STOCKTON - Former library director Natalie Rencher mismanaged the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, paying for things of little public benefit, hiring a friend with little relevant experience, reassigning staff arbitrarily and alienating library support groups, the county's civil grand jury said in a report issued Friday.
The report said the library suffered from "mismanagement, ineffective leadership, questionable use of public funds, low staff morale and general discontent." It said a deputy city manager's oversight was "ineffective and irresponsible."
City officials said the report contains inaccuracies indicative of a jury that disagreed with the direction taken by the library in response to budget reductions and changing technology. City Manager Gordon Palmer and Deputy City Manager Johnny Ford said money was not misappropriated and that oversight was neither ineffective nor irresponsible.
Ford - who oversaw the library during most of Rencher's tenure - said the jury did not call him to testify but should have.
Rencher had been a controversial figure at the library since her hiring in 2005, accused by some employees of being dictatorial and focusing on marketing and technology at the expense of library holdings and reference services. Rencher has said longtime employees were resistant to change.
Rencher, one of three department directors laid off in a cost-cutting measure in February, applied for the directorship the Birmingham Public Library in Alabama.
She told The Birmingham News last month, "I was the first person of color to lead the library, so there was a little unrest there."
Rencher, who was not selected in Birmingham, declined to comment Friday.
The jury reported it was "confident her failings were based on issues of competence and not racism."
The report said:
» Rencher created a new position and hired a friend from San Diego to fill it, her primary duty being to raise money for the library. The report said the employee had little related experience, and the jury "found no evidence of new fund development during her tenure."
Rencher and city officials have said the hiring of a former colleague, Cathy Clady, followed civil service procedure.
» Rencher "reassigned staff in an arbitrary manner with no input or prior notice," the report said. It said, "This unilateral action seemed to further entrench some staffers who were already resistant to change."
Deputy City Manager Laurie Montes said Rencher "was trying to do a lot of things differently, and she may have been walking into a kind of hornet's nest with that." Montes said, "We understood that she was having some problems, and we were trying to guide her in her relationships with staff."
She said Rencher was hired to "take the library in a new direction" but was prevented by the failing economy from doing so.
» Rencher contracted with several outfits, including a personal life coach, among expenses incurred "with virtually no benefit to the library system," the report said. It said, for example, that the city's use of Youniquely4U, an online marketing system, cost $75,000, had little positive impact and was discontinued.
Montes said Youniquely4U was a service to patrons that had yet to be fully implemented when budget reductions forced it to be discontinued. The City Council authorized the Youniquely4U contract in 2007.
» Library administrators alienated themselves from library support groups, the report said.
Vince Perrin, president of Friends of the Stockton Public Library, said: "It's not that we had a bad relationship. It's that we had no relationship." Rencher's husband and child continued to live in San Diego while Rencher was in San Joaquin County, and Perrin said that at many events, "Natalie was never there. I think she was in San Diego."
The library since Rencher's departure has been taken over by Community Services Director Pamela Sloan. The jury reported Sloan "seems to have an understanding of the existing problems and how to remedy them."
Mayor Ann Johnston said that since Sloan's installment, "I've got nothing but positive feedback both from the staff and the patrons of the library."
The jury recommended the city and county establish a library advisory board.
"That's something we should, can and probably will do," said Leroy Ornellas, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors. However, he said, "I'm wondering if something with a little bit more teeth might be in order."
The city and county roughly split the cost of the library, but the city runs the system. After city furloughs reduced library hours at branches outside city, the county board decided in December to scrutinize the terms of the partnership.
"I think we're in a good place now to restructure the terms of our relationship," Supervisor Steve Bestolarides said Friday.
The grand jury is a group of citizens that cannot force any agency to follow its recommendations. The city is to submit a response to the report within 30 days.
Contact reporter David Siders at (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090606/A_NEWS/906060318/-1/A_NEWS04
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