and needs to be handled quickly by union officials. who appear to be severely procrastinating, for whatever reason.
Vice Chair May did ask for costs for opening a library on Mondays for a few hours, and that is a small step in the right direction. But it really doesn’t go far enough. It is important that the commission and director see their way clear to opening half the libraries on Monday and half on Tuesday while they look for financial avenues that can restore us to a full six-day schedule.
I’ll take the job! 200K a year to manage 13 libraries, count me in brother.
I’ll be cooperative, courteous, on time to work, no sick days, and I’ll buy my boss lunch every day.
Seriously these local government wage’s are ABSOLUTELY absurd. 200K to hire talentless, do nothing, blame everyone else leadership? They wouldn’t make it as the greeter at Walmart.