City Will Join Panel Overseeing Libraries
Hoping to get more say in the way the local library is run, the Simi Valley City Council on Monday is expected to add a city representative to a county libraries oversight panel.
The eight-person Ventura County Library Federation would be made up of one representative from each city served by the county’s library system plus a member of the Board of Supervisors.
The federation would essentially control the budget for the 15-branch library system serving all Ventura County cities except Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula and Oxnard.
The Board of Supervisors--which oversees the library system’s budget--could only overrule the panel on a 4-5 vote.
Once impoverished and top-heavy, the county library system is in the midst of a transformation after the largest member cities threatened to defect from the county and run their own branches.
Now branches are offering longer hours, and big cities such as Simi Valley--whose residents contribute more tax dollars to the library system’s budget--are seeing more services than before.
Creation of the oversight panel is expected to give participating cities even more of a stake in the existing library system.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
