City Council/Public Financing Authority
March 19, 2024

From: Laura Janssen
To: [email protected]
Subject: Oppose Agenda Item 24-197
Date: Friday, March 15, 2024 6:14:42 PM
Council members,
I strongly oppose privatization of the Huntington Beach Public Library.

It doesn't seem appropriate for a private company to make money off a municipal entity. Privatization will continue to water down the integrity of our fine library. This is a bad precedent to set, in the name of cost savings, and total council control over our library, that has been running smoothly without controversy up to now.

I also strongly oppose Agenda Item 29-209 and the
introduction of Ordinance No.
4318. I can only hope when the council swings back to a more moderate majority, the Ordinance will backfire and will allow for more liberal minded members to the review board and welcome back books that will so blindly be banned in the name of decency under the current council. A child's own parent or guardian should hold the sole responsibility for what books that child is exposed to, not some ginned-up review board. And, by the way, the internet is full of unsavory and sexual content, do you really think the library is the only place a child can find that content? My brother and his friends managed to get their hands on Playboy magazines in the 1960s, long before the internet. The curiosity of a child is much stronger than the restrictions placed on them by adults. I'm honestly not sure sure who you are actually protecting, not the children, they will find a way. Or, is it just the lure of power that propels these shortsighted actions.

Laura Janssen
3/19/2024
24 (24-209)
From: Jordan Hall
To: [email protected]
Subject: Opposition of Item(s) 22 and 24
Date: Friday, March 15, 2024 7:12:39 PM
As a longtime homeowner and resident of Huntington Beach, I strongly oppose Item 22 and Item 24. Please, please stop trying to alter our wonderful libraries and let our librarians do their jobs.

Sincerely,
Jordan Hall
From: Scott Brewsaugh
To: [email protected]
Subject: The library
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 9:01:21 AM
Hello esteemed city council members,
I'm writing to say that I oppose any sort of privation of the library, and any sort of book ban.

From: Mary Camarillo
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: Board Meeting Agenda Items 22 and 24
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 10:21:57 AM
Dear City Council Members
I'm a local author, a thirty-year Huntington Beach resident and homeowner, and a former library volunteer. Please do not approve agenda items 22 and 24 on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

The public library is by definition for the public and should not be privatized or outsourced to the East Coast hedge fund under your consideration or to any private entity. As a community service, the mission of the library should not be based on cost. One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, opened the first public library and was proud of his free lending library concept, saying “these Libraries have improved the general Conversation of Americans." The city council has already tampered enough with our library. Setting up this 21-member Community-Parent Guardian Review Board to approve children's books as defined in agenda item 24 is ludicrous.

What is the source for the definitions in this ordinance of "community standards," "sexual content," and "sexual reference?"
How can a 21-member committee that meets "at least twice each year" possibly review the 9,000 books purchased annually for the children's section of the library? To give this review board the power of making "all decisions final and non-appealable" is ridiculous and illegal (despite City Attorney Gates' apparent approval) especially since no qualifications other than being selected by a council member are required.

Equally hypocritical is the art of the plan that states "After review, all efforts will be made to sell or donate non-approved Childrens' Books to libraries outside of the City of Huntington Beach."
If the review board truly deems certain books unapprovable, why would they pass them on to another library?
Why would these books not simply be added to the adult section in our library? Please do not approve agenda items 22 and 24 on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. I would appreciate a response.

Mary Camarillo

Visit Mary's website and sign up for her newsletter "Life With Riley" From: [email protected]
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Leave Our Libraries Alone!
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 11:18:00 AM
Enough with messing with our public libraries! They need to stay public and never be privatized. There is not a single reason to do this and ruin the libraries here. We have many services the library is used for besides general reading. There is the seed library that has been great for so many residents. There are many that use it for genealogy purposes and generally has a free offering of being able to use certain genealogy websites for researching. If libraries are privatized what happens to these things? What about those that use the library to study and for help in researching for school papers? It seems they will have to go to another city instead if this happens.

Toss in the fact that you will spend money on books for your committee to review and if they don't like it then off the books go to another city's library? How in the world does that make sense to spend money on 21 books like that and then say the books are not good for us but they are ok for another city? This is hypocritical of you 4 (Burns, Strickland, Van Der Mark, and McKeon).

Its sad that those of you that don't even use a library are the ones trashing them, lying about what is in them and wanting to ruin them. Shame on you 4 as many of us residents know you will vote for this in the end.

Anna Plewa
From: TERESA GHIONE
To: [email protected]
Subject: Oppose Agenda Item 24-197
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 11:46:30 AM
Oppose privatization of the Huntington Beach Public Library I oppose privatization of the HBPL.

Since when does a committee knows what is best for my child to read.

That is the responsibility of the parents to decide.

Thank you
Teresa Ghione
From: Karla Tucker
To: [email protected]
Subject: Comments on agenda items for March 19,2024 HB City Council Meeting Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 11:56:40 AM
Council Members,
Agenda Item 24-197
Who requested this agenda item? Why was this agenda item requested? I have been utilizing our city library services for almost 35 years. I have found all of their programs and services to be excellent. I brought both my children to the Central Park library as toddlers for early reader programs, as elementary-aged children for summer reading programs, and as young adults for research and study programs. Staff were always kind, helpful and enthusiastic. I love reading and often check-out books in person or request books on-line for pick-up. Staff are always efficient and friendly.

Why do we need a change? I would be afraid services would only decline when run by non-community staff.

Agenda Item 24-209
As a concerned parent and former elementary school teacher, I am firmly opposed to this ordinance. Parents should be making reading decisions for their own children only. Our library staff do an excellent job of providing age-appropriate materials for the children's and young-adult library sections. Parents and community members should not be allowed to place their personal opinions on the book choices of others.

All council members should be required to view the academy award-nominated short documentary titled The ABCs of Book Banning. The children's voices in this film should speak to us all.

Agenda Item 24-208
Why is this being requested? We should be working together with other cities, not isolating ourselves. Isolation breeds divisiveness and fear of others. We need to pursue community alliances and work together for all Huntington Beach residents.

Respectfully,
Karla Tucker
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Our Public Library
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 1:02:23 PM
Dear City Council Members,
You were voted into office to serve the people of our city -- not to take away our rights. Our Public Library is PUBLIC. We do not want it to be PRIVATIZED. It is my right as a parent to decide what my child can or cannot read -- not the government's. You are taking a huge step against Democracy. Don't do this!
Respectfully,
Norma Mazure
From: Ekybabehb
To: [email protected]
Subject: Opposition to Items 22 and 24 on 3/19 CC agenda Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 1:54:37 PM
I am a resident and citizen residing in Huntington Beach, since moving to California in 1992.

I am a mother to three children, 2 teens and a tween.

I strongly oppose both Items, 22 and 24, on the agenda for 3/19 meeting.

I am confident that trained librarians are much more qualified to review children's literature than random and politically skewed individuals and corporations. It has been stated time and time again by particular politically inclined group of parents that we do not co-parent with the government and I agree! My children, and ALL CHILDREN, should have access to materials reviewed by trained professionals, not government NOR private entities whose views are horrinly misguided at best and dangerous at worst. If the concern or fear that YOUR children may look at materials YOU deem undesirable, then that is a private conversation between YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN. YOU attend the library with YOUR child and YOU REVIEW their selections. You do not get to parent mine! Secondly, Huntington Beach Public Library should remain as it is stated in its name - PUBLIC. NOT PRIVATELY OWNED BY A CORPORATION that is selected by restrictive and misguided city council.

Again, I STRONGLY OPPOSE ITEM 22 AND ITEM 24 ON 3/19 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA.

ENOUGH ALREADY!
Sent from AOL on Android
From: Carolyn Grandy
To: [email protected]
Subject: Please vote this way
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 4:03:46 PM
Dear City Commissioner:

I strongly oppose item 22-managed Library services.

I strongly oppose item 24-parent review board for children's library.

I absolutely love our library and appreciate books and information offered for ALL citizens.

For a small group of citizens to decide what is best for me to read or information to share is not acceptable. These decisions to privatize will change the life we have appreciated living here in Huntington Beach.

I appreciate your taking my opinion seriously.

Regards,
Carolyn Grandy
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Library Privatization & Control
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 4:53:18 PM
Dear City Commissioner:

“I strongly oppose”
item 22 – Managed Library Services
Item 24 – Parent Review Board for Childrens Library

Our Huntington Beach Library system is by far and away the best Library that my Family has ever been associated. For close to 40 years
we have enjoyed all of it’s many services. Our city has done a great job
in maintaining all of the libraries and all of the many things that it does for our communities. To privatize and control the library takes away
the ability and control of the average HB citizen to keep our library the
way it is today.

As a parent, I choose what my children are allowed to read and enjoy.

I do not wish a small group of people to make these decisions.

Thanks,

Price Grandy
[email protected]

From: E Di Mario
To: [email protected]
Subject: Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children’s Library Material Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024 6:13:58 PM
Dear Huntington Beach City Council & City Council Leaders, In reading this process, many questions are left unanswered for the citizens of Huntington Beach. A few general questions:
1) What budget will be made available to purchase the "questionable" books by the 21- person committee? If the city is in such dire financial straits, is it wise to spend so much money on (21) sets per book?
2) What analysis has been conducted to understand the qty of books, time commitment, and feasibility of the 21-person committee to review any "questionable" books in timely manner?
3) Wouldn't it be more practical to have this committee be filled with experts from our city, such as librarians, child psychologists, lawyers, judges, teachers, college professors, who would make their determination based on factual, expert evidence vs. personal beliefs? 4) What is next in this campaign? Will we now remove any art exhibits of "sexual nature" from city buildings, including the Huntington Beach Art Center? Will we need to form another 21-person committee to review the art being displayed in the gallery? Ultimately, it is my belief that this is a wasteful exercise in city spending to address a problem that does not exist esp. considering the proliferation of online access that children, youth, and young adults can utilize. This committee and library book campaign will do nothing to prevent any potential problems with online access. Only parents of children, youth, and young adults can reasonably manage the access of books and online activities at no cost to the city.

Thank you,
E DiMario
From: Carol Daus
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: In Opposition to 24-209 Ordinance No. 4318-Community-Parent Guardian Review Board Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 8:23:15 AM
Dear City Council Members,
I strongly oppose agenda item 24-209 (Ordinance No. 4318), the formation of the Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children's Library Material.

The wording of this ordinance is preposterous. An untrained review board appointed by politicians should not have a primary role in deciding what books are suitable for children and teens in our top-ranked library. Biased volunteers should not be tasked with this job, which I'm sure is a labor violation. Our professional librarians are the best individuals to handle the acquisition and curation of our collection. The most harmful policy of this ordinance is: "All decisions by the Board are final and unappealable"! Furthermore, what is your definition of "community standards?" Approximately 14,000 members of the LGBTQ+ reside in Huntington Beach. Would this group prohibit the acquisition of LGBTQ+ Young Adult books, even though they are best sellers?
As a library volunteer, I have spent hours with journalists during the past year who paged through books in our children's and former teen library stacks, and nobody discovered sexually explicit material. (I guess that's why potty training and menstruation books are the only ones that have been relocated to the adult location, which is quite disturbing). Mayor Van Der Mark told me last June in a public townhall that there are hundreds of pornographic books in the children's library. If you believe that, Mayor Van Der Mark, why don't you give us a list of those books as you promised last summer? It's because they don't exist. This is all a political stunt.

Vote NO on 24-209 (Ordinance No. 4318)!
Sincerely,
Carol Daus
HB resident for 28 years
From: Bob Banzett
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Opposed to Item 24 - Library "Guardian" Board
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 9:43:05 AM
I am strongly opposed to the idea of a board of untrained and politicized “guardians” controlling library purchases.

The majority of this board will be appointed by the majority members of City Council.

Therefore, book acquisitions will be chosen by the people in power at the moment - the library is there to serve all of us. I prefer to have trained and experienced librarians in charge.

Currently, “book banning” is a fad of the right wing, and we have a right wing majority on Council, so we will all be subjected to right wing fears of sexuality and diversity. But I don’t want the left wing banning politically unpopular books in the future, either. Restricting access to books and information is an important means to control the population — look at Soviet Russia, Putin’s Russia, Communist North Korea, Fascist Germany. All well known ‘book ban’ proponents. The proposed ordinance in Item 22 even contains totalitarian language “All decisions by the Board are final and non-appealable.”
Frankly, I find it ironic that so-called conservatives wish more government intrusion into the freedom of choice in the library. I note that Mayor VanDerMark has been seen wearing a T- shirt proclaiming that she ‘does not co-parent with the government’ - yet when she becomes part of the government, one of her first acts is to co-parent, asserting her governmental power to restrict what everyone else’s children can read.

There are books inappropriate for little kids. Librarians know that. My observation is that little kids go to the library with their parents, who are there to ‘parent’ them. Does the government need to co-parent them when they have actual parents? True, many teens go to the library without their parents. But those teens know, often better than their parents, how to use the internet to get whatever material they want. I would much rather have them read librarian-curated material on the puzzling questions of puberty, gender, etc., instead of searching the web and reading truly crazy unfiltered ideas.

Please abandon this bad idea.

Robert B Banzett PhD
HB Citizen
From: Nancy Curtis
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Items 22 & 24
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 9:45:07 AM
City Council Members,
I oppose agenda items 22 and 24.

On 3/19/2023 you will be addressing two agenda items regarding privatizing the HB Library system. I understand that the Council states it is not privatizing the Library it is just privatizing the management. To approve these items I would like the council to respond to a few questions.

Do you agree this would be a privatized library within the shell of our Public Library building? Do the Friends of HB Public Library with their 900 members and hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations and thousands of hours of volunteer hours carry any weight in your decision to privatize our Library services? Does the Council believe that it represents the diversity of the citizens of HB? A private company could end up controlled by a very few people depending on how the contract is put together by the city council.

How will the citizens of HB be able to continue to influence the services provided by their library once the management is privatized?
Nancy Curtis
HB resident
From: Kristina Mahan
To: [email protected]
Subject: Council meeting
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 11:10:52 AM
Dear city council,
I am a long time HB resident. Leave our libraries alone! I do not support the proposed changes just as I did not support the unnecessary parent review board.

I can offer an agenda item that will actually help our community. How about you address the horrible and dangerous traffic conditions in front of HBHS (and I'm assuming our other schools as well) at the morning drop-off time? Get rid of the huge grass median and add a protected lane for cyclists and a lane for parents dropping off. All the e-bikes and bicycles navigating between parents pulling over and pulling out is so dangerous! Also time the signals better so people turning left from Yorktown on to Main don't get stuck for 20 minutes because there's never a break in the cars. We can seriously do better.

