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By DEREK MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
UPDATED, Monday, Aug. 6, 2012:
It appears that Sonoma County Library Director Sandra Cooper will be sticking around.
Cooper, who applied to become director of the East Baton Rouge Parish library system in Louisiana, learned Saturday that she was not a finalist for the job.
Cooper said Monday that her lack of experience with building new library branches hurt her chances.
“Clearly, they were looking for someone that’s built buildings,” she said.
Two branch libraries are either being built or are about to go under construction in East Baton Rouge Parish, while a third is in the design phase, according to The Advocate newspaper.
The paper reported that E. Spencer Watts was chosen Saturday as the lone finalist for the East Baton Rouge Parish position. Watts is the director of the Mobile, Ala., public library system.
Cooper’s job search came as she is fending off criticism for her leadership of the Sonoma County Library.
A county grand jury on June 28 released a report claiming that Cooper is an “unresponsive” leader who “undermines the spirit” of the 1975 joint powers agreement that created the county’s modern library system.
Cooper said she had mixed feelings about not getting the job in Louisiana.
“I’m not eager to leave. It was a rare job that looked interesting,” she said.
EARLIER:
Embattled Sonoma County Library Director Sandra Cooper confirmed Wednesday that she is a semi-finalist for a similar job in East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana.
Sandra Cooper
Cooper said she applied for the position two weeks ago after the June 28 release of a scathing grand jury report that called her an “unresponsive” leader who “undermines the spirit” of the 1975 joint powers agreement that created the county’s modern library system.
But Cooper on Wednesday insisted that her application had nothing to do with the critical report.
“It’s not the grand jury report because the grand jury report is so inaccurate,” she said.
She said she also doesn’t feel like her job in Sonoma County is in jeopardy as a result of the grand jury’s findings.
“No, because it’s not,” she said.
The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge first reported Wednesday that Cooper is one of five semi-finalists for director of the parish’s library system. A search committee is scheduled to interview her this Saturday via Skype.
Cooper informed Julia Freis, chairwoman of Sonoma County’s Library Commission, of her job application. Cooper then notified the group’s other six members after she was contacted by the media.
Freis said if Cooper were to depart “it would be a loss for Sonoma County.”
“Despite some of the issues that have arisen, she is a very good director,” Freis said.
Asked whether she thought the grand jury report prompted Cooper’s job search, Freis replied, “I would guess that being continually insulted publicly over and over again might have had something to do with it.”
The grand jury report’s basic premise was that Cooper rules by fiat and by micro-managing with the commission going along with whatever she wants.
That view was contested in the commission’s draft response to the grand jury that was posted to the commission’s website on Tuesday. Freis said the 15-page document was written by her and Cooper, with input from Tim May, the commission’s vice-chairman.
The draft response says the commission “regularly” questions Cooper. “While this may not be done in a confrontational tone, it is done,” the authors wrote.
The document also casts Cooper as a competent and receptive leader who “on occasion must recommend or implement unpopular decisions.”
County supervisors grilled of Cooper during a budget hearing two days before the grand jury released its report. Supervisor Mike McGuire told Cooper he believed she has been operating the library “like an island.”
In a June 4 letter to the library commission, Supervisor Efren Carrillo wrote that “Cooper would do well to remember that the library system runs on public dollars.”
Supervisors are calling for a revision of the library’s operating agreement to give them more oversight of the director’s job, including possibly the power to fire Cooper. The grand jury also sought that review.
But Cooper and Freis, in their proposed response to the grand jury, raise concerns about altering the agreement, which in their view “has effectively advanced the services provided (by the library) as the community has grown and changed.”
Freis said commissioners will discuss the proposed grand jury response at their meeting on Monday before they finalize the document in September. “It’s just a jumping off point for discussion,” she said.
The document notes a number of inaccuracies in the grand jury report and disagrees “wholly or partially” with all 10 of the grand jury’s findings. It does agree with a conclusion that the commission has no formal training to assist them with their work.
Freis, an attorney, said she doesn’t view the draft document as a rejection of the grand jury report “whole cloth, or even substantially.”
“We looked at this report and tried to be very thoughtful and open to what the grand jury was saying,” she said.
Cooper said she was attracted to the job in Louisiana because she grew up there, attended school at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and still has family in the area.
She noted that East Baton Rouge Parish has about the same population as Sonoma County and that the two library systems are of a similar size.
She said the East Baton Rouge library has a larger budget — $38 million compared to about $14 million in Sonoma County — plus more staff and a bigger circulation.
“Those things make it attractive to me. I don’t apply for jobs every day,” she said.
Cooper said this is the first time she has sought other employment since she was hired as director of the Sonoma County Library in 2005. She is paid a base salary of $150,820, plus an additional $39,829 in benefits.
The job in Baton Rouge pays between $72,388 and $100,202. Cooper said she factored in Louisiana’s cost-of-living when deciding to apply for the job.
Asked what her plans are if she does not get the job, Cooper replied, “to keep on keeping on.”
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uh, if you can’t afford an E-book , you really are down & out.
Well if not Louisiana, how about the door?
The county library system is a mess and needs a massive overhaul. The management structure, the overseer board, the dirty libraries, the open hours, the lack of ebooks, the staff attitudes, are just a few of the reasons a new sheriff in town might bring some law and order to an out of control organization which is currently providing a poor service to the public.
