Mayor fails to make case for library services
The end of the library as we know it may be much nearer than we think.
In his Aug. 7 guest editorial, a rebuttal to recent columns objecting to the City Council’s handling of the library’s fate, Mayor Mike DeVleming fails to make his case in a big way. After a pedantic and patronizing lecture about basic economics, he makes the unsubstantiated claim that “we believe that viable and affordable alternatives may be readily available.”
This is the crux of the matter, and DeVleming is not forthcoming. Why does the council believe this is true? What are the alternatives? In a court of law, DeVleming’s statement would be thrown out for lack of evidence. If the police go to a judge for a search warrant, they must provide proof of probable cause. The mayor gives no proof for his claim whatsoever. Instead, he wraps his dramatic and unsupported statement in a patina of paternal concern.
As of this writing two vendors — LSSI and Library Associates — have been mentioned as likely competitors for city library services. Since LSSI was given a tour of facilities several months ago, it seems to have the inside track. Where are the other competitors? Valley citizens deserve to hear evidence, not lectures on economics.
The mayor’s article is a thinly veiled attack on the Spokane County Library District. While DeVleming writes “managed competition is not a complaint against the current provider” he also says the approach “provides existing service providers the opportunity to streamline their operations, adopt new business strategies, and pursue innovations that may not otherwise be considered … (managed competition) allows the current contractor a fresh opportunity to compete for city business.”
Hello? I think the man just insinuated library district still maintains a paper card catalog and 1200 baud dial-up modems. The whole statement is full of two-bit, overworked buzz words. Read between the lines — the mayor wants to pay the district less than they are paid now.
So much else is left unsaid.
How can the city let a contract to provide a service from facilities we do not yet own? In point of fact, the Valley does not have a library to outsource! We do not, at this time, own the land, the buildings or the catalog of a library.
While the council may believe that some portion of the library district’s assets are rightly property of the Valley, this alone does not provide proof of claim. To apply “managed competition” — whatever that means — to the library at this time is like a person making plans for an inheritance he has not yet received for an amount he does not yet know.
That might make good fodder for gags on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show,” but we are talking about millions of dollars here and the pockets of every taxpaying city resident.
The mayor — and apparently the rest of the city council — seem to have forgotten they are public servants, not autocrats, and they are in our employ. As such we can demand they “fully describe” their actions and their reasons for each and every decision, just as they seek potential service providers to “fully describe the costs of providing a service.”
In my book, the council’s approach to this issue bodes very poorly for things to come. Our community should be shaking in its boots if this is how our leaders are going to handle community concerns about the new sewage treatment plant or the re-evaluation of the contract with the Sheriff’s Department.
If the mayor’s rebuttal is an attempt to earn our confidence with soothing, measured words, he muffs it big time in his closing sentence. “Hopefully,” he writes, “the majority of changes will be for the better.”
Would you sign on the dotted line if the guy selling you home remodeling or auto repairs used a mea culpa like that to close the deal?
Give me a break!
We are adults. We want facts, not a brazen claim wrapped up in a fog of paternalism and held up by a sliver of hope.