Thank you,
Kristina Mahan
From: Sue Welfringer
To: [email protected]
Subject: Opposing: Ordinance # 4318 for Introduction: Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for procurement of children’s library materials”
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 11:36:46 AM
March 17, 2024
Attn: Mayor Van Der Mark, Mayor Pro Tem Pat Burns, and HB Council Members:

Creating a politically appointed committee to review books is a ridiculous, unnecessary idea and I oppose this ordinance.

I imagine the city council will receive scores of letters from the community concerned about your intent to privatize our public libraries. Like all the letters received over the past year, the vast majority will be begging you to LEAVE THE LIBRARY AND LIBRARIANS ALONE. Sadly, I don’t expect you to listen to our concerns. Privatizing our public libraries is wrong. Wrong.

Wrong. Is it possible that if you turn over the library to a private company, you hope to protect yourselves from potential 1
st Amendment Rights lawsuits when our library shelves are emptied from any publications that make you uncomfortable?

Speaking of uncomfortable, I have a concern with how you expect a committee to define and restrict books with sexual content. I shared this example in my letter to you last month.

Recently, an 8th grader and I read a compelling YA novel by award-winning children’s author Gary Paulsen, titled NightJohn. The novel is classified by the publisher for audiences in the 10– 13-year-old range. The main character, Sarny, is a child born into slavery, and dreading when her “troubles” start because she knows she will be selected as a breeder and possibly chained in the breeding shed like what happened to another girl. As intended by the author, this this scene made me uncomfortable. The student and I paused to take in the meaning of it all. It is okay to be uncomfortable in the safe space of literature.

Breeding shed??? Does this make you uncomfortable? I hope so. But it is not simply that we are reading a scene describing child rape that makes us want to vomit. It’s learning that not too long ago, white Americans thought “breeding sheds” were okay! It appears to me that since this is sexual content you do not want an 8
th grader to learn about this. Do we need
to be 18 years old to learn about our shameful history of breeding sheds?

NightJohn is only one of thousands of stories in any library collection that includes some reference to “sexual content” while telling deeply important stories. When you take passages out of context you are missing the true intent of the author. Worse, you are miscalculating how the
story builds empathy, compassion, and relevant human connections for the young reader (and the adult who might read it with them.)

I need to know: Is NightJohn the type of book now denied to young readers ages 10-13? If this is true, I am sad for you and even sadder for our young readers looking for ways to learn about themselves and how they fit in the world through children’s literature. Shame on you for denying books because a scene makes you uncomfortable.

Creating a politically appointed committee to review books is a ridiculous, unnecessary idea and I oppose this ordinance.

Sue Welfringer
27 year resident and volunteer
Current: Teacher / Mentor Fusion Academy HB
Current Member Friends of the Library & 20+ year member volunteer with the Friends of the Children’s Library / Former Taste of HB Chair / Writing & Illustrating Contest for Kids Pre-T/High School
Current Member – Golden West College Patrons
Former: Sales Manager Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel Former: Manager, HB Downtown Business Improvement District Additional HB volunteerism included board member of Promotion Resources in Drug Education (Every 15 Minutes) HB Chamber of Commerce, Sand Dollars/Miss HB, PTA/PTOs, Girl Scouts, PCH CleanUp with Visit HB - to name a few.

From: Katie Estes
To: [email protected]
Subject: OPPOSE privatization of PUBLIC library
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 12:01:44 PM
Dear HB city council members,
I vehemently OPPOSE the privatization of our PUBLIC libraries. It is one of the first public institutions in our nation founded by Benjamin Franklin. There is absolutely no reason to privatize, and it is opposed by every organization involved in library science and institution of higher learning in our country. Keep your conservative politics out of PUBLIC institutions in our city.

I also continue to oppose the completely unscientific, biased, racist, and homophobic censoring of books in our library by a ‘committee’ that has not been identified, that does not have a publicly available rule book by which to choose ‘inappropriate’ books. I should be able to decide what is appropriate for myself and my children, not some random person chosen in a way that hasn’t been disclosed, using criteria that are not publicly available.

I can’t wait to vote out certain members of this city council as soon as possible and can only hope we can restore a shred of decency to this city.

Kathleen Estes, PhD
HB resident
From: Kim Cruz
To: [email protected]
Subject: Library services
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 12:15:38 PM
I am HB resident . I do not want library privatization and I do not want a parent review board .

Kim Cruz
Sent from my iPhone
From: MARILYN Boehm
To: [email protected]
Subject: OPPOSITION TO 24-209
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 2:27:35 PM
I cannot more adamantly oppose this proposal for a community-parent review board of library materials. Why do we need to rely on others when we already have outstanding library professionals with advanced degrees in library science? We do NOT, that's why. I fear that the people selected by the four right-wing members of our Council to be on this committee will ultimately ban books they find to be inappropriate. Based on WHAT?
As a 25 year member of our City, I do NOT want to see the beginnings of a book ban. Whether they call it that or not, if those appointed community review board members don't like a proposed book to be in our library, that constitutes a book ban.

Book bans were a huge part of the rise of Nazism. Why? Because knowledge is power. Keep the populace ignorant and keep them powerless against dictators.

This is a frightening direction for our City to take, and it must stop HERE and NOW.

Marilyn Boehm, HB
From: Erin Anderson
To: [email protected]
Subject: Library
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 3:34:40 PM
To City Council,
I oppose the privatization of the library for innumerable reasons, ranging from private equity has no business in civic service to ensuring Huntington Beach’s award winning library is preserved.

I oppose the creation of a board to vet library books. The librarians are trained and educated on collecting books for years. Imposing “community standards” in place of constitutional rights, not to mention the Right to Read in our own city code, is ludicrous and insulting.

I have no doubt the majority will steam forward with their plans despite public opposition. Their actions are bankrupting our city, as well as further dividing our citizens. They shame city hall with their culture war antics instead of doing the real work of governing.

Sincerely,
Erin Spivey
Huntington Beach resident
Sent from my iphone, please excuse any typos
From: Michele Burgess
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: Comment for March 19, 2024, City Council Meeting Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 6:48:29 PM
To the City Council and City Attorney:

Here we go again. In the wake of Measures A and B passing, the Council majority and City Attorney are once more claiming to have a definitive mandate, and in the process are making local, national, and international news for all the wrong reasons.

Do the math. YOU DO NOT HAVE A MANDATE. A total of 132,435 ballots were mailed to HB voters. As of March 15, Yes on A received 32,477, or 24.5% of the registered voters in this city. Yes on B received 34,775, or 26.25%. The real winner is voter apathy. If you had not wasted nearly half a million taxpayer dollars putting these controversial measures on the primary ballot, turnout would have been much higher in November and the vote could very well have been much different.

Now you’re attacking the library again. Not enough that you’re wasting librarians’ time and taxpayer dollars removing
children’s and teens’ books from the shelves, but you’re considering issuing a RFP to have the library run by a private company “to save money.” Where was that concern when you spent so much on ABC? Our award-winning library has been very well run for decades, we don’t need ultra-conservative politicians messing it up. Stop looking for solutions to problems that don’t exist.

Then we have the hand-picked parental review committee, with no appeals for rejected books. What is this obsession with other people’s personal sex lives and body parts? A photo of
industrious Gracey shows her at a large desk, surrounded by piles of children’s books, their pages marked with numerous Post-Its indicating words, pictures, and subject matter that offend her delicate sensibilities. However, she has no qualms about enlarging those pages to poster size and displaying them in the City Council lobby for any and all to see, or showing them on the CC meeting public video. Might that be offensive to people of any age who don’t want to see them and wouldn’t be checking out those books at the library?
Moser calls for transparency on censoring and moving library books, Strickland and Van Der Mark say transparency will be implemented as the policies are implemented. Left unsaid: In the meantime, opaque is the way to go. When questioned about the use of the Wikipedia definition of obscenity, Burns asks, “Can’t we just rely on the expertise of librarians?” Well yes, we can, and that’s what we’ve been doing since before you all were born. Gates emphatically declares the process legal, even though it appears not to be, according to what Moser read from the City Code. Perhaps we need a second opinion from an unbiased attorney. Or perhaps the ACLU would like to weigh in on this matter.

The platform you were elected on has been completed ignored as you cater to a narrow group of MAGA and evangelical voters.

Basically, you lied about what you intended to do. Gracey whines to reporters, “We’re living in a state that’s not welcoming to us; conservative values are not really welcomed.

We just want a safe space for people who share our values.” Unfortunately, that is intended to always be at the expense of others. If you want to ban books, move to Florida, you’ll be ok there. If you want to hate on immigrants, move to Texas. If you’re a homophobe, move to Saudia Arabia where someone can be stoned to death for being gay. Just leave the rest of us alone to enjoy our lives in what used to be a beautiful, peaceful beach city. Good luck attracting tourists or conventions with all the hate, lunacy, and performative nonsense being widely publicized. I smell recall in the air. Hopefully, the toxic clown show will be canceled and the circus will leave town — the sooner the better.

Michele Burgess
HB resident since 1961
(when only the Main Street library existed)
From: Judy Morris
To: [email protected]
Subject: Ordinance #4318 Library Book Review Board
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 7:13:15 PM
I am not in favor of establishing a Parent/Guardian Review Board for children’s books. This should continue to be a function of librarians, who have the education and experience needed to manage our libraries. Librarians should simply be allowed to do their jobs.

It is unfortunate that Ms. Moser’s proposal to exercise transparency with regard to the library issue was voted down by the council, even after hearing from so many residents during the last city council meeting who supported Ms.

Moser’s proposal.

It seems that the “need for” a review board has already been decided, and the City is moving forward with its development. I did not see a definition for Community Standards in the proposed ordinance. In the interest of full transparency and disclosure to the community, I believe Community Standards should be clearly defined and included as part of the ordinance.

Sincerely,
Judy Morris
Sent from my iPad
From: Anna Martirosyan
To: [email protected]
Subject: No Privatization at Huntington Beach Public Library Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 7:44:25 PM
Dear Huntington Beach City Council:

I STRONGLY oppose:

Item 22-Managed Library Services
Item 24- Parent Review Board for Children's Library
Please do not attempt to change the Huntington Beach Public Library.

Sincerely,
Anna
From: midge hill
To: [email protected]
Subject: Agenda 19-March
Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 8:48:11 PM
Dear City Council Members,
I am not able to attend the council meeting of Tuesday, 19-March. However, as a resident of Huntington Beach for more than 30 years, having children who attended HBCSD & graduated HBUHSD, I can attest to the wonderful opportunities that were afforded my children by our city library system. While living within walking distance of the Banning branch, my children were frequent visitors. In later years, they spent a good deal of time at HB Central Library both for pleasure reading, homework and community resources. As adults, we recently attended a film festival and the raptor talk and bird walk organized through the library. This is wholly unique to our HB community.

I strongly oppose 2 items on the agenda for 19-March as unnecessary actions against the fabric that makes Huntington Beach an exceptional and distinct place to raise a family.

I oppose item 24-197 Request Authorization to issue a Request for Proposals for Managed Library Services for the Huntington Beach Public Library system.

I oppose item 24-209 Approval for Introduction Ordinance No. 4318 adding Chapter 2.66 to the Huntington Beach Municipal Code Relating to the Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for the Review of Procurement of Children’s Library Material.

I find no redeeming purpose to support either of these 2 agenda items.

I urge a vote of NO for both items.

Respectfully,
Midge A. Hill
19872 Carmania Lane
Est. 1992
Virus-free.www.avg.com
From: Paula Shawa
To: [email protected]
Subject: No on Agenda Item 24 / City Council Mtg. March 19 Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 8:58:55 PM
No on empowering a non-professional, extremely large group of private citizens to decide what books the library can order. And to make the director of the library subservient to this committee? How humiliating.

Checking reading material from a library is optional. No one is forcing anyone to read anything and it's a parent's business – and no one else's – to guide what their children read.

The proposed formation of this committee represents censorship by the city council and is a violation of free speech.

Paula Shawa, HB resident 20+ years
From: Patricia Larkin
To: [email protected]
Subject: Input on Agenda Items 22 and 24 for 3/19/2024 City Council Meeting Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 9:52:56 PM
This is Patricia Larkin and I am a long-time resident of Huntington Beach. I want to give input on agenda Items 22 and 24 for the March 19th meeting.

Agenda Item 22: I am strongly opposed to any request or proposal to outsource our exemplary Huntington Beach Public Library to an East Coast Hedge Fund. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS ACTION.

Agenda Item 24: I am strongly opposed to any ordinance that would implement rules for a "Community-Parent Guardian Review Board" for selecting books for the Children's Library.

Our librarians are educated for this purpose and are making excellent choices regarding the books in our children's library. Our librarians are the best-informed personnel for this task.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS ACTION.

Patricia Larkin
Concerned Huntington Beach Resident
From: Laura Ehrlich
To: [email protected]
Subject: I am a concerned, citizen regarding library changes Date: Sunday, March 17, 2024 10:44:12 PM
Dear City Commissioner,
I am a 55 year old Huntington Beach resident that loves the library. For 18 years, I have taken my children to the library, monthly, allowing them to pick out dozens of books to bring home each month. Both of my children absolutely love reading, and I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this without our library.

I more than strongly oppose item 22-managed Library services.

I also adamantly oppose item 24-parent review board for children's library.

Please allow our library to operate as it is now. Children need to be able to pick out their own books, and librarians need to be allowed to do their jobs. Politics, have nothing to do with the library.

Please do not set our city back in time. We love Huntington Beach and want to continue living here. This type of decision-making does not make us want to stay.

Laura Ehrlich
HB resident
Sent from my iPhone
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: City Council Meeting 3/19/2024 Agenda Items 24-197 and 24-209 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:04:30 AM
City Council

My name is Faith Vogel, a longtime resident of Huntington Beach. I served on the Library Board and the Community and Library Services from 2007 to 2023. If there is one thing, I learned in my years of service is that the citizens of Huntington Beach love and support their library.

I am writing to urge a no vote on items 24-197 and 24-209 to be presented at the March 19, 2024, meeting. Our Libraries are special place to the citizens of Huntington Beach.

They are doing an excellent job. Libraries are a small part of the city budget. There is no need to consider contracting out their services which would make them less available to our citizens.

The City Council should reflect the feelings of the people of Huntington Beach and continue to support not obstruct the Library Mission

In view of the major impact on library users proposed by the resolutions it is necessary for the City Council to let this agenda item fail

Thank you, for your consideration.

Faith Vogel
From: Scott Wilson
To: [email protected]
Subject: Privatization of Huntington Bch Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:12:45 AM
The mere suggestion of privatization of our libraries is a cash grab.

Lack of transparency as to your missions is causing the people to roil, you’re not a good example for the public & future of Huntington Bch.

No on privization of the Huntington Beach libraries.

We do not need 24 people reading children’s books deciding what they can & cannot put on the shelves of our libraries, you are the monsters under the bed, shame on you! Regards,
Scott M. Wilson
Sent from my IPhone.

