To the Editor:
I wish to express my thanks to the members of
the Grand Jury for their 2015 Report on the Mendocino County Free Library.
Thanks also to Jonathan Middlebrook who laid out their findings very clearly in
his column It’s All Good, on June 16.
For two years in a row, the Grand Jury has
found that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has approved a library
budget that funds the District Librarian’s salary from Library funds, including
revenues from Measure A, which are designated solely for library services and
not for the Librarian’s salary. Another concern that’s not going away is that
the County is charging the Library an annual fee for equipment and materials
purchased by the County after the 15-year time limit on such fees.
I quote from the 2015 Grand Jury Report:
“The 2013-14 Grand Jury pointed out that the
Librarian’s salary is required to be paid out of the same fund as that of other
County officials (General Fund) as stated in Education Code 19147. This reading
of the code section is categorically rejected by County officials.
Their current interpretation of this code
section relies on changing the word “same” into “same kind of” and on ignoring
the companion section, Education Code 19148.”
The Board of Supervisors chose to respond to
the 2013-14 Grand Jury findings on the Mendocino Free Library by hiring an
attorney from southern California (for $16,000 at taxpayer expense) to refute
the findings. They categorically dismissed all but one.
Will the Board of
Supervisors’ response to the recurring concerns raised in the 2015 Grand Jury
Report be as costly and arrogant?
July 8, 2015
Ukiah
Daily Journal
Letter
from Lynn Zimmerman, Ukiah
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