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October 27, 2011

Cumberland County freeholder candidates have their say on the county library

http://www.nj.com
October 26, 2011,
By Jason Laday/The News of Cumberland County The News of Cumberland County

BRIDGETON — This is the fourth in a series of seven articles focusing on the candidates for Cumberland County freeholder, and their positions on the issues. This entry covers the future of Cumberland County Library. Friday’s story will focus on social services in the county.

The candidates are: Democrats Freeholder Director Bill Whelan, Freeholder Deputy Director Jim Dunkins, Deerfield Township Committeewoman Carol Musso and Tony Surace; against Republicans William Gonzalez, Sandy Taylor, Mary Gruccio and Jody Farabella.

Listen back to any one of the various public hearings and meetings regarding the budget last year, and one would assume the Cumberland County Library was the only issue that mattered.

For a time, for many, it was.

When it was announced the freeholders were targeting the $900,000 operation for closure, scores of supporters came out, writing letters and all but begging officials to find a way to keep the library open.

In the end, they did — albeit with some cuts, including a $61,000 cut in operating expenses and a challenge to come up with $215,405 on its own.

However, several officials made it clear the library would only be safe for at least a year; that come the next budget cycle Cumberland County Library could easily find itself on the chopping block again.

That time is fast approaching.

While they admit it may not be the most popular option, the Republicans have advocated eliminating the county library and using the savings to bolster the local libraries in Bridgeton, Millville, Vineland, Port Norris and at Cumberland County College.

“I think we all have to consolidate,” said GOP candidate Sandy Taylor. “I mean, we have all these libraries, it’s not fair for the taxpayers to have to pay for everything; I think we need to scale down a little bit in these economic times.”

Fellow Republican William Gonzalez agreed, picking up on the issue of “fairness.

“Every city is being taxed twice,” he said. “We have a Cumberland County College library where taxpayer money also goes to, as well.”

Later, Gonzalez added: “What we’re saying is to eliminate the county library as it currently stands, and re-organize that library, and in doing so, free up money to assist the other five libraries in the county to get better service to the entire county, and not just the residents of that town.”

For Democratic Freeholder Director Bill Whelan, who oversaw the last budget cycle in which the library was threatened and saved, it’s still too early to say what will happen to the facility.

“We’re just starting to process of pulling together budgetary numbers for next year,” said Whelan.

“Is it on the chopping block? We’re going through all of the departments to see what can be done and what will be cut.

“There’s been no direction given to the county administrator to cut anything. At this point, we’re gathering the information from department heads and seeing what kind of numbers we have, and then we’ll progress from there.”

Whelan said they’ll have the information they need by January or February.

“Then we’ll have a much better handle on things, he added. “They’ll be all kinds of proposals.

“What we did last year was ask for a prioritization from the department heads. We were just trying to be transparent last year, and we got the results.”

What resulted from the initial announcement of the county’s plans to close the county library last was an outpouring of support for the facility. Residents packed freeholder and budget meetings, giving their own personal stories about how the library helped them get a job, or how helped improve their grades in school.

Republican candidate Jody Farabella stated he understood closing the library would be an issue for many people, but he added that people were struggling with taxes and needed relief.

“We’re talking about shared services — it’s one of the things we need to explore,” said Farabella. “It’s a no-brainer. It’s a lot of money there.

“It’s going to bring up some issues, but you’re asking questions about how to help the taxpayer, and that’s one of the options.”

Whelan pointed out that he was appreciative of the large turnouts in favor of the county library, stating it showed people still cared about their county government.

“I really mean that,” said Whelan. “If you saw the meetings at all, I very patiently allowed people to say what was on their mind, even when they were repeating themselves, and saying things that weren’t particularly relevant, but were things they felt they had to say.

“Any time we’re going to cut something, we’re going to hear from the public,” added Whelan. “Then you’ll have another group of people who say you’re doing the right thing. And ,so, I expect anything that we talk about will be defended by those who love it.”

Republican Mary Gruccio said officials need to learn more about how residents use the library, and act accordingly.

“I think you really have to take a look at the use of the library,” said Gruccio. “Is it being used? How much is it used for books and materials and resources? Are they using the technology?

“Because maybe you keep a piece of it; maybe you keep the technology lab for the people, or maybe you scale down. I don’t think we know all that we need to know off the top of our head as of today.”

Last year, Jean Edwards, acting director of the county library, stated approximately 70,000 residents walked through the doors of the Cumberland County Library over the previous year.
Another 30,000 took advantage of the library’s bookmobile, which circulated more than 13,000 items at 376 stops, including schools, senior centers and prisons.

According to library figures, 26,000 people logged on to the public access computers there, using them for school assignments, research, finding employment and social networking.

In all, the library in 2010 loaned 74,520 books and other materials, as well as 13,682 movies.

Residents used the library’s website, clueslibs.org, to download 1,010 books from home.

Also in 2010: Almost 900 people enrolled in classes at the library in subjects including keyboarding, cover letter writing, résumé writing, computer basics, job searching, various Microsoft software and basic Internet skills.

Posted by tumulty at October 27, 2011 6:28 PM

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