From: Juana Mueller
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Cc: Juana Mueller
Subject: 3/19/24 Council Agenda
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:34:58 AM
Dear Huntington Beach City Council,
Item 22:

WHOA! HOLD the horses!! Outsource the management of our Library System? WHY? TO WHOM?
This is outrageous. What are you trying to do to our City? Our Library System is not broken.

It is a basic pillar of our
community. It has a committed base of volunteers to help manage and run the many programs that are offered through our library. It is a beloved place for gaining knowledge, for coming together, for joy of learning, for being introduced to life’s possibilities, and so much more.

WHY GUT THIS and give it to some OUTSIDE ENTITY that has no knowledge OR commitment to OUR CITY??
STOP! This is a bridge too far!!
Item 24:

Do not approve ordinance NO. 4318 - (my comments above apply) Item 25:

Why are we considering isolating our City from the League of CA Cities? Isolation from what goes on in
other CA cities is not healthy for our City. Do not approve.

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: The Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:26:33 AM

From: Scott Brewsaugh <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2024 9:01 AM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: The Library

Hello esteemed city council members,

I'm writing to say that I oppose any sort of privation of the library, and any sort of book ban.

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Next meeting
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:27:21 AM

From: Nancy Bramet <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2024 9:59 AM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Next meeting

City Council...

PLEASE, stop trying to fix what isn’t broken. I believe the library runs just fine as is… no need to change that. IF you must have a “Community Parent Guardian Review Board”. Then you MUST include some members of the LGBTQ community on that board as well, it needs to be well rounded not just white, christian parents that are afraid of everything that they don’t understand and don’t want to understand. Otherwise it is NOT representative of ALL parents in our community. Let's be clear I am not for this community, I believe it to be a complete waste of resources but if it goes thru then it MUST have a group that represents everyone. Not understanding why you want to put together a board when you said we didn’t have the resources for them anymore and gutted several boards that were in fact useful. We disagree on that as well but then council you really don’t seem to listen to it appears to me most of the citizens in HB.

AND BIG NOOOOOO to leaving the League of California Cities. You all complain about homelessness then when a bill come thru that directly helps with that you don’t like it. UNBELIEVABLE!! Also for the Gas Tax… OK… people this is for our roads, WHICH WE NEED!!! I don’t like taxes either but I am smart enough to know that taxes pay for things we ACTUALLY need, like police, fire department, roads, bridges etc. I would far rather my tax dollars go to that than the city always suing the state for not doing low income housing, which we actually need. I still don’t understand your argument on that. I have asked and your response if you truly believe your reason doesn’t hold water. If you can build all this new housing that isn’t low income, then you could have built low income housing.

Our library is fine, LEAVE IT ALONE!!! There is no reason to privatize it… even if the “great attorney" has lost all the law suits which he said he would win (I am not an attorney and I realized that was a major long shot even if it was a good attorney) our taxes paid major $$$ on that. We are throwing good money at bad on these law suits… the council seems to think they are above it. YOU ARE NOT! If you don’t like living in the state of California or Huntington Beach then leave it like your friend Tito did. I am not being nice here but I find most of you just exhausting. You honestly don’t seem to have an idea here what you are doing or you have your own personal agenda which is even worse. You are to work for ALL the people of HB… make it better, safe. All you are doing is trying to change our city and what has made it great. STOP IT!!!

Here is something to do, work on our homeless and helping them. That is not an easy problem but well worth finding a solution for.

And do a better job of balancing the budget… although I know that is hard with all the lawsuits we have lost. But learn when to fight and when to just do what is actually right. Not putting in low income housing was wrong!!!!! Giving in to the AirShow people was wrong.. and then hiring them on a 10 year contract are you kidding me. They are using our beach, they should be paying us for that privilege.

I hope you all have read this completely because I know it isn't nice. But you know, you have made the last few years not great for me, because you seem to what to change everything that HB is. I am begging you please STOP IT!!
Regards,
Nancy Bramet

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Vote NO on items #22 and #24 at the March 19, 2024 city council meeting.

Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:34:38 AM

From: Dan Jamieson <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2024 5:37 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Vote NO on items #22 and #24 at the March 19, 2024 city council meeting.

Dear HB City Council:

Please leave our library alone.

Vote NO on items #22 and #24 at the March 19, 2024 city council meeting.

Item 22, "Request authorization to issue a Request for Proposals for Managed Library Services for the Huntington Beach Public Library system," would put control of our beloved library into the hands of a private equity group. The PE group will squeeze library staff and cut services in order to turn a profit and show "cost savings" from their contract with the city.

This would be a false economy. Library patrons and volunteers will be negatively impacted, and the city will lose control of our library. If you truly want local control, vote NO on Item

22. Item 24, to approve " Ordinance No. 4318 adding Chapter 2.66 to the Huntington Beach Municipal Code Relating to the Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children’s Library Material" is the ordinance to ban books in our library.

Residents clearly do not want a review board telling the library what books and other materials it cannot purchase. Vote NO on Item 24.

Dan Jamieson
Roxanne McMillen
Huntington Beach
###

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: City Council Meeting 3/19/2024
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:40:09 AM

From: K Carroll <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2024 12:46 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: City Council Meeting 3/19/2024

Greetings Mayor Van Der Mark, Pro Tem Pat Burns, Councilmen McKeon and Strickland:

Congratulations on the very successful results of the A & B Charter Amendments in the most recent elections! Thrilled to see the results! Thank you so much for bringing these items forward. You truly mean it when you say you speak for the majority. And, Congratulations on being the popular vote on County Central Committee 72nd Assembly District. The results represented all but two of my votes. Most importantly, what my vote for Pat Burns for the County Central Committee.

Disappointed; but, darn close! You have to feel proud though Pat, especially as you said when you first ran for council people were saying 'who is Pat Burns'. You have made a huge impact in such a short period of time.

I would like to briefly relay my thoughts on the following for the upcoming meeting agenda items:

24-204: Council Liaison
- SUPPORT.

24-180: AB1999 SUPPORT for all reasons outlined in communications shared.

24-197: Request for Proposals for managed Library Services.

SUPPORT. However, strongly oppose
Michael Posey being anything close to involved in this. He was the one that initially proposed CCE and ultimately deceived the residents. Along with many other detrimental outcomes of the council's actions during his term. He never supported the majority of residents as well as continuously attacked and clearly had a vendetta against Michael Gates.

24-209: Ordinance 4318
- Parent Guardian Review Board. SUPPORT. Very comprehensive. I think we all need to reflect on what got us here in the first place. Graphic sexual books (blow jobs, sexual positions, cartoonish graphic sexual books being available to children and minors. These are grooming tools. There was no oversight. We need parent involvement because the system in the library did not work.

24-208: Withdrawal from League of California Cities
. SUPPORT for all the reasons outlined in Casey
McKeon's Memo.

And, finally I would like to ask that the City Council maintain decorum in the Chambers. Each person has an opportunity to talk. No one should be heckled or bullied. I know, first hand from attending the meetings. What you see on You Tube or the City Channel does not show the intensity of what you experience when attending the meeting in person. In person is much more amplified. It has gotten out of hand and frankly, I do not feel safe attending these meetings in person because of the mob hateful behavior and actions. I have seen others being verbally attacked while the meeting is going on. Please, institute a no tolerance policy for this type of behavior and have anyone who cannot adhere to the no tolerance policy or decorum policy removed.

As always, best regards and thank you for all you do. You truly are making HB better for all of the majority.

Best regards,

Kris Carroll

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Item 22, 24-197 Managed Library Services, Item 24, 24-209 Community Parent Guardian Review Board Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:40:57 AM

From: Lena Marie Kamae <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2024 2:48 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Item 22, 24-197 Managed Library Services, Item 24, 24-209 Community Parent Guardian Review Board

Hello,
Item 22, 24-197 Managed Library Services:

We strongly oppose privatizing the Huntington Beach Public Library. We believe it is not in the best interest of the residents of Huntington Beach to outsource these services. What happens to the wonderful library staff? What about the Friends of the Library Bookstore and the amazing volunteers. We visit the Huntington Beach library once to twice a week. It is the best library we've ever seen. The services offered there encompass all ages.

Item 24, 24-209 Community Parent Guardian Review Board
We strongly oppose the Community Parent Guardian Review Board for the Procurement of library books. A public library is for everyone, not for someone to pick and choose what you are allowed to enjoy.

Lena Kamae
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Agenda 19-March
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:46:35 AM

From: midge hill <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2024 8:49 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Agenda 19-March

Dear City Council Members,
I am not able to attend the council meeting of Tuesday, 19-March. However, as a resident of Huntington Beach for more than 30 years, having children who attended HBCSD & graduated HBUHSD, I can attest to the wonderful opportunities that were afforded my children by our city library system. While living within walking distance of the Banning branch, my children were frequent visitors. In later years, they spent a good deal of time at HB Central Library both for pleasure reading, homework and community resources. As adults, we recently attended a film festival and the raptor talk and bird walk organized through the library. This is wholly unique to our HB community.

I strongly oppose 2 items on the agenda for 19-March as unnecessary actions against the fabric that makes Huntington Beach an exceptional and distinct place to raise a family.

I oppose item 24-197 Request Authorization to issue a Request for Proposals for Managed Library Services for the Huntington Beach Public Library system.

I oppose item 24-209 Approval for Introduction Ordinance No. 4318 adding Chapter 2.66 to the Huntington Beach Municipal Code Relating to the Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for the Review of Procurement of Children’s Library Material.

I find no redeeming purpose to support either of these 2 agenda items.

I urge a vote of NO for both items.

Respectfully,
Midge A. Hill
19872 Carmania Lane
Est. 1992

Virus-free.www.avg.com

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Input regarding Agenda Items 22 and 24 for the 3/19/2024 City Council meeting Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:46:49 AM

From: Patricia Larkin <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2024 10:02 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Input regarding Agenda Items 22 and 24 for the 3/19/2024 City Council meeting

City Council Members,
This is Patricia Larkin and I am a long-time resident of Huntington Beach. I want to give input on two agenda items for the March 19th City Council meeting.

Agenda Item 22: I am strongly opposed to any request or proposal to outsource our exemplary Huntington Beach Public Library to an East Coast Hedge Fund. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS ACTION.

Agenda Item 24: I am also strongly opposed to any ordinance that would implement rules for a "Community-Parent Guardian Review Board" for selecting books for the Children's Library. Our librarians are educated for this purpose and are making excellent choices regarding the books in our children's library. They are the best-informed personnel for this task. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS PROPOSED ACTION.

Patricia Larkin
Concerned Huntington Beach Citizen.

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: City Council Meeting Agenda for March 19, 2024 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:35:08 AM

From: Larry Slonim <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:25 AM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: City Council Meeting Agenda for March 19, 2024

To All Members of the Huntington Beach City Council:
We have been very concerned about the 4-3 vote by the City Council to put Charter Amendments A, B & C on the ballot for the Primary Election, and have been following to vote tally closely. As of Sunday, March 17th, with about 46% of the voters registered in the City of HB voting, the tallies for A & B have be trending Yes and the tally for C has been trending No. We strongly agree with the constituents voting No on C, primarily because it gave the mayor, ANY mayor, the authority to cancel and change Council Meetings at his or her sole discretion.

While the four new councilmembers represent a majority vote advantage, it's clear to us that they often decide to vote as a block, with very minimal debate or deliberation of dissenting opinions, whether coming from the other 3 councilmembers (Kalmick, Moser and Bolton), and/or from public comments made relative to agenda items listed to be discussed at the Council Meetings. This is totally contrary to and blatantly hypocritical of one of the main reasons, if not the KEY reason, they chose to run for city office in the first place, back in 2022.

Since taking office, fairness, precedence and decorum has suffered badly as a result, and continues to get worse. Integrity and trust in the Council and the City Attorney has been terribly compromised. We strongly urge the four new councilmembers to attempt to modify the course they are currently on.

Lastly, we think that the current Administrative Agenda items 23 and 24, scheduled or the meeting of March 19th, be DEFERRED until the first meeting in April, to provide time for a more reasonable understanding and evaluation by the public and the other council members of the details contained within them.

Respectfully,
Larry and Susan Slonim

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: HB City Council Meeting 3/19/24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 12:28:35 PM
-----Original Message-----
From: Leslie Selder <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 12:18 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: HB City Council Meeting 3/19/24
Agenda Item 22:

Where is the logic in the idea of outsourcing HB City Library Services to a private company owned by a hedge fund? This will result in subpar services when we are used to quite the opposite. Our city librarians & other staff are superlative; they provide information & guidance that are invaluable to patrons. Do not replace them with some “library services company” that has no clue about our stellar Huntington Beach libraries.

Agenda Item 24:

I strongly object to the proposed ordinance that would establish a “Community-Parent Review Board” for Children’s Library books. This is no less than an attempt to wrest control from educated, experienced librarians & hand it to an inexperienced board made up of community members who are not impartial. It is censorship, and we are better than that.

Sent from my iPhone
From: Laura Ruetz
To: [email protected]
Subject: Oppose Agenda Item 24-197
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 12:02:20 PM
Oppose privatization of the Huntington Beach Public Library I have been going to the Huntington Beach Library since I was a little kid. It has always been a place of joy and wonderful memories, both as a child and as an adult.

I oppose the privatization of the Library. The librarians are a wonderful resource of information for all things related to books, and for the resources available to the patrons. We should not move out of the public library system. Libraries are where people of all ages find resources and comfort, as well as access to books, and digital library resources.

Library offerings should not be limited, and ultimately, parents should be reviewing what their children are checking out, not a group of strangers or some panel or committee that makes wide sweeping choices for an entire community. Our librarians are necessary and our libraries, and all branches deserve the support of the community, not trying to have a for-profit business try to run our beloved library as a business.

Laura Ruetz
From: Leslie Selder
To: [email protected]
Subject: City Council Meeting 3/19/24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 12:08:41 PM
Agenda Item 22:

Where is the logic in the idea of outsourcing HB city library services to a private company owned by a hedge fund? This will result in subpar services when we are used to quite the opposite. Our city librarians & other staff are superlative; they provide information & guidance that are invaluable to patrons. Do not replace them with some “library services” company with no clue about our stellar Huntington Beach libraries.

Agenda Item 24:

I strongly object to the proposed ordinance that would establish a “Community-Parent Review Board” for Children’s library books. This is no less than an attempt to wrest control from educated, experienced librarians & hand it to an inexperienced board made up of community members who are not impartial. It is censorship, and we are better than that.

Sent from my iPhone
From: Pat Goodman
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: Please oppose Agenda Items 22 and 24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 12:53:28 PM
Agenda Item 22 Please table/strike/oppose
I’m sure that the staff will prepare an excellent RFP for Managed Library Services for the Huntington Beach Public Library system. They will also be able to rate each submission and provide a cost benefit analysis for your final decision. It would be very helpful to state the reason for pursuing this issue, and what precipitated this action. Please offer the public reasons why you are requesting this use of staff time, and how this benefits the public.