If all Kathy Neville did was mistreat the employees under her then she would still have her job. If you read the accounts of her other failings to do her job FOR THE COMMUNITY then you would understand why the BOS let her go. The BOS are contracting out county employee jobs and outsourcing without a thought for the employees getting layoffs (not managers-rank and file). They can always create another job for a manager.
Snarky-I guess you assume that EVERYONE has an E-book or computer, right? We’re all just rolling in dough.
The library offers much more.
@ grapevines
Your comments seem a bit harsh.. Are you sure staff didnt suffer from low morale long before Neville” You are right…things are never what they seem….. Good luck with your questioning government!
“clarification” I work in private industry. I’ve lived here in Sonoma County since 1977 and I’ve watched the city, county, and state government of California go straight into the toilet for quite a while now.
I’m in my late 60′s, and except for 10 years prior to my 16th birthday, and 2 years since then, I’ve lived in California exclusively.
I know people who work for the county and had Cathy Neville as their boss. And they had very low moral because of her.
As far as the supervisor’s trying to hide their secrets, you’ll have to ask them that. But if people don’t question and ask, where does that leave us??
Our streets are deteriorating, we have to let every other street light go out, how long till it’s one in 3? The BOS were real quick to vote themselves the funds to fly off to Amsterdam and attend the Global Warming Conference, but what has it gotten us? Now they “explored” having the auditor appointed by themselves, which would leave that position dependent on the BOS and not independent of it.
Where does the power grab stop and the real work of serving the people in the county begin? Which is more important? Nowadays it seems that serving the people is more and more taking a back seat to “perks”, “pensions”, “salaries” (see SMART Train director, $750 a day and Accountant $500 a day. Based on a 365 day year)
Lastly as far as Cathy Neville walking rescue dogs and all, even Hitler could say that he supported the arts. Things are not always as they seem.
@ Grapevines
It is to bad that the BOS are not doing their job to represent their constituents …or to attempt to make any kind of strategic plan to improve the roads.. or to deal with any of the “real’ issues in the county.
Are you a county worker or do you work in private industry?
Is your opinion about Cathy Neville based on the PD propaganda or the BOS agenda to get rid of her? I see her walking around town with her 2 rescue dogs. My understanding is that she accomplished many projects whe overseeing a troubled departmet, brought in millions of dollars to the agricultural department and hired many local staff for projects. Ialso understand she worked in another county for 25 years and she left that county with a good reputation. The real question is how much money did the BOS spend on the investigator that created a report from underperforming staff, never interviewed under penalty of perjury? What were the bonuses and perks given to each staffer that was interviewed? How much money has the BOS spent in trying to hide their dirty little secrets?
Does anyone else think it strange that one of the items that the BOS were trying to advance was their own personal power over how the library is being run?
They admitted “Supervisors are calling for a revision of the library’s operating agreement to give them more oversight of the director’s job, including possibly the power to fire Cooper”
Well first it was the Ag Commissioner Cathy Neville, fired by the BOS, no loss there. Then they “explored” appointing their own auditor to “watch” (wink-wink) over how they spent taxpayer dollars.
Does anyone remember the thousands they spent on themselves to go to Amsterdam and attend the Global Warming Conference? Gee we sure got our money’s worth out of that didn’t we?? How many potholes would that fill Queen Brown???
And now they are stretching forth their claws, trying to ensnare and enslave the library??
For Pete’s Sake!! If they expanded as much energy on fixing the roads, gang intervention, and infrastructure as they do on “expanding their powers”, think of how much nicer things would be around here.
Bit don’t even mention county employee pension reform, right now I’m cataloging books before Efren Carrillo and Queen Valerie Brown come in here and mess things up.
The commission should lay out in full its draft document response to the grand jury in its agenda at next Monday’s meeting. The public should be informed of exactly what Chair Freis and Dir. Cooper have written. We need to know precisely how and to what extent they are contesting the grand jury’s conclusions.
Snarky,
The library has become complicated. No longer is a collection of good books enough. We now want in addition DVDs, music, audio books, and of course every format of electronic books. Guess what, someone’s going to be disappointed.
But, I’m with you. More digital stuff. Books? They should be kept in the cheapest bldg possible for pickup by patrons. It’s time to rethink libraries.
The personal attacks are childish just like sniveling that the Coddingtown Mall parking lot “could be seen from space.”
The library is out of date in its current form and needs to be brought into the current era.
My friends & family from outside of Sonoma County are astounded that it has next to nothing in the way of downloadable E-books.
I always have to explain that the primary goal of the local public employees is to save government jobs at all costs…. and E-books, although hugely popular with patrons across the country, create less need for library public employee jobs… hence… the library intentionally avoids them as much as possible.
Egads, Missy, rethink the rhetorical hysteria. The library director treated employyees as badly as Stalin! Please, tell us where are those Gulags where brutalized library employees die from torture and starvation?
History’s victims deserve better.
Does anyone else find it hilarious that this Stalinist/Marxist from Sonoma County, who treated employees as badly as a mini-dictator Stalin did is now going to grovel to work in a red state?
Oh the irony…..
It appears Julia Fries and the rest of the Commission do not listen to the public either. Sounds like the Board os Supervisor are listening to the community whay doesn’t the the Library Commission.
Any chance she can take Kathy Neville with her?