Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mark Stone re-iterated to the Felton Library Friends that he will continue to fight to keep the Felton Library branch open, even in the midst of continuing budget cuts for the whole library system.
“There is this notion that people from the valley can be served by Scotts Valley (Library),” Stone told the FLF at their Feb. 23 meeting. “It’s just not the case.”
Stone, who is a member of the Library Joint Powers Board, met with about 20 friends of the library on Tuesday afternoon and re-upped his commitment to look beyond the usage statistics in order to keep the Felton branch open.
Felton’s hours were cut back severely in July 2009 as the library system slashed $1.2 million from its budget because property and sales taxes declined in the county.
Felton is open eight hours each week and, when the library is not open, Felton residents often drive to Scotts Valley, which in turn increases the Scotts Valley branch’s usage statistics. The Scotts Valley branch is open 32 hours each week.
The conundrum comes, Stone said, when the Joint Powers Board votes on its budget, the statistics indicate that fewer patrons want to use the Felton Library.
“What I’ve been trying to instill in the board is if branches get closed…then we as a system lose those votes,” Stone said.
Stone said even though the branch is open only eight hours a week, it is a placeholder to keep a library presence in Felton as plans for a new Felton Library next to the Post Office wait in the wings.
“What I am afraid of is, that in sacrificing some of these branches we’ll never get them back,” he said.
Stone said library Director Teresa Landers, a Felton resident, is beginning to look at a countywide bond measure to stabilize funding for the library system – However, Stone suspects that the bond would be put on the ballot no earlier than 2012.
The Felton Friends plan to continue with a presence at Joint Powers Board meetings, said Michelle Mosher and Paul Machlis, and a group will attend the March 1 meeting to talk about keeping hours at the Felton branch in the upcoming budget cycle.
“One of the things that has always impressed me about Felton and (FLF) is the sustained support,” Stone said to the group.
At the meeting, the Friends said they hope to find a way to add Saturday hours to the Felton branch to serve parents who can’t make it on Tuesday or Thursday when the library is open.
The friends also decided to forgo the annual Felton Library Friends Ice Cream Social in 2010 in the interest of focusing efforts on other community outreach, like a booth in the June 5 Redwood Mountain Faire at Roaring Camp.
The group has about $27,000 in the bank and decided at the meeting to allot $1,200 to the Felton Library to use to re-furbish chairs in the library or for another use to improve the facility.
For information: www.feltonlibraryfriends.org
