Library Revisions Bring Sense of Calm

Richard R. Rowe was hired to kick a veritable hornet’s nest last March, charged with revamping a library system that was top-heavy, dirt-poor and under threat of being dismantled.

Shelves across the 15-branch system were packed with out-of-date books.

Library doors were more often locked than opened.

The Internet, a cornerstone of the so-called Information Age, was something to be found elsewhere.

And the seven cities where most of the branches sat were itching to take their money and run.

Six months later, Rowe continues his work to overhaul the way the county’s library system does business, scaling back overhead costs and using the savings to expand hours and give cities more decision-making power at their local branches, officials say.

He also has pledged to put at least one computer with Internet access in every library branch by January.

But perhaps more than anything else, Rowe’s leadership has provided county officials and member cities with a sense of calm after years of turmoil.

“We’re pleased with the progress he’s made,” said Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton, who after years of frustration had suggested before Rowe’s arrival that the county library system be shelved and individual cities left to run their own branches. “My only frustration is that it’s taken so long to get here.”

But Rowe’s work is far from over.

On Tuesday, county supervisors agreed to extend his $9,000-a-month contract through the end of April so he can oversee the library system’s reorganization plan, which is expected to be completed within four months.

“I want to see this through, that’s the bottom line,” said Rowe, a retired city manager for the cities of Chino and El Monte. “I am committed . . . the job is challenging, and there is the recognition that it would be difficult to bring someone right in the middle of all this.”

The threat by some cities to leave the system remains if the county cannot offer better or equal service to what the cities believe they can provide, Rowe and city officials concede. Member cities are Fillmore, Camarillo, Moorpark, Ojai, Port Hueneme, Simi Valley and Ventura.

But progress over the past six months has eased some of the tension.

Operating hours at the largest libraries have been increased, with the branches staffed by longtime managers and administrators who have been reassigned to jobs in the libraries.

With a depleted staff, Rowe has moved the library system’s administrative office out of a leased building on Telegraph Road and into a converted hearing room on the fourth floor of the County Government Center, a move he says will save $60,000 annually.

Rowe, 55, has juggled his job as interim library director with teaching a Tuesday night graduate course in public administration at Cal State Long Beach.

Monday through Thursday, he lives in his family’s camping trailer that he parks at Lake Casitas. On weekends, he commutes home to his wife and daughter in Chino.

As part of his renewed contract, Rowe’s housing allowance has been doubled to $1,000 a month, which he plans to use to rent an apartment or condominium in west Ventura County.

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To date the county has paid Rowe $57,000. By the time his new contract runs out, he will have been paid the equivalent of a $117,000 annual salary.

Although that may sound like an excessive amount to resuscitate a library system short on cash, Supervisor Frank Schillo believes it is money the county has to spend.

One of Rowe’s chief responsibilities as interim library director has been to help create a new operating agreement among seven cities, where improving library services has become a civic passion and a hotbed campaign issue.

“[Rowe] has been extremely valuable because he was a city manager and has a lot of credibility with the city managers,” Schillo said. “That’s what we needed.”

Stratton agreed, but noted the changes that have occurred under Rowe did not come easy.

“From what I can tell, he’s been a breath of fresh air,” Stratton said. “He’s proved that it can be done. It took, unfortunately, three studies and tons of meetings and lots of screaming and yelling and gnashing our teeth that yes, you can keep the libraries open [longer hours].”

Rowe believes his long experience as a city manager has helped him earn the trust of skeptical city officials.

“You don’t have to prove anything to the managers,” he said. “You have been there. You’re part of the same fraternity. There’s a respect that’s there just because of your experiences.”

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Rowe retired from his job of 11 years as Chino’s city manager in January. He had planned to go into the business of representing real estate developers in entitlement negotiations with public entities before the interim library director job came up.

Rowe took over for Dixie Adeniran, who retired as the library director after 17 years.

After three months on the job, a panel of seven Ventura County cities announced they had agreed on a plan to change the way the library system is managed.

The plan calls for creation of a library advisory panel made up of one member of the Board of Supervisors and one member from each city council. The panel will essentially be responsible for overseeing the library system. The Board of Supervisors, which now holds the gavel over all library decisions, will need a four-fifths vote to override any decision the panel makes.

Rowe and county attorneys are crafting a legal agreement spelling out the way the new system will work.

The agreement then must meet the muster of the individual cities and their attorneys before going to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

Under the plan, property taxes are to stay in the cities where they are generated, rather than poured into a county pool and redistributed as it is under the current system.

Ventura City Manager Donna Landeros said her city wants to ensure any agreement it signs includes an out-clause that would keep the city from being penalized if the new city-county partnership fails.

“I affectionately call it a prenuptial agreement,” Landeros said.

“If the termination provisions are so onerous that we can’t get out, I don’t want it to happen,” she said. “We’re giving it our very best shot because it is the model we believe in. I just don’t want to be penalized.”

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Landeros said although Rowe’s contract has been extended, she said it’s time for the cities and county to begin the recruitment process to find a permanent library director, a process she expects will take at least four months.

In commending Rowe’s work, she believes the shifting of library administrative personnel into new branch library jobs has taken too long.

“He’s done a good job getting it to the place where it’s at, but it’s now time for the next phase,” Landeros said.

“What I want to see out of the next six months is that a permanent library director has been recruited and hired with the participation of the cities in that process,” she said, “and that the handoff [of library management] takes place, and we start working toward permanent future plans.”