I believe such an exercise is unnecessary and does not serve the public interest. Huntington Beach offers excellent library services to the community, and has great support from volunteers and the community Agenda Item 24:

Please table this item and rethink how best to communicate age appropriate, and topical reading lists to parents. The document presented raises many questions.

2.66.030 Purpose
The board shall review children’s books (below age 18) new purchases and may request review of books already in circulation for compliance with community standards and sexual content.

What are the criteria to review a children’s book? A board member requesting a review is not criteria.

The board is not required to read every recommended new book for alignment with community standards and sexual content? Board members will suggest items for review. This is very troubling. How are board members to determine which books come under review? Is it a personal opinion about an author? Do they do a search for certain words and phrases in a text? You must come up with specific criteria to determine what book qualifies for a review.

Par. 1 How does the review board access the books to be reviewed prior to the city purchasing it? I found the troubling answer in section 2.660.100. The city will purchase these books under review and either try to sell or donate them (maybe to the Friends of HBPL) or to less discerning libraries. Does this make sense that the city would purchase a potentially banned book? Why not borrow it from another library system?

2.660.080 Will the city attorney provide a briefing on the law related to the duties and criteria of this board including the Supreme Court definition of pornography prior to them initiating their review?

2.660.100 A. Any children’s book may be nominated to be reviewed again after one year has passed since the prior review. How does this policy align with paragraph G. that all decisions of the board are final and non- appealable?
There appears to be some typos/grammatical errors. Please run the document through spell/grammar check.

Conclusions:

There is a level of trust that each board member will read the book under review. The risk is that a board member will not act independently and in the best interest of the community it serves. A board member ought not rely on the reviews of outside groups of a publication to base their vote but be able to form their opinion based on the clear guidelines offered by the city in order to achieve consistency, impartiality, and avoid lawsuits.

From the time of a book’s submittal to the time of purchase (for those not reviewed or rejected) is one year. This board adds to the bureaucracy and diminishes efficiency of city library operations.

With this new board that exempts the one board rule for citizens to serve on only one board, it seems that the city is painting itself into a corner. The only way out is to table this item and think about how best the city might advise parents/guardians about questionable children’s reading materials that may appear on the shelves of HBPL. (Is this a role the city wants to take on?) Perhaps trusted organizations like faith communities, medical providers, service organizations and nonprofits, could circulate recommended reading lists for children and parents. I’m sure there are better ways to get this information out to parents than setting up a bureaucratic board that arbitrarily selects books for review that may run afoul of the law.

Thank you for your consideration.

Pat Goodman
Huntington Beach, CA
From: Tracy Luth
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: "Community Parent Guardian Review Board for Procurement of Children"s Library Materials." Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 2:06:47 PM
Dear City Council Members,
I am writing to express my disapproval of the "Community Parent Guardian Review Board for Procurement of Children's Library Materials." I do not believe that this City Council appointed group will have my, my children's or my grandchildren's best interests in mind when they meet. I expect a group focused upon banning any books that do not meet their personal agendas. We all pay for and use our libraries. We are entitled to a wide variety of content selected by trained librarians. If any person or family disagrees with some content, they are free to not check it out. If a person or family is uncomfortable at a library run by trained librarians, they can choose not to go there.

Sincerely,
Tracy Luth
From: Tricia Larson
To: [email protected]
Subject: Oppose Agenda Item 24-197
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 3:51:06 PM
I strongly oppose the privatization of the Huntington Beach Public Library system. Parents and not a private entity should decide which books their children read. As my children grew up in Huntington Beach and used the public library as a means of obtaining literature for both enjoyment and research, I never considered that they would ever be told what books they could read or not read by anyone else than their father and me. Please keep our libraries public and let our public librarians choose the books that are available to all in our community.

Sent from my iPhone
From: Cooper Carrasco
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Re: library review board
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 4:17:05 PM
Attachments: image.png
Hello Council it is Cooper Carrasco, HB resident.

Here is my opinion on a particular rule related to the board and I'd be curious to hear the explanation for it.
90 days seems too long for the library to wait for the book to be presumed approved.` Why require the list 45 days before the board meeting but then give them 90 days to nominate? At the most, presumed approval should line up with the 45 day minimum window.

To clarify, whenever the library wants to buy a new children's book, they will have to wait 90 days by default? How can they presume the book is okay to purchase if there are still 7 days left of the 90 day nomination-eligible period? If i'm reading it correctly, this is like a guilty until proven innocent system.

What would be even better would be if a board member had to nominate 7-14 days after the list is sent, so as to not hold up the acquisition process.

And maybe I'm misreading this...?
Library staff wants to buy a book, so they submit it to the list, they wait for the list to be submitted (presuming they will hold off on sending the list until 45 days prior to meeting) then they wait for 90 days to give the board a chance to nominate. Why risk going ahead with acquisition if it can be flagged in that 90 day window? Why have a meeting with 45 days left to nominate books in the most recent list? Also the review should take place at the next meeting.

I'm so confused by the design of the ordinance that I think I'm missing something so I welcome any response.

From: Elizabeth SanFilippo
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Community Parent/Guardian Review Board for Review of Children’s Library Materials – Oppose Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 4:39:29 PM
I am a Huntington Beach resident for over forty years and a homeowner. I am opposed overall to a Community Parent/Guardian Review Board for Review of Children’s Library Materials.

Recommendations of professional librarians for purchasing books for the library should not be subject to review by non-professionals.

Further, this ordinance has been drafted to indicate that the decisions of non-professionals are not appealable. This is un-American. Our systems include the right of appeal. Please re-write this ordinance to describe an appropriate appeal process.

Thank you for your consideration.

Elizabeth San Filippo
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: 3/19/24 City Council Comments
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 2:06:22 PM

From: Chris Varga <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 1:29 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: 3/19/24 City Council Comments

Agenda Item 22 (24—197) – I do not support this request for proposals for outside companies running our libraries. I support keeping the city run library system as is. Don’t waste time and money with this proposal.

Agenda Item 24 (24-209) – I do not support the proposed community review board for books. Let our city librarians do their job!

Agenda Item 25 (24-208) – I do not support pulling out of the League of Cities. We need to work together and not isolate.

Chris Varga
Huntington Beach
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Huntington Beach Library Privatization
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 3:35:44 PM

From: Colin Bill <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 3:18 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Huntington Beach Library Privatization

To the Governing Council of Huntington Beach,

I become aware of your decision to move forward with voting on essentially privatizing the Huntington Beach Public Library with LS&S or similar for profit company. After researching these types of companies and what they'll offer our community and those who patronage the library, I've found that they will not service the current and future patrons anywhere near what the current library staff is providing the community.

From what I understand, the library hours will be cut or infrequent, collections will be significantly cut and tailored to a privatized agenda (breach of the first amendment, restricting freedom of speech and press), and limitations of library run programs which provide our children with a safe space that provides programing based on community feedback and request.

The company, whichever HB City decides to contract, will cut corners to save on costs to maximize their profits while the community and more importantly our children suffer from limited and heavily controlled collection of books.

I've also been aware of the council's crusade to tarnish and damage the library's functionality and creditability. Apparently the Council believes they and their attorney are more suitable and educated to couriate the library's collection rather than the librarians who have a degree in library management and book selection. The council needs to back off and let the professionals run library.

The Council should focus more on balancing their financial spending and not try and clean up their unruly spending by cutting community service funds. Or maybe the librarian's should start doing that since the Council rather oversee the library.

Get your act together, leave the library alone and keep the filthy companies out of it.

Respectfully,
Colin Bill
Huntington Beach Library Patron
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 3:49:05 PM

From: Trudy J. Le Clair, Ed.D. <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 3:41 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Library

Attention City Council:

I am NOT in favor of a private entity taking over our libraries. The current system is not broken. It does NOT need to be fixed.

I am NOT in favor of banning books. The librarians are doing a good job reviewing and recommending books for our population. Besides our tech savvy population (younger citizens) that you seem to be targeting can find much more questionable information online than in the books of our library.

I am wondering why you are fixated on these issues when YOU SHOULD be concerned with the homeless crisis in our city.

Trudy J. Le Clair, Ed.D.

Le Clair and Bradley Enterprises
7171 Warner Avenue #B-307
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Be mindful of what you toss away.

Be careful what you push away,
and think hard before you walk away.

From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 4:34:49 PM

From: Claudette Varanko <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 4:16 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Library

As a resident of HB, I am shocked that the city council, in a thinly veiled attempt, is trying to take away my freedom to read what I want.

What a terribly bad idea to give control of the library to a for profit entity who will then decide what we can or can not read and eventually force our wonderful librarians out of a job. One that they love and educate for.

STOP this action. We will not let this happen.

Claudette Varanko
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: NO! NO! NO! on Item 22 and Item 24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 5:16:52 PM

From: Marge Nielsen <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 5:15 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: NO! NO! NO! on Item 22 and Item 24

I am vehemently against:

Item 22 - Managed Library Services
Item 24 - Parent Review Board For Children's Library
There is nothing wrong with HB libraries. Focus on our real problems, such as homelessness.

Margaret Nielsen
Huntington Landmark
20 year resident HB
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Item #24-197
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 6:05:27 PM

From: Kelly palfreyman troutman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 5:42 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Item #24-197

Dear HB City Council,

I oppose these actions. The library is a public good and should NOT be privatized.

I have frequented the HB library for 15 years and taken all 4 of my children to it because it offers such amazing resources. I have volunteered my time and money to support this amazing library.

The librarians have always done a wonderful job and do not need anyone else doing it for them. I can barely walk in the library and not get choked up now that the teen section has been eliminated.

Please stop this nonsense and keep the library for EVERYONE, especially the most vulnerable members of our community. No one is making anyone check out inappropriate material. Materials are already sorted into sections where they belong based on guidelines set forth by the ALA.

Unshelving a book designed to help children learn potty training because it may be considered to be "sexual" is absurd. Stop sexualizing biology and taking jobs away from those trained to do them and giving them to your friends. It's absoluting disgusting what is going on. I've been to multiple City Council meetings where this matter is addressed and you 4 are NOT even listening to the majority of voices in your constituency. Please stop harming the library and the HB community at large. I spent time last month with legislators in Sacramento and HB is becoming a joke. It's not too late to do the right thing. It's not too late to listen. It's not too late to change course and do what is best for the community.

Thank you!
From: Matt Ehrlich
To: [email protected]
Subject: Managed library service
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 5:54:29 PM
Dear city council
As a resident of Huntington Beach for over 20 years, I very strongly oppose any changes to our current Library operation or oversight.

Specifically, I strongly oppose item 22 managed library services, and item 24, the parent review board for children’s library.

Privatizing our beloved Huntington Beach library system is a threat to freedom, freedom of choice, and the wonderful education available to our residence through the library. I am concerned that the city would pay more only to receive fewer services for residence.

I do not wish our cities Library to be privatized.

Matt Ehrlich
From: stephanie stichka
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:06:17 PM
Dear City Council Members,
I don't need to tell you that the citizens of Huntington Beach are upset about the council majority's recent attacks and proposed changes to our libraries. The library is one of the few cherished landmarks left in our city - it is not broken nor does it need to be fixed.

No mention of "relocating" books were discussed during your campaigns, no mention of privatizing (sorry, "outsourcing") was ever brought up. You were not elected because of these issues and I don't believe you would have been elected had your constituents known of your intentions. If the intent of outsourcing the library is to save money, the first thing you should do is abolish the planned book committee - it is a colossal waste of time, energy and money we apparently do not have. Who is going to pay for the thousands of books that will need to be purchased? Not to mention the process is extremely flawed and makes no sense whatsoever.

The library uses very little city funds yet services the entire city - the proposal to outsource is short-sighted and will destroy the library making it more costly in the long run. Look at any other city that outsources and you will see their libraries are in disarray. You are punishing the entire city because this city council majority made egregious fiscal errors, including a hush-hush airshow settlement and a city attorney suing anybody and everybody. Should you move forward with this proposal, the current city council majority will be responsible for its destruction and that will be your legacy.

Regards,
The Stichka family
From: Pamela Edwards
To: [email protected]
Subject: March 19, 2024 HB City Council Meeting, Agenda Items 22 and 24 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:18:17 PM
HB City Council,
Do you even realize what an amazing library system you have in HB? As a non-resident, who has been a library patron for over 30 years, I ask you to not destroy this "jewel" HB is fortunate to have. These sweeping changes you plan on making to the HB Library will have a catastrophic effect on HB and surrounding communities. You are gutting a beloved library system in Orange County. Please stop!
From: Peggy Huang
To: [email protected]
Subject: Comment on item 22 and 23
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:25:34 PM
Hello,
I am a 15 year resident of Huntington Beach and I am saddened by changes and proposed changes to the city’s Public Library system. I was annoyed by the reallocation of children’s material but at least it was not a ban.

With having a group to assess what books actually come into the library rather than our own librarians, who are well versed with not only the community but on the world of books around us, this is basically a form of a ban. I completely oppose this. As a mom of two young kids, we go to the children’s area every 4 to 6 weeks. I should be the decider of what books my kids will pick out from the library, not some kind of board that will have OBVIOUS BIASES based on the current city council appointments. It is a waste of time and money. Are we doing this because majority of residents complained?? Where was the vote on this? Aside from a few people on the city council, what and why prompted this change?
Same issue with privatizing library operations. What will happen to our library staff? Why fix something if it’s not broken? Are we really saving money here? I would really love to see documentation on the reasons of why this is a good idea and why it is even being proposed. It’s really sad to see money wasted on measure like A, B, and C if it ends up requiring us to save money or save costs on public libraries.

I had always thought that city positions should be non partisan. Even if you hold opinions leaning one way or the other, that’s fine, but the decisions and proposals made by city council should be non-partisan and provide benefit to the community as a whole. For example, fix the roads, make the parks better, invest in community events, and LIBRARIES. But the recent measures and changes to the library are CLEARLY NOT non-partisan. So disappointing.

Thanks
From: Sharon
To: [email protected]
Subject: Oppose Agenda Item 24-209
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:49:59 PM
Regarding Ordinance No. 4318
As a resident of Huntington Beach for 27 years and a volunteer and user of the HB public library system for the same amount of time, I am continually amazed how a city government can be overrun by a few, following their own agenda and promoting their own views, claiming to be a champion of our children, yet taking each parent's responsibility for raising their children in their own way out of their hands and into the hands of other parents. Allowing a parent-guardian group, appointed by partisan politicians, to dictate what other parents can do is appalling.

