Library spared by county-city deal
By Jesse Phelps

The state bureaucrats cutting funds to local libraries can read 'em and weep. The city and the county came together Tuesday night to find a solution to the state-created money problems facing the Ojai Library. And they succeeded, if temporarily.

Proponents of keeping the library open seven days a week, with its full complement of community services, came out in droves to the council chambers. After hearing several impassioned pleas and with an assurance that the county will contribute a similar amount, City Council voted unanimously to release approximately $27,000 to forestall a serious reduction in library hours and the release of three, or possibly four, library employees.

Over the past several years, funding reductions have hobbled disbursement to county libraries, a trend only exacerbated by California's current budget crisis. Despite the cuts in support, Ojai's library has remained open seven days week, for a total of 55 hours, thanks in large part to a parcel tax voted in by local citizens.

If not for the parcel tax, the library would currently be open only 24 hours per week, a number that would have been reduced to nine beginning Sept. 8 without some last-minute financial magic Tuesday night.

With additional threats to funding from the state looming or going into effect, Starrett Kreissman of Ventura County Library Services asked the council members if they could help find a timely remedy.

The extra funding necessary to keep library services at their current levels, said Kreissman, totals about $59,000. The council pledged $27,000 - from a surplus from past parcel taxes totaling nearly $60,000 - and asked that Kreissman do her best to match from a county reserve fund. The county holding contains $80,000 specifically earmarked for Ojai.

Kreissman, who said she always looks forward to coming to Ojai because the citizens care so much about their library, intimated that she didn't think it would be a problem to come up with the balance of the funds.

This is great news for the library and its corps of dedicated patrons and friends. It means that an impending loss of 15 hours per week, including the halting of Sunday service, is no more; and it means keeping jobs.

Mayor Joe DeVito said he'd received several letters in support of the library, including one from the owners of the Oaks at Ojai hotel, located just across the street from the library. They specifically mentioned the Sunday hours as particularly valuable to their customers. Another, signed by 40 people, spoke to the value of bilingual librarian Susan Dykstra.

Perhaps the night's biggest winners were Ojai's Latinos. Dykstra, who runs the popular Amigos bilingual story hour, in which local youngsters can get together and listen to stories or play with reptiles, among other treats, was one of the employees due for reassignment to another location.

Local resident Adan Lara, who helped set up the Amigos program three years ago, said it would be a "big mistake" to cut hours. But, more important, he said, is keeping Dykstra in the fold. In eloquently broken English Lara said, "She always is speaking Spanish with the families. If a family comes in and asks for help, she is the one who goes and helps everybody. If she will be not there, I don't know what's going to happen. If nobody speaks Spanish with this family the first time, this family will never go back."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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