PROVIDENCE – Mayor David N. Cicilline has proposed a three-year contract with the Providence Public Library system that would increase city funding by 10 percent and establish a permanent joint advisory board. The library is now operating on a one-year extension of their previous agreement, which expires at the end of this month.
The mayor said his Memorandum of Agreement is based on the deliberations of the Library Partnership Working Group established last year by the city and the PPL. The proposal was transmitted yesterday to the 30 members of the PPL board of trustees and to a subcommittee of the Partnership Working Group.
“For over a century, Providence has relied on a public-private partnership to support our libraries, which play an invaluable role in the lives of our residents,” Cicilline said. “This agreement preserves and strengthens that partnership.”
“The city’s contract proposal addresses many of the goals set out by the library in January and can be the basis, with some modifications, for a contractual agreement,” Tonia Mason, the PPL’s director of marketing communications, said in an e-mail interview with Providence Business News.
“We are especially pleased that the mayor has committed to finding a suitable municipal location for library services in Washington Park,” Mason said. “Importantly, the proposal recognizes that the level of municipal library services has to be molded to the city’s library appropriation.”
But, she added, “While the proposal keeps all branches open with little or no changes in hours, the city proposes, instead, a reduction in the quality of services.”
To operate the municipal branch system, the PPL currently receives $3 million per year from the City of Providence and $750,000 in state matching funds. To make up the remainder of the PPL’s roughly $4.5 million branch budget for fiscal 2007, Mason said, the library agreed to provide a one-time allocation of $520,000 toward branch operations, and the city and library each agreed to provide up to $250,000 in additional funding, if necessary.
“This one-time allocation from the Library involved deferring a regular pension contribution, holding off on maintenance … and other actions,” she said, “and was made to provide the year for the city and library to work on its first-ever contract to redefine its relationship going forward.”
A further “redefinition” was proposed by the PPL in March, when it said a city takeover of the library system might yield savings of 24 percent. (READ MORE)
PPL operates the Central Library on a separate $4 million budget that includes $1 million per year in state funding, for the Statewide Reference Resource Center, and about $3 million in private money, Mason said.
Under the plan laid out in the mayor’s Memorandum of Agreement, the library system would retain its independent status and the city would increase its annual contribution by 10 percent.
After three years, the agreement would be automatically renewed for another three years unless notice were provided at least six months in advance.
Other provisions of the plan include:
• The city would retract its demand for additional seats on the PPL board – the mayor currently is allowed to choose one of the library’s 30 trustees – in exchange for the formation of a permanent Library Partnership Committee, “charged with developing long-range strategic facilities options” and with reviewing the library’s budget, facilities, service and staffing plans. Its role regarding PPL personnel issues, board membership, long-term funds and the library endowment would be “purely advisory,” the mayor’s memo said.
• The PPL would provide the city with monthly statistical reports, including detailed data for each branch and all major library programs.
• The city and the PPL would work together “to identify cost reductions and efficiencies that can be achieved through joint purchasing, shared contracting, co-location and other similar cooperative efforts.” The savings would go toward library operations.
• The city would provide $400,000 to upgrade the Washington Park Branch, as previously agreed, and would work with the PPL to find an alternative location.
• The mayor would “jumpstart PPL fundraising efforts,” serving as honorary chairman of a library fundraising drive.
“Not only does this agreement assure the continuation of library services in the City of Providence, it also creates a framework for the Library to grow and evolve through collaboration,” Cicilline said.
“The library negotiating team will be reviewing and making adjustments to the proposal and expects to have it back for the City’s final approval within the next few days,” Mason said.
Some “minor clarifications and word-smithing” have already been proposed by the Library Transition Team, she said. “Since these changes are minor and have been verbally acknowledged by the city as oversights and areas which needed clarification, we expect a quick approval.”
The PPL board of trustees is expected to consider a revised proposal at a special meeting this Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Barnard Room, on the 3rd floor of the PPL’s Central Library, at 150 Empire St.
The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 21, at noon.
Additional information – including the dates and locations of Providence Public Library public meetings and the mayor’s Memorandum of Agreement – is available at www.providenceri.com/pplmoa.
PBN staff writer Nicole Dionne’s recent summary of the conflict between the library and the City of Providence can be viewed by Providence Business News subcribers at www.pbn.com.
The Providence Public Library is a 130-year-old private, nonprofit organization that serves as a public library for the City of Providence, providing free information resources, education and community services. It also operates the Statewide Reference Resource Center, serving all Rhode Islanders with educational, cultural enrichment and economic advancement opportunities. To learn more, visit www.provlib.org.