To add to this, the ordinance proposed is just the latest version of what seems to be ad hoc discussions. It is fraught with inconsistencies, such as:
a community standard definition that we are seeing for the first time and no one has agreed to;
no description of qualifications needed to be a member of this Board; term-limits equal to the council member who appointed them, so they are clearly partisan too; originally posted as a 4-year term; timelines that cross over each other;
not specifically listing that these meetings are to be public and subject to public comment, as stated in the Brown Act;
in October, this was originally about procuring new books and now it can review any book requested in the current collection; using a one-year review timeline, effectively banning the book for that year, even if eventually the book is approved
I could go on....does anyone read/edit these documents before they are made public?
Who would ever want to be part of this Board after reading this document? There is no mention if this is a paid or volunteer position, yet they are being asked to do the work of paid and educated librarians. I would insist on being paid!
Please reject this document and reconsider this action.

Sharon Hathaway
From: Lisa Shook
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Item 22 - Managed Library Services Item 24 - Parent review board for children"s library Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:50:56 PM
As I write this, I wonder why I am wasting my time. For myself and others who oppose both items, our arguments are falling on deaf ears. City council, you have already decided your vote, regardless of what your constituents feel. Many of us will remember in November and vote accordingly.

When my daughter was 13 or 14 she came home with a bible and an interest to attend a church youth event. As we are agnostic, at first I was not thrilled that she was deviating from how we raised her but instead of forbidding it or shrugging it off, I encouraged her to attend and had several conversations about what this meant to her. Would you do the same if your similar aged child came home with a book that featured a transgender or gay character? Would you welcome it as a chance to have a frank and honest discussion or would you default to accusing librarians of sexualizing your child? This is the real world. There are people that live different lives and love in different ways. We all want to protect our children but ignorance is not protection. Parents already know how to supervise our children.

We don't need your parent review board to help us.

Lisa Shook
Huntington Beach CA
From: Scott Malabarba
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: in opposition to agenda items 24-197, 24-209, and 24-208 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:08:15 PM
Dear City Council,
Thank you as always to Councilmembers Kalmick, Moser, and Bolton for your unfailing integrity and dedication.

I oppose 24-197, request to issue an RFP for managed library services.

Outsourcing library management does not solve any problem Huntington Beach has. Our public library system has been run for decades by professionals who know what they are doing and are deeply committed to our community, and this request certainly did not come from them.

The contractor stated they would provide the same level of services that exists today and at a substantial annual cost savings for the City.

Nothing is free. There are no magic efficiencies to be gained by turning the library over to a private enterprise -- if there were, library staff would have already identified them last year when they were asked to come up with a plan for budget cuts. Any cost savings to the city can only be achieved by reducing the service level. What's more, a private library services company exists only to make a profit. So what we'll lose isn't just the the difference between HBPL's current cost and the contractor's bid -- it's that plus every cent they can extract to make their shareholders even richer.

On paper, the company will no doubt claim to demonstrate the same level of service.

However, they'll cut costs with actions like replacing the entire library staff with lower-paid and less-qualified contract workers, canceling programs, and increasing fees.

It's clear from the majority's actions since taking office that this request is not sincere. It's being done to wrest away more control over the library and, most likely, to somehow funnel more city money to the majority's friends and family.

HBPL has been an excellent institution and source of pride to HB residents for over one hundred years. Handing control of it to profit-driven outsiders will do nothing but harm.

I oppose 24-209, children's library material review board ordinance.

Here it is! The book ban.

Some passages of note:
"Community Standards" means the Board's determinations regarding whether books are acceptable for Children's access, including books that may contain Sexual Content or Sexual References.

Under this vague and ungrammatical definition, "Community Standards" does not apply only to the determination of sexual content. This board can reject books for whatever reason they want.

If a Children's Book is nominated for review, it shall not be purchased by the City for Library circulation unless first approved by the Board.

This section doesn't say "shall not be filed in the Children's section" -- these books will not be purchased at all. They are banned.

The community of Huntington Beach has, with a consistent and solid majority, shown up and written to the council to oppose this action. Of the minority in support, many were tricked into believing that librarians actually hand out pornography to children. This board does not represent our community. And this effort was never sincere or in good faith -- it has always been self-serving, deceptive, and indifferent to the harm it will cause.

I oppose 24-208, withdrawal from the League of California Cities.

I wasn't familiar with the League of California Cities before seeing this item on the agenda, but the tone of the proposal was enough to alert me. Proposition 1 was a complex piece of legislation that generated many opinions from many points of view -- the League is not trying to "knowingly harm our cities" just because someone there doesn't agree with you about the best ways to handle homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. If HB leaves then not only do we lose any benefits the League provides, but we lose our voice there.

I'm sure you'll vote this through anyway, but before now I hadn't heard of the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act. It is indeed deceptive as well as undemocratic -- now I'll be sure to vote against it, so thanks for that.

Sincerely,
Scott Malabarba
HB resident
From: Michael Keane
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: I strongly oppose Item 22 & Item 24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:12:37 PM
To whom it may concern,
My name is Michael Keane. I have been a resident of Huntington Beach my entire life and a library patron as long as I can recall. I’m emailing to voice my disapproval for Item 22 – "Managed Library Services" and Item 24 - "Parent Review Board For Children's Library," for reasons I hope are already evident through the emails of other residents.

Item 22 - "Managed Library Services"

I understand, as many do, the preliminary nature of Item 22 in seeking a Request for Proposals, however, the dominance of Library Systems and Services LLC as a national player in this field, with its demonstrable investment in Southern California, combined with the presence of former Huntington Beach mayor Michael Posey as regional sales executive for the company makes it difficult to imagine a conclusion to this process that does not eventually place Library Systems and Services in operational control of our public library.

In my opinion, such a conclusion would be ill-advised and detrimental.

Of great interest to our city council, what I presume to be financial savings for the city, privatization under LS&S has in the past proven less valuable for other cities than initially expected. An article published in the Fullerton Observer, March 8 th 2022, by retired Children’s
Services librarian Janine Jacobs consolidated several examples where other cities encountered problems justifying their contracts with LS&S. Santa Clarita and Calabasas public libraries in particular found that leaving their contracts would, in the first year at least, actually save money. Also noted were the decisions of San Juan City Library in Texas and the Oregon State Library to leave their contracts with LS&S due to the company’s lack of financial transparency, something I imagine is paramount for determining how much of the city’s budget is spent on the city versus how much profits a Maryland-based private equity company and its investors.

Further deleterious effects are more obvious on the front-end. LS&S standardizes library catalogues across all its branches in order to save money, ignoring the individuality of each community and, as reported in Escondido’s case, decimates existing collections in the process.

LS&S seems to accomplish most of its ostensible savings through how it treats library staff, especially new-hires, cutting pay and lowering qualifications for employment. These two factors result in higher turnover and could disincentive the retention of long-term staff, threatening to expunge the institutional knowledge and experience that would otherwise benefit our library into the future.

Any one of these privatization byproducts would degrade the quality of our magnificent library, and in my opinion, contradict the city’s goal of providing exceptional service. At the very least, I would hope that you carefully consider the American Library Association’s “Checklist for Considering Privatization,” but it is my belief that any private company looking to manage our library would improve neither the library nor our city, and warrants no further investment of the city staff’s time and resources to entertain proposals.

Item 24 - "Parent Review Board For Children's Library"

As far as I can tell, the intent to curate a catalogue of books deemed acceptable to children and teenagers seems to originate with a specific moral and communalistic imperative, of making the content in our library further reflect the values of the community. From a certain perspective, I understand the intent, but the closer I look at the item in question, the more that intent seems to break down, namely because the item focuses not on allowing patrons and parents to self-determine their selections, but on limiting the selections they can make based on the determination of a twenty-one-person board appointed by city council. To place such authority in the hands of this review board, whose qualifications are as yet unclear to me, sounds like a bureaucratizing move at best, and at worst, like an attempt to empower the few over the many.

It is my understanding this review board would not simply choose which books would be accessible to patrons under the age of eighteen, but would determine which future books make it into our library at all. How is this board supposed to be a better arbiter for the community than each individual community member? As for the merit of a librarian's role in determining library content in comparison to this review board, I think the truth is obvious.

Disregarding the fact that a librarian has a Masters degree in their field, which is a pretty big disregard, the call for establishing this review board isn’t to benefit an underserved portion of library patrons. It's to limit library offerings as determined by twenty-one adults who, despite the title of this item, are not the parents of every single youth that makes use of the library.

And of course, this doesn’t even begin to explore the qualifications of a book for acceptance or rejection. This is something that shouldn’t be left vague, as last year’s resolution demonstrated when, in the attempt to remove sexual content from the Children’s Library, a procession of vague definitions for “sexual content” resulted in a confused sorting process with such embarrassing results as the transfer of a potty-training book from the Children’s Library to the Adult section. Albeit, that particular case was momentary, but the situation speaks for itself and, in my opinion, only cements that attempting to further micro-manage what our librarians and day-to-day library patrons can already manage for themselves is unnecessary and shouldn’t be pursued.

Thank you for your time.
- Michael Keane
From: Aaron Soto
To: [email protected]
Subject: NO to HBPL Privatization & New Parental Oversight Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:15:17 PM
I strongly oppose all efforts to privatize our wonderful library, including via managed services. I also strongly oppose the proposed parental review board.

In summary, I strongly oppose Item 22 and Item 24 put forth to the Council Agenda.

Best,
-Aaron Soto
Long-time HB resident, homeowner, and business owner
From: lynn davis
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: HuntingtonLibrary
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:27:20 PM
"I STRONGLY OPPOSE"
Item 22- Managed Library Services and
Item 24-Parent Review Board for Children's Library
The library is run in a very professional and efficient manner. Many people use the services provided and the staff very knowledgeable and helpful.

We need to keep the library and the people the way it is now.

Thank you.

Lynn Davis
From: alexys
To: [email protected]
Subject: do not limit books - do not privatize
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:37:46 PM
The actions of the city council make me ashamed to call myself a Huntington beach resident. please do the right thing and do not establish any committee dedicated to limiting the books in the library and keep it public for all
From: Nancy Nielsen-Mirza
To: [email protected]
Subject: No! To Item 22 and Item 24!!!!
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:55:00 PM
What's wrong with you people? Our library and librarians are great. Please focus on real city problems like EVERYONE agrees - homelessness. Geez.

NO on Item 22and Item 24.

Nancy
12 year HB/SB resident
2 kids in the school system
From: Brandon
To: [email protected]
Subject: Concerns Regarding the City Council Agenda on March 19th, 2024 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:01:49 PM
Huntington Beach City Council
2000 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Dear Huntington Beach council members,
I’m writing today to express a degree of concern in regard to items on the agenda for this city council meeting.

Privatization of our library
I oppose the privatization of our current library system, as our current infrastructure and experienced personnel are adequate for our needs. The time, expense, and complexity of gutting an existing library system would be much better spent fixing the current broken fountain at the entrance to Central Library.

Community Parent Guardian Review Board for Procurement of Children's Library Materials
This is nothing short of a book banning committee and an attempt to grab national headlines. This political grandstanding does nothing for our city but divide and infuriate. I am a father to two elementary school age children who attend public school in our city, and it is my place as a parent to censor the materials my children access. I trust the work of our established librarians and as a parent, I explore the library with my children. I have yet to see anything I consider inappropriate in the children’s section, and I actively monitor the media that they consume. This committee is unnecessary censorship for political points.

We all wish to improve our great city and I thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Brandon Ribota
Huntington Beach, CA

From: Lee Marie Sanchez
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: HB CITY COUNCIL ~ OUR LIBRARIES
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:08:32 PM
Dear Members of the HB City Council ~
We have an incredible Huntington Beach Library. Our librarians and our support staff are all top notch. Let them do their jobs. You have made unwise financial decisions and, continuing to do so, you now need to find other revenue, such as looking at for-profit managers of our system.

We do not need to tell our librarians how to select books. This is what they spent years in graduate school learning and have more experience than any majority of the Council's hand-picked people could do. Again, a waste of time and the public's money because of your bungling city finances.

My family has lived in Huntington Beach now for over 52 years participating in a myriad of community events and activities, always trusting our libraries to provide us with truly wonderful service. We now find ourselves embarrassed by recent decisions of our Council.

With hope for better governance, Rev. Lee Marie Sanchez (retired)

From: Molly Fitzgerald
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Concerns Regarding Local Library Management and Policy Changes Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:12:23 PM
Dear Members of the City Council,
As a concerned parent and dedicated library patron, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed consideration of transferring the management and staffing of our local library system to a private company. Additionally, I wish to address recent policy changes that have caused inconvenience and dissatisfaction among many community members, including myself.

First and foremost, our local library is not just a repository of books and resources; it is a vital community institution that serves as a cornerstone of education, literacy, and intellectual freedom. The current highly-qualified personnel who work tirelessly to maintain and improve our library system are dedicated public servants who understand the unique needs and preferences of our diverse community. Handing over the management to a private company driven by profit motives risks undermining the core values and principles that our library stands for.

Privatization often leads to reduced access, diminished quality of service, and loss of accountability to the public. We cannot afford to compromise on the quality and accessibility of our library services, especially when it comes to essential resources for education, research, and community engagement. Our local library should remain a public trust, accountable to the residents it serves, rather than being subject to the profit-driven interests of a private entity.

Furthermore, I am deeply disappointed by the recent implementation of policies that have resulted in the relocation of certain human anatomy books out of the children's section. While I understand the importance of age-appropriate content, such decisions should be made with careful consideration and consultation with parents and educators. Restricting access to educational materials based on arbitrary or religious criteria not only undermines the principle of intellectual freedom but also hampers the ability of children to learn and explore subjects essential to their understanding of themselves and world around them.

As parents, it is our responsibility to guide and supervise our children's reading choices.

However, we should not support policies that censor or restrict access to information based on subjective interpretations or misplaced concerns. Instead, we should promote open dialogue, critical thinking, and a respect for diverse perspectives within our community.

In conclusion, I urge you to reject any proposals to privatize our local library system and to reconsider recent policy changes that undermine its mission and values. Our library belongs to the people, and it is our collective responsibility to safeguard its integrity and ensure that it remains a beacon of knowledge, learning, and inclusivity for generations to come.

Thank you for your attention to these important matters.

Sincerely,
Molly Fitzgerald
18734 Elmwood Ln
Huntington Beach
(747) 333-6166
From: Michelle Hall
To: [email protected]
Cc: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF)
Subject: Voice against Privatization of Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:18:48 PM
Good evening,
I wish to voice my opinion against the privatization of the library management. As it stands, I am already very concerned with the direction the council has taken the library in removing harmless and educational books from the children's section of the library and fear that any private management company, particularly Library Systems & Services will continue in this downward spiral towards lunacy. As a doctor, I became interested in the human body at a young age and depended on the library to find books that would educate me on biological functions, including reproductive health. Now as the mother to two young children, I encourage them to speak openly about people and their bodies, to use proper anatomical words and to be curious. I would wish for my children to continue to have access to books that spark their interest and imagination, no matter what the subject and not to be limited by a group of conservative hysterics that are offended by textbooks.

