Valley chooses public library

The Spokane Valley City Council chose public over private.

Making a decision that wasn’t expected until next week, the council directed the city’s staff to negotiate a contract with the Spokane County Library District to run the Valley library branch next year. In doing so, it rejected a proposal from Library Systems & Services LLC (LSSI), a private Maryland-based company.

The council had asked two groups – its staff and a committee of citizens and council members – to study proposals made to run the library in Spokane Valley. Both groups recommended contracting with the district Tuesday night.

“On everything we looked at, Spokane County Library District came out clearly ahead,” committee chairwoman Julie Rosenoff said.

The district’s bid of about $2.27 million for 2005 services was $100,000 more than LSSI’s proposal. The price difference between the two bids grows each year thereafter, until the overall savings after five years would have been about $750,000 if the council went with the company.

The district based its fee on the value of property in Spokane Valley, which is how patrons in its other jurisdictions pay for service. Deputy City Manager Nina Regor said she didn’t agree with that approach. In all of its contracts, the city has advocated paying based on the cost of the services provided.

The council chose more than a year ago to open up some 2005 contracts to competition as part of its effort to find the best services for the lowest price for taxpayers. Earlier this year, the council chose the library and the parks maintenance contracts for the competition pilot program.

The district, which runs the library now, and LSSI were the only bidders for the job.

Regor said Tuesday that LSSI does a nice job coming into communities where library service is poor and fixing the problem.

But, “There is a high satisfaction rate (for the service) Valley residents are currently receiving,” she said.

Rosenoff said the committee chose the district because, as a public entity, it’s more accountable to citizens. It also employs top-notch librarians and gives patrons access to more materials than LSSI was able to provide.

The district guaranteed that patrons would have access to materials at the district’s other branches and access to Spokane Public Library materials, too. LSSI wanted to offer that, too, but couldn’t promise it.

When the city announced it was opening the library contract to competition last spring, the idea of a privatized library quickly proved unpopular with many library patrons. Critics of privatization said a company would be in it for the profits and that its librarians might be less knowledgeable, among other concerns.

Since then, some patrons have urged council members to contract with the district or allow citizens to vote to annex to the district. The committee was created to ensure public input in the decision.

Robert Windrow, vice president of LSSI, flew from Maryland on Tuesday for the meeting. After the council made its decision, he said, “I understand their rationale behind it.”

Councilman Mike Flanigan, who served on the committee, echoed comments made by patrons for the last several months.

“If we had a library system where we had citizens complaining, ‘What are you going to do about this mess?’ I think LSSI would make a lot of sense,” he said. “The issue for myself was, one, is it going to be better and if so how much? And also what’s the problem with what we have?

“We have a great system. They do a great job running the library district.”