To this day, I have trusted and appreciated the Huntington Beach Library and its variety of books for children and young adults. The selection currently available touches on subjects of health, diversity and equality. If the council moves towards hiring a private management company I would fear for the current staff at the library and the limitations the new management company will impose. The library should continue to be an access to everyone to a world of education and to subjects of all interests. I do not support the privatization of the library management.

Thank you for your time.

Dr Michelle Hall, MD.

From: Buffie Channel
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: AGAINST -- Agenda Item #22 / 24-197, Item # 24 / 24-209 and Item 25 / 24-208 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:27:40 PM
To City Council Members:

Regarding Item 22 / 24-197: NO
Here are some quotes about libraries. I hope you read them and ponder why you are making it your mission to decimate our libraries and attack our librarians.

The profiteering of library services is a solution for weak leaders and weak readers. -- Buffie Channel, HB Taxpayer
The only thing that you absolutely have to know,
is the location of the library.
—Albert Einstein
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience:
this is the ideal life.
—Mark Twain
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. —Marcus Tullius Cicero
Yo, que me figuraba el Paraíso / Bajo la especie de una biblioteca.

I have always imagined Paradise as a kind of library.
—Jorge Luis Borges, from Dreamtigers
You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, that has been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians. ―Graham Chapman
The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.
—T.S. Eliot
I ransack public libraries, and find them full of sunk treasure. —Virginia Woolf
Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.
—Walter Cronkite
Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.
—Sidney Sheldon
A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. —Henry Ward Beecher
A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.
—Andrew Carnegie
Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one. —Neil Gaiman
When in doubt, go to the library.
—J.K. Rowling, from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future. Just ask Ray Bradbury. —Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, from Beautiful Creatures A library is a miracle. A place where you can learn just about anything, for free. A place where your mind can come alive.
—Josh Hanagarne, from The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family
One can never have too many librarian friends.
—Jennifer Chiaverini, from The Wedding Quilt
Good librarians are natural intelligence operatives. They possess all of the skills and characteristics required for that work: curiosity, wide-ranging knowledge, good memories, organization and analytical aptitude, and discretion. —Marilyn Johnson, from This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian.
—Joan Bauer, from Best Foot Forward
I don't think I'll be able to help you find that.
—No librarian, ever.

Perhaps you should listen to scholars, scientists, teachers, authors, and respected intellectuals - - if you won't listen to the citizens who you claim to represent and who are your bosses.

My tax dollars for the past 35 years have paid for the books, the contents, the upkeep, the programs and the stellar reputations of the libraries in the city of Huntington Beach. The fact that you want to privatize library services is a slap in the face of the taxpayers, the children of this city, and all patrons of our renowned libraries!
Here is what we know (and you can save your unhinged and unprofessional replies - telling me how you have lived in HB longer than me or how the building will still belong to the city because we know the truth)
- Yes, the building and the books will still be the property of the city.

HOWEVER, YOU WILL FIRE THE LIBRARIANS OR ONLY ALLOW THEM TO KEEP THEIR JOBS WITHOUT THEIR PENSIONS or BENEFITS, FOR A MUCH REDUCED PAY, WITHOUT THEIR AUTHORITY TO MANAGE BOOKS AND SERVICES. So save us your lies. Your semantics and mumbo jumbo about what is really happening may work on your low information supporters, but it won't work on US! - The company Library Systems and Services is the ONLY company that is privatizing library services across the country - AND WE KNOW THAT MIKE POSEY IS ON THE BOARD! So your lies about putting this out for a study or a "bid" is smoke and mirrors since you are being lobbied by Posey. LSS is known to decimate library programs, push out experienced librarians and staff, and reduce book choices to best sellers and mainstream mediocre vanilla content.
- Most of the cities that have opted for this takeover have regretted it or are suing their city councils for blatant negligent profiteering.
- LIbrary services and programs will be eliminated with a FOR-PROFIT corporate model.

Say goodbye to the beloved Seed Library
Say goodbye to the Gift Shop
Say goodbye to Storytime (award winning in the county)
Say goodbye to historical tours
Say goodbye to the Friends of the Library and their donations Say goodbye to the 1000 citizen volunteers because who wants to volunteer when a corporation has fired everyone and decimated the programs Say goodbye to the Art displays upstairs and future expanded art installations Say goodbye to the Fountains
Say goodbye to the coffee cafe
Say goodbye to the Teen Center (well that's already gone) Say goodbye to the LIbby e-books
Say goodbye to the kids summer reading programs
Say goodbye to Beanstack (do you even know what that is? I doubt it) Say goodbye to Lego KidsClub
Say goodbye to Toddler and Big Kids Craft Storytime
Say goodbye to Crafter's Corner because that will definitely be chopped because that might cut into their profits
Say goodbye to the Tween STEAM Team (that's definitely on the chopping block) Say goodbye to the program called Life Skills for Teens (because why do teens need life skills, or puberty books, or a place to hang out at the library?) If you are looking to LIBRARIANS and their salaries and pensions to make up for your short falls and poor governing and giveaways to your rich Air Show buddies and inevitable losses in court - you are simply ineffective representatives and you underestimate the value that the community places on our libraries, access to books, and our esteemed librarians and the services that ONLY they can provide because they are educated and trained far beyond the incredibly insulting offer that LSS will make to them to retain their jobs..

Regarding agenda item 24 (24-209): NO
Rarely have I seen such a sophomoric and immature proposal riddled with unworkable procedures and a flagrant disregard for the First Amendment, parents and their judgement, and a total lack of understanding of how anything works in a library! It's alarming and ignorant and ripe for a lawsuit.

Regarding Agenda Item 25: (24-208): NO
And regarding the proposal to leave the League of Cities organization - no surprise there. Any organization that may scrutinize this council and is against privatizing library services is naturally on this Council Majority's chopping block. (Casey - save your canned and insulting "Bless your Heart" response, mmm kay?)
This City Council majority continues to show a complete lack of care for the concerns of the tax paying residents of this city.

Hands off our libraries and our librarians!
I'll leave you with one last quote. One that exposes your plans of underestimating our citizenry.

Libraries are full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons. —Sarah J. Maas, from Throne of Glass
Sincerely,
Buffie Channel
35 year resident and homeowner
From: Paula Schaefer
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: 3/19/2024 Agenda Item 24 DO NOT APPROVE ORDINANCE NO 4318 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:29:40 PM
Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council Members:

As a voter and a HB resident and taxpayer, I encourage you to drop the entire idea of the Parent-Guardian Review Board, and return to the City’s librarians the appropriate authority to make informed decisions regarding book collections for children and teenagers.

However, I believe that you will continue to attempt to form this Board and therefore, I urge you do not
approve Ordinance No. 4318, as written. After reviewing it, there are significant problems with the structure of the Board and numerous questions as to how it would operate.

I raise the following questions:

2.66.020 Definitions
The definition of “Children” is limited solely to age and librarians would consider there to be at least several groups included within all persons under the age of 18 years old.

The definitions of “Sexual Content” and “Sexual Reference” should be limited to humans. If not, these definitions will include sexual content that discusses behavior of animals, insects, and plants. Surely, you do not want the Board to review all books contained within those subject areas, do you?
There is no definition of parent or guardian.

2.66.030 Purpose
Regarding the second paragraph here, isn’t the “recataloging” process for current circulation already complete?

2.66.040 Composition
This does not explain who can be appointed. Can a stepparent be appointed? What about a grandparent? What about parents of adult children? Or is this only to be parents of school-age children? Do the parents have to be HB residents? Do the children have to be HB residents? What about a parent with shared custody but the children go to school in a different city?

2.66.100 Funding
Why would the non-approved Children’s Books be sold or given away? Why wouldn’t these books simply be “recataloged” to the Adult section of the library? If these non-approved books are given away, wouldn’t that be a gift of public funds?

2.66.110 Duties
A. The last sentence of Section A is confusing and seems to contradict Section G, which says that the decisions of the Board are final and non-appealable. Which is it? B. Section B states a book can be considered approved for purchase if it is NOT nominated for review or reviewed within one year of nomination. Doesn’t this contradict Sections D and E below?
C. Section C states that a book currently in circulation can be reviewed and if not approved, this book can be placed in the Adult Section. Hasn’t the “recataloging” process been completed already? So, is this Board authorized to re-do that process? Also, doesn’t this contradict paragraph 2.66.100?
D. Section D contradicts the last sentence in Section B discussing the process whereby books can be considered for purchase.

E. Section E contradicts the last sentence in Section B discussing the process whereby books can be considered for purchase.

G. Section G states that the Board’s decisions are final and are non-appealable? Really? Is there any other Board or Commission under the City Council’s authority whose decisions cannot be appealed? If so, why are you willing to give away this authority? Based on my reading of this proposed Ordinance, I can only suggest that the City Council rescind its decision to form this Board. As presented here, this Board is unworkable.

Paula Schaefer, HB resident
From: Ariana Marquez
To: [email protected]
Subject: Regarding Privatization of Huntington Beach Library Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:44:05 PM
To Whom it May Concern,
As a resident of Huntington Beach, I wish to make known that I strongly oppose Item 22 Managed Library Services and Item 24 Parent Review Board.

The beauty and necessity of the public library system is that it provides an accessible and inclusive environment for all populations. Moving forward with the proposed changes would minimize the effectiveness of these pillars in the community.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Best,
Ariana Marquez
Resident
From: Scott
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Item 22, Item 24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:09:53 PM
Dear City Council,
I strongly oppose items 22 and 24 for the March 19th, 2024 agenda. As a long time resident of Huntington Beach, the public library has been an invaluable resource that has been extremely well run. These changes are completely unnecessary and are a disservice to the residents of Huntington Beach. The patrons of the public library should have the freedom and choice to decide for themselves and their families what is appropriate, not notoriety seeking politicians. Freedom and choice are fundamental to this country, I expect my city council to represent these values.

Scott Bauer
From: Jason Hall
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: Voice against Privatization of Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:14:55 PM
To whom it may concern,
Having grown up in Huntington Beach, the HB library system was vital to cultivating my love of reading and exposing me to thoughts and concepts that were vital to my becoming a responsible adult. It is the access to books that allow kids to go on an adventure, develop compassion for others, understand other cultures and families, and grow empathy towards others.

And today, I bring my daughter and son to the library to experience the activities of the Children's Library and check out books on a variety of topics including learning about other cultures, caring for the environment, introduction to LGBTQ+ families and a variety of other topics. My children will become more understanding, inquisitive, compassionate, and empathetic for reading these books (which is not a negative thing).

By privatizing the Huntington Beach library staff and book selection, I fear that Orange County kids will not be allowed to experience the world around them through these books, keeping them cocooned from the real outside world. Restricting books, not ordering new books on relevant global topics or limiting their access will stunt the growth of children and young adults to the real world, and without this exposure, they will get a rude awakening and likely struggle to accept that there are those that practice different religions, hold different beliefs or understand global events.

I also fear with privatization of the library that service could be cut to help the private entities' bottom line. Will the best children's story time in Orange County be on the chopping block to save a buck? Will my daughter no longer participate in craft time because the private company doesn't want to shell out for more glue or colored paper? As someone who spent a large chunk of his formative years in Huntington Beach and has a large part of my heart still there, I urge you to keep the library as it is with no restrictions to what children can have access to or check out (return to the system prior to the "relocation" of certain books related to the human body) and not privatize the HB library staff. People come from all over Orange County to participate with the HB library system and if the system changes out of fear of knowledge or to save money on a line in the city's budget, it will not be a loss just for Huntington Beach, but for Orange County as a whole.

Jason Hall
Resident from 1982-2018 and biggest fan of the library staff From: Megan Ehrlich
To: [email protected]
Subject: Concern over our public library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:30:06 PM
Dear City Commissioner:

I strongly oppose item 22-managed Library services.

I strongly oppose item 24-parent review board for children's library.

I absolutely love our library and appreciate books and information offered for ALL citizens.

For a small group of citizens to decide what is best for me to read or information to share is not acceptable. These decisions to privatize will change the life we have appreciated living here in Huntington Beach.

I appreciate your taking my opinion seriously.

Regards,
Megan Ehrlich
From: Melanie Tioleco-Cheng
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: DO NOT PRIVATIZE OUR LIBRARIES
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:34:19 PM
Hello City Council Members,
I'll keep this brief because I've had a long day at work.

Please DO NOT PRIVATIZE LIBRARIES. HBPL has a rich tradition--it is a great place where people can read, check out books, use library resources for FREE. I have lived in HB for over twenty years, I have brought my children to storytimes at many of HB libraries when they were little. We are avid readers and library patrons.

And, as a pediatrician, I have recommended HB library story times to my patient families for years.

Making our public library PRIVATE would tear apart our current library system. I oppose 24-197.

And, as many HB citizens and I have stated over and over and over again, I oppose book bans in our library. We do not need a citizen group of 21 people who have not been trained in library sciences to choose what I allow my own children to read. I oppose 24-209.

These two agenda items are nothing more that a power grab to control our library and library systems.

Please don't talk about saving HB citizens money when you sent $7million to your friends at the Air show. It's just not sincere or truthful. --Melanie Tioleco-Cheng
From: Morgen Ehrlich
To: [email protected]
Subject: HB Public Library Privatization and Control
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:10:26 PM
Dear City Commissioner:

I strongly oppose item 22-managed Library services.

I strongly oppose item 24-parent review board for children's library.

I am a senior in high school and live in Huntington Beach. I have been going to the library since I learned to read. I have grown up with the kind, helpful, and welcoming community of people that run it. I am the person that I am today because of my love and passion for reading and learning. I have never once had a problem with the library’s content. The opinions of a few people should not determine what the entire community can read. Parents can decide for themselves what their children should read. I love the library and its programs and do not want to see a private company interfere with how it runs. It is a very special place for me and I would be incredibly sad if it changed as drastically as these measures entail.

I have been taught by my parents to stand up for what I believe in, and that is what I’m doing now. I want to do my duty as a citizen and share my voice, and I hope you’ll consider my perspective.

Regards,
Morgen Ehrlich
From: Morgen Ehrlich (Student FVHS)
To: [email protected]
Subject: Items 22 and 24: HB Library
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:12:03 PM
Dear City Commissioner:

I strongly oppose item 22-managed Library services.

I strongly oppose item 24-parent review board for children's library.

I am a senior in high school and live in Huntington Beach. I have been going to the library since I learned to read. I have grown up with the kind, helpful, and welcoming community of people that run it. I am the person that I am today because of my love and passion for reading and learning. I have never once had a problem with the library’s content. The opinions of a few people should not determine what the entire community can read. Parents can decide for themselves what their children should read. I love the library and its programs and do not want to see a private company interfere with how it runs. It is a very special place for me and I would be incredibly sad if it changed as drastically as these measures entail.

I have been taught by my parents to stand up for what I believe in, and that is what I’m doing now. I want to do my duty as a citizen and share my voice, and I hope you’ll consider my perspective.

Regards,
Morgen Ehrlich
From: Lindsay K
To: [email protected]
Subject: Ordinance No. 4318 - 21 People Supplanting Parents Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:35:16 PM
Dear City Council,
My name is Lindsay Klick. I am the mother of two school aged children, have been an HB resident for 20 years, and have worked as a professional Children’s Librarian in Orange County for the past 13 years. I am writing to highlight the many ways Ordinance No. 4318 “Community Parent-Guardian Review Board for Procurement of Children’s Library Materials” is unworkable and/or ill-advised. It would be funny if it weren’t such a shame.

2.66.010 Established
In which the City Council creates a “Community Parent-Guardian Review Board for Procurement of Children’s Library Materials” to supplant the work of professional librarians with 21 volunteers appointed by the Council.

2.66.020 Definitions
In this section “Children’s Books” are defined as works intended for anyone under 18. If we can agree that children’s books are for children, maybe the 21-parent review board is an unnecessary waste of time?
“Community Standards” is defined as “the Board’s determinations regarding whether books are acceptable for Children’s access, including books that may contain Sexual Content or Sexual References.” Hold on, community standards is whatever the majority on the board (which is handpicked by the Council) says it is? Where does the “community” part come in? Librarians use statistics and hundreds of daily personal interactions with patrons to determine what the “community” wants. So who is more in touch with “community standards’? “Sexual Content” is everything from hugging to kissing to dating to anatomy to reproductive health. Sorry teens, I mean “large children”, your books are pretty much all off limits.

2.66.030 Purpose
“The Board shall serve as a decision-making authority to the City to ensure that books that Children (both small and large children because 6 year olds and 16 year olds are the same) have access to in the City Libraries meet the City’s Community Standards (21 people or .1% of the community) for material acceptable for Children’s access.” HB parents, you don’t know what you’re doing so they’re bringing in surrogate decision makers for you.

2.66.040 Composition
A. 21-parent guardians are picked by the City Council with each member picking 3 for the Board. We get 12 people scandalized by puberty and 9 people who don’t understand why this is necessary but want to help.

B. The normal rule where citizens can’t serve on more than one Board doesn’t count here because: a. There’s lots of people on this board. b. It might be hard to get people to serve. (The application was briefly/accidentally online and I applied. Then it disappeared. Hmm…) c. The duties are limited. (Except the whole part where they review every possible children’s book purchase two times per year).

2.66.080 Meetings
This 21-person group is going to meet twice a year. Because it is a “Brown Act” Board, we can watch. How long will this meeting take? Perhaps weeks (See: 2.66.110 Duties).

2.66.100 Funding
The City will pay for the group to access to advanced reader copies or reviews. How many books is this? (Hint: The library purchases thousands of children’s books annually.) Any books not approved will be sold to other libraries outside HB (um, no, those libraries have contracts with distributors they purchase through) whose children are presumably more wizened and world-weary than our city’s youngsters or whose parents are better able to determine their own children’s reading without the hand-holding of government Boards.

2.66.100 Duties
A. This is the part where the 21-person volunteer committee reviews ALL CHILDREN’S BOOKS PROPOSED FOR PROCUREMENT in the span of two meetings per year. (Just a little aside, as a children’s librarian I review anywhere between 100-400 titles and purchase about 75 books for my small library branch every other week. The idea that this volunteer group will review every proposed children’s purchase twice a year is hysterical. And impossible. And anyone who knows anything about libraries should get this.) Also, will HB’s children be getting to read the new hot Dog Man or Diary of a Wimpy Kid 6 months after all the other kids in Orange County because they had to wait for the 21-person committee to approve them? It would seem so.

B. Lots of confusing timeline stuff about submitting a list of books intended for purchase 45- days before the twice yearly meetings and the board getting to pick any of those books for review and that can take a year to happen which just makes me think, will these poor HB kids ever get their books?
C. Oh, they can also go back and review books already in the library and if the “children’s books’ aren’t to the Board’s standards, poof, they are magically adult books now. And they can’t ever be children’s books again. No take-backsies.

D. Everybody has to be there to review the books before a vote. (Does this mean everyone is watching everyone else read books for hours? And when have you ever had 21 people all show up to anything?)
E. “The Board must vote on whether a Children’s Book (Ha! This says it’s for children right there!) meets the Community Standards before the Board may vote on procurement/placement.” (Now they get to vote whether it gets purchased at all even IF it meets their own standards?)
F. If the Director wants to buy something and the Board says “no” the Board fills out the Library Materials Review Form. (Anyone can already do this now.) Then they put that form in the meeting minutes and say why it didn’t meet “Community Standards” or is “unfit” for placement in the Library.

G. Don’t argue with the Board’s decision, it’s final.

H. All the censorship will be documented fully and “displayed on the City’s website on the Board’s webpage.”
What a Farce,
Lindsay Klick, HB Resident, Mother and Librarian
From: Celeste Rybicki
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Against agenda Items 22 and 24
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:44:29 PM
Please leave our libraries alone. Mayor VanDerMark has an axe to grind with free speech and freedom of information but has not made a credible case that any real problem lies on the shelves of our beloved libraries. I’ve written before about the negative impacts:

Public libraries offer broader accessibility to diverse communities, providing free resources, educational programs, and a communal space for everyone. I’m concerned you’re going to put cost-savings and profit margins above services to our community.

IF we’re talking about Library Systems and Services here are a few issues that I found reported by libraries that have left LS&S or rejected the company’s off to manage their library:
• Savings not as expected. Escondido’s contract has the city paying for all technology, software, and maintenance costs as well as being billed for the cost plus 5% handling fee for materials. Santa Clarita Public Library in California found the net cost to operate the library in-house at the same staffing level as LS&S would save the city approximately $400,000 the first year after leaving LS&S. Calabasas Library saved $68,000 the first year after leaving LS&S.
• Reductions of service. Some libraries have less service and more reduction of hours due to staff cutbacks resulting from the loss of professional staff. • Loss of local connection to the community. LS&S has been reported to substitute a remote reference service for local reference librarians. Also, with their standardized high volume buying there is a minimal collection of Spanish language materials. • Library Programming is controlled by LS&S. It is no longer up to staff to determine what best serves the local population’s needs and interests. • Negative Effect on library staffing. LS&S Staff serves at the pleasure of LS&S. They replace unionized workers with nonunion employees and often cut wages. This can cause the loss of experienced staff and result in a high turnover rate. • Negative effects on the library collection. When LS&S takes over, they get control of the library collection and they do the ordering. LS&S saves money by narrowing the library collection and focusing on best sellers. This can result in the loss of ability to adapt to the needs and interests of local patrons.
• Lack of transparency of finances. San Juan City Library in Texas left LS&S stating that LS&S would not divulge its profit margin. The Oregon State Library reported LS&S spent 28% of money from Jackson County on “other” but would not identify what constituted “other.”
• Lack of willingness to talk in a public setting was given as one reason Prince William County, Maryland rejected LS&S.

It is in the best interest of our city and our community to keep the library public and to dismantle any censorship/book banning board and let the licensed librarians do their jobs.

Thank you,
Celeste
From: Brianne Murray
To: [email protected]
Subject: Library Privatization and Book Organization
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 11:58:54 PM
Hello,
I am writing ahead of the 3/19 city council meeting to implore you not to outsource library services, something currently restricted under California law. Our library services work well and there is no logical reason to further waste our tax dollars and attempt to incur frivolous lawsuits with the state government for political theater.

Additionally, the creation of a review board approving children’s books is ridiculous. Allow parents to decide what books are appropriate for their children to read.

Instead of goading the state government and attempting to establish government rule over what should be individual choice, the council should focus on managing the budget appropriately. These ridiculous, and often illegal, proposals tarnish our city’s reputation and waste millions of dollars that should be used to better our city.

Brianne Murray
From: Alina Mirza
To: [email protected]
Subject: I Strongly Oppose Item 22 & Item 24
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 1:18:19 AM
Hello,
I am a current San Diego State University student who lived and grew up with the Huntington Beach Public Library. From volunteering to participating in the reading events, HBPL is a second home. As a passionate Huntington Beach local I strongly oppose Item 22-Managed Library Services and Item 24-Parent Review Board for Children’s Library.

Thank you,
Alina Mirza
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: Oppose Agenda Item #24
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 1:18:23 AM
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,
Please reject Item #24.

A parent has every right to restrict what their child reads or looks at, but they do not have a right to restrict what someone else's child reads or looks at.

At its core, the Community Review Board's mission is to restrict access to books that most parents do not object to.

However, I understand that this Council does not believe in protecting individual rights and will be moving forward with these book restrictions. If that is the case, I certainly hope you will do a better job setting up the parameters than what is written in Ordinance 4318.

Many of the definitions have no standards and leave everything up to the interpretation of amateurs whose only requirement to be appointed is that they have either born children or are the guardian of child.

How are the books to be evaluated by the committee if the books cannot be purchased by the city if they are deemed unacceptable?
How will the committee members be compensated for the hours upon hours it will take to read all the materials the library generally purchases in a year? Will we just stop purchasing books because the committee can't read fast enough? If the books are allowed to be purchased for evaluation (as many as 21 copies each?), is it fiscally responsible to spend as much as $500,000 per year for books that will be donated to other city's libraries? How generous to subsidize other cities and give away our money!
How can we have a Board made up of appointed amateurs be the final word with no appeal process? That seems very autocratic.

Please take the time to at least make this ordinance make sense. We shouldn't have to wait for a year or more for new books to be placed in the library. We shouldn't be giving our books away to cities with more enlightened library policies. We should have actual definitions of what sexual content means. We should have an actual definition of what the HB Community Standard is.

Thank you,
Dianne James
From: Lucia
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: NO to HBPL Privatization & New Parental Oversight Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 5:45:56 AM
> I strongly oppose all efforts to privatize our wonderful library, including via managed services. I also strongly oppose the proposed parental review board.
>
> In summary, I strongly oppose Item 22 and Item 24 put forth to the Council Agenda. >
> Best,
> -Aaron Soto
> Long-time HB resident, homeowner, and business owner
>
From: Tim Channel
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: Opposed to Agenda Items 24-197, 24-208, and 24-209 (3/19/2024) Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 6:14:24 AM
City Council Members,

I am a 34 year resident and homeowner in Huntington Beach and I am writing to voice my opposition to Agenda Items 24-197, 24-208, and 24-209. Ever since the slate majority has come into office, they have done NOTHING but HURT our city. It is obvious that Van Der Mark, Burns, Strickland, and McKeon are more interested in furthering their own political agendas at the expense of the citizens of Huntington Beach. Grandstanding your conservativeness, hoping others of your kind will notice how extreme you are, and heap their praises on you?

Is your goal is to go down in history as the master book banning, library destroying, worst city council in the country then you are definitely on the right track. At the expense of the rest of us.

OPPOSED TO:

24-197 Request authorization to issue a Request for Proposals for Managed Library Services for the Huntington Beach Public Library system

If you want to talk about obscenity at the library, THIS is it. Why would you want to privatize our award winning library except that you think you can? Did the librarians fail to live up to your conservative ideals? Give me one reason why this could possibly be good for the citizens of our city. What non-problem are you trying to fix this time?

OPPOSED TO:

24-208 Item Submitted by Council Member McKeon - Withdrawal from the League of California Cities

Here we go again with the “we hate California” nonsense. If you hate it so much here, why didn’t you pick a city in another state to cause your mischief in? Somewhere where they might actually like it, because great many of your Huntington Beach constituents definitely do not.

OPPOSED TO:

24-209 Approve for introduction Ordinance No. 4318 adding Chapter 2.66 to the Huntington Beach Municipal Code Relating to the
Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for Review of
Procurement of Children’s Library Material

What is your obsession with banning children’s books? And stop trying to fool us by with the “no books have been banned” nonsense. We aren’t that stupid. Some of us even graduated from high school.

Oh, and Bless your Little Hearts,

Tim Channel
Huntington Beach

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: city council meeting 031924 please include in tonight"s agenda items.

Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:25:26 AM
Attachments: city council meeting 031924.docx
Importance: High
Please include my comments on each of the agenda items.

If I need to send separate documents later, I will.

Thank you.

Terry Rose
City Council Meeting Agenda
03-19-2024

Terry Rose, resident since 1983, homeowner

I recently saw an unreleased as yet documentary at the Palm Springs Film Festival called Bad Faith about Christian Nationalism (the “moral” minority) whose mission is to destroy democracy as we know it today and establish a theocracy.

I believe that it is quite possible that Tony Strickland, Gracey Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon & Pat Burns are all Christian Nationalists as I truly believe they are trying to destroy Huntington Beach, are not interested in working for the good of the whole but only interested in serving themselves and driving our city into bankruptcy thus destroying it.

From their campaign lies to “no changes to our city charter” to their changing the protocol on who becomes our mayor and when to paying their “buddy” millions for an oil spill the city was not responsible for and for not sharing with the public the loss of income to the Pacific Air Show or the city to the proposed expansion of the Air Show including building a runway on the beach to what they led by so-called moralist Gracey Van Der Mark, in particular, are doing to our public library to the out and out political speech by the pastor of the Calvery Chapal of Huntington Harbor, they have proven, at least to me, that they do not believe in our democracy but only in their personal agendas.

I wish to go on record for the following:

File #: 24-204 Version: 1 Council Committee Appointments and Liaison Reports Oppose Gracey Van der Mark’s amendment because it is prejudicial and clearly favors the members of her buddies with Moser & Bolton only being assigned to one committee and Kalmick being assigned to none.

File #: 24-194 Adopt Resolution No. 2024-08 revising and restating Resolution No.2016-01 related to implementing Charter Section 805 and Municipal Code Chapter 5.90 regarding the number of permits issued for Safe and Sane Fireworks from fifteen (15) to sixteen (16) Oppose I would like to see Huntington Beach ban all fireworks in the city. The amount of illegal fireworks has more than tripled since the city approved the sale of “Safe and Sane Fireworks.” File #24-197 24-197 Request authorization to issue a Request for Proposals for Managed Library Services for the Huntington Beach Public Library system Oppose Too many unanswered questions:
• Will the library staff lose their jobs or be forced to take a reduction in their salaries in order to keep their jobs?
• If the private company decides they are not making enough money, will they just close the library completely?
• Will there be fees for everything?
• Who will make the final decision on what books the public has access to? • How much will this cost the city?
• Is the company friends with the foursome?
File #: 24-209 Approve for introduction Ordinance No. 4318 adding Chapter 2.66 to the Huntington Beach Municipal Code Relating to the Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children’s Library Material
Oppose This is taking away the rights of parents to make the decisions for their children and because each council member can select 3 people, this committee will be skewed in favor of Tony Strickland, Gracey Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon & Pat Burns’ choices. • What are the criteria to be on this committee?
• Will members of this committee be paid?
• Will this committee have the final say as to what books are in the library or will their suggestions be put to vote so that every citizen of Huntington Beach has a say so in the matter?
• Will teens be reduced to reading Dick & Jane?
• Will all people regardless of their ethnicity and sexual identification be represented in the books that are available to young people?
• Who decides what is pornographic?
• Too many questions
• Let the library be – let the parents decide
File #: 24-208 Item Submitted by Council Member Casey McKeon to withdraw from the League of California Cities
Queston: Why?

In answer to expanding the Air Show, I suggest we expand the Surfing Championship which brings people from all over the world to Huntington Beach. We could add everything the air show wants to add, except for landing the plane on the beach, and continue our legend as Surf City USA vs Pacific Air Show City USA. Let the Pacific Air Show try to find another beach in Orange County – I doubt they will be able to accomplish that.

From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Opposition to Agenda Items 24-209 and 24-197 Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:38:25 AM

From: Annie <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:32 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Opposition to Agenda Items 24-209 and 24-197

Agenda Item 24-209:

I believe the proposed ordinance in the form presented is unnecessary and myopic. I trust in qualified and trained librarians who have the pulse on HB residents’ needs to make the best decisions on the selection of books that serve the HB public.

Agenda Item 24-197:

I want to take the opportunity to underscore that libraries serve the public interest and are one of our most valuable community resources. A for-profit company’s interests do not lie in the enrichment, education, and engagement of HB residents. Rather, private companies are obligated to their shareholders. For all this talk of “local control”, I find it notable City Council is exploring an option that is contradictory to the very notion of local control.

Stay away from our libraries.

Thank you.

AN
HB Resident & Mobilized Voter
From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Letter to the council
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:38:53 AM

From: Christina Milucky <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 7:56 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Letter to the council

To whom it may
concern,
March 18, 2024

I have lived in Huntington Beach for most of my life, and was, up until these last few years, a proud resident. One of my favorite places throughout my childhood was the time spent wandering the stacks of the Huntington Beach Library. I grew up in the library and it was the foundation of becoming a bibliophile. I have always loved books and the smell of the library and those who worked there created an environment for learning and loving books.

As a bibliophile and a resident of this city, I am asking that the city council and any other organizations affiliated with the council, to maintain the work of what a city council is meant to do and utilize our tax dollars to improving our city. Parents need to be the ones who decide what their children read. I do not know you personally, but I am sure you do not want anyone you don’t know censoring your reading. It is unbelievable that the city is going to such lengths to justify their own agendas and continue to rationalize this agenda through the privatization of the library. I ask that you allow our library to be free of the interference of council [and/or council committees] and to give the citizens the right to choose what they feel is appropriate for themselves and their children.

Libraries should be places where people can learn, dream, and grow their imaginations. Libraries should be considered neutral ground where anyone can be free to seek out their own interests regardless of the topic. I do not believe that it is appropriate for any entity to rule over the library, and with the agendas we have seen in recent elections, it feels like we are returning to an era of censorship when everything and anything was under fire. Please do not believe that you, the council or its committee members are above the average citizen, who can make their own decisions and choices on what they read. Please hear me when I say that the potential privatization and other changes to our library make it almost impossible to be a proud citizen of this city.

If you believe our city to be one that promotes freedoms, then these potential changes, take that freedom away from the average citizen. I truly hope that one day I can be proud of this city once again.

Sincerely,
CMM
Christina M. Milucky
From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Agenda Item 24 Approval of Community Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children"s Library Material
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:39:04 AM

From: Jeanne Farrens <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:03 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Agenda Item 24 Approval of Community Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children's Library Material

Dear Mayor and City Council,

I am writing to oppose Item 24 on the March 19, 2024 agenda. I oppose the approval of the Community Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children's Library Material.

Besides opposing the book review process itself, which although approved by the four member council majority, was opposed by the vast majority of Huntington Beach citizens who came to comment on the proposal over several council meetings and a further majority who emailed the council, I am in complete opposition to allowing an untrained citiizen's review board with nothing more to guide them than their own opinions and prejudices to determine what books not only should be placed in a separate section unavailable to minors but to decide on which books should even be purchased. That being said, there is a further, perhaps more compelling reason to oppose the proposal. What the review board is being asked to do is very clearly impossible. The math simply just doesn't add up. As evidence I here include a posting by Surf City Sentinel, who has done the math much better than I ever could.

"
Last fiscal year in 2022-23, the library purchased 4,752 titles for the children's collection, and another 1,536 titles for the young adult collection.

There's no way the book banning board can look at every single title, so let's assume that 10% of the children's titles and 50% of the young adult titles might need to be reviewed by the board. Young adult titles are much more likely to be reviewed than children's titles because young adults experience young adult things like puberty and sex. Since the board will be stacked with political appointees pushing the MAGA extremist agenda of the council majority, my assumed percentages may turn out to be way too low. But let's stick with 10% and 50% for this post.

If 10% of children's titles need to be read by the board, that's 472 titles. If 50% of young adult titles need to be read, that's another 768 titles for a total of 1,240 titles PER YEAR that will need to be read by the board.

The ordinance creating the board says it will meet at least twice per year, which would mean 620 titles to be read per meeting, which isn't humanly possible.

If the board were to meet quarterly, that would mean 310 titles to be read per meeting, which also isn't humanly possible.

If the board were to meet monthly, that would mean 104 titles to be read per meeting, which also isn't humanly possible for volunteers with busy private lives.

If the board were to meet bi-weekly, which is probably the most frequently it could meet, that would mean 52 titles to be read per meeting, which still isn't humanly possible for volunteers with busy private lives.

But title count alone doesn't determine how much reading time is required, so let's make some assumptions regarding average pages per book.

Children's books can range from 20 pages or so for picture books, up to 300 pages or so for Harry Potter type books. Young adult books can range from 150-300 pages. I'm going to assume an average of 200 pages per book.

If the board were to meet bi-weekly to read 52 titles per month at an average of 200 pages per title, that's 10,400 pages per meeting or 742 pages per day over two weeks. I doubt that is humanly possible, and if somebody were to attempt it, their eyes would be ruined.

So, the establishing ordinance's requirement that members have to actually read every book that gets nominated for evaluation CANNOT BE MET.

But wait, the plan is even more absurd, when you factor in purchasing a copy of each title to be evaluated for each of the 21 board members. Those 1,240 annual titles work out to 26,040 copies that need to be purchased EVERY YEAR. Let's further assume that the average price of a title is $20. That works out to an annual book banning budget of $520,800 EVERY YEAR. And this is money that is being THROWN AWAY, because the library has no need for 21 copies of practically anything, and none of the titles banned from collection acquisition could be used in any way.

Where is that money going to come from? Cannibalizing library services?" Yes, all of this is not only impossible. IT'S INSANE!!! And it's doomed to fail. And our highly praised, award winning 115 year old Huntington Beach Public Library is doomed as well.

Jeanne Farrens

From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Huntington Beach Library
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:39:27 AM
-----Original Message-----
From: Angela Huang <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:31 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Huntington Beach Library
Huntington Beach City Council Members,
As a Huntington Beach resident, I strongly oppose the following items:

Item 22 — managed library services
Item 24 — parent review board for children’s library
The library has been a wonderful resource for the city as is and there is no reason to even consider having it managed by a private company.

There is also no reason to have anyone review books for the children’s library. It is not an issue and has never been an issue.

Angela Huang
From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: No! To Item 22 and Item 24!!!!
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:40:08 AM

From: Nancy Nielsen-Mirza <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:51 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: No! To Item 22 and Item 24!!!!

What's wrong with you people? Our library and librarians are great. Please focus on real city problems like EVERYONE agrees - homelessness. Geez.

NO on Item 22and Item 24.

Nancy
12 year HB/SB resident
2 kids in the school system
From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Privatizing library and Council appointment of book monitors Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:40:18 AM

From: Annilise Flanagan-Frankl <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:06 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Privatizing library and Council appointment of book monitors

As an HB resident, educator, school psychologist and mother, I am in opposition to privatization of the public library. The words PUBLIC LIBRARY means our taxes pay for the library and belongs to the community not a for-profit entity.

Second, I am totally against non-professionals, with agendas, determining what my grandchildren should be allowed to read. What is decided by parents is the key to developing independent,creative thinkers- that means keep your hands off the library and the books within.

Annilise M. Flanagan-Frankl, M.A.

CounselingPsychologist
Nationally
Certified School Psychologist​
Remember - the past is over, the future is a mystery,and today is a gift.

That is why it is called the PRESENT.

Make today count.

Call: 847-226-3119

From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: March 19, 2024 HB City Council Meeting, Agenda Items 22 and 24 Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:41:06 AM

From: Pamela Edwards <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:23 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: March 19, 2024 HB City Council Meeting, Agenda Items 22 and 24

HB City Council,

As a non-resident of HB, what draws me to HB is the beautiful HB Central Library. This dynamic library is the reason my family and I come to HB. Not the beach but the library! The sweeping changes being made to the library are destroying this great institution. Please stop before the HB Library is gutted.

My family and I have been HB Library patrons for 30 years. If you continue on this path you will no longer have this 'jewel' as it's known and loved today. The HB Central Library draws people from all over Orange County. Do you want to lose visitors from surrounding communities that bring money into your community? Keep making these changes and you will have destroyed what makes the HB Central Library unique and special.

From: Jennifer Brannon
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: Our Library
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 7:52:51 AM
Dear Council Members,
I'm writing to encourage you to preserve and celebrate our local library and maintain it completely under local control. I'm a Huntington Beach resident, my husband and I raised our daughter here and I am also a teacher. I was raised with a fabulous local library and unfettered access to books. I read voraciously and have been saddened with the onset of social media to see children read fewer novels.

Books transported me to other worlds and gave me a window into other lives and experiences. Never did I want to become a different person just because I read a character in a book. When I encountered content or vocabulary I didn't understand, I simply asked my parents and I felt safe to as they created that relationship with me. I kept my parents value of allowing my daughter access to any book she wanted and she in turn felt safe to ask me questions.

Books are the best example of self-directed learning and self-directed learning leads to people who want to be lifelong learners. In my case, reading gorgeous novels and poetry led me to study creative writing. In my husband's case, his love of the writings of Marcus Aurelius led him to studying him more deeply in an expansive thesis. In our daughter's case, reading philosophical and religious texts have led her to a deeper relationship with her faith. What each of us had was a teacher or librarian to guide, question and support us as we literally gobbled up what interested us.

I'm a special education teacher. My students struggle deeply with reading and it's extremely hard to keep them engaged while still working on basic decoding. This is why I always read novels to my students. Nothing else makes them want to learn to read like escaping and delighting into a good book. We read "Matilda" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and I adore seeing all of them attach to the characters and be able to compare and contrast them.

One day, a boy returned from an absence and was giving me lots of attitude during the reading block. Finally he confessed that he was upset that we read the book while we were gone and he missed what had happened. I have seen kids make two grade levels of growth in one year just because they fell in love with books and it ignited their learning. Last year we took students on a walking field trip to the library. One boy said to me incredulously, "I've never been to a library before. I didn't know all of this was here." We must keep that wonder just that way for our kids and for us.

The danger to our children is not books, it's the tool that parents buy and put into the hands of their children with little to no supervision. The reality is that is where kids regularly encounter graphic content and are left vulnerable to manipulation. The best way we have of preserving innocence in our kids is by helping to shape a love of reading books. That is exactly where librarians who know books intimately come in and are able to use that expertise to spark a love of reading for our kids and further it. Please don't replace that incredible resource by privatizing or outsourcing our amazing library. Please turn your energy into empowering the library as the incredible resource it is for our community.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Brannon
From: Levin, Shannon
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: City Council Meeting Agenda for March 19, 2024 (revised the morning of 3/19/24) Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 8:47:14 AM

From: Larry Slonim <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 8:28 AM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Re: City Council Meeting Agenda for March 19, 2024 (revised the morning of 3/19/24)

To All Members of the Huntington Beach City Council:
(Please note my latest revisions are to supersede my earlier email dated 3/18/24 in bold black text)
We have been very concerned about the 4-3 vote by the City Council to put Charter Amendments A, B & C on the ballot for the Primary Election, and have been following to vote tally closely. As of Sunday, March 17th, with about 46% of the voters registered in the City of HB voting, the tallies for A & B have be trending Yes and the tally for C has been trending No. We strongly agree with the constituents voting No on C, primarily because it gave the mayor, ANY mayor, the authority to cancel and change Council Meetings at his or her sole discretion.

While the four new councilmembers (Strickland, Van Der Mark, Burns and Mckeon) regularly exercise a majority vote advantage, it's clear to me and my wife that they often decide to vote as a block too hastily, with superficial debate or consideration of dissenting opinions, whether coming from the other 3 councilmembers (Kalmick, Moser and Bolton), and/or from public comments made that are relevant to Council's agenda items. This is totally contrary to and blatantly hypocritical of one of the main reasons, if not the KEY reason, they claimed and continue to claim that the prior City Council was not responsive to the concerns of all its residents.

Since the four new councilmembers have taken office, deference, respect, honesty and trust has suffered badly and continues to get worse. Any reliance in them and the City Attorney to responsibly steer our city has been greatly compromised. We strongly urge the four of them to modify the course they are currently on.

Lastly, we think that the current Administrative item 23 (24-195) Approval of FY 2023/24 Revised Budget, and Ordinance for Introduction item 24 (24-209) Ordinance No. 4318, scheduled for the meeting of March 19th, be DEFERRED until the first meeting in April, to provide proper time for a more reasonable understanding and evaluation by the public and the other council members of the details and potential impacts contained within them.

A glaring case in point is that it's now been established beyond any reasonable doubt that having "more secure" municipal elections, regardless of their purported costs, will not produce safer elections than have been won in 2022 and with the likely approval of Charter Amendments A & B in 2024. City run elections would clearly be an added burden to the City's proposed revised budget and are NOT needed! Certainly not at the expense of selling off our public library system to fund them, or by cutting other, more needed city services! Our four new councilmembers have to SEE that, and truly appreciate that reality. Otherwise, the legacy they create for our city will very, very grim.

Respectfully,
Larry and Susan Slonim

From: Mary Ann Celinder
To: [email protected]
Subject: HB libraries
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 8:52:27 AM
What benefits are there to the public for changing the library control? If it is run for profit, we will see a cut in services, quality of the workforce and a reduction of the number of books purchased annually.

The Four already tried to shut down our branch, surely it will be on the block if this passes.

This is an overstep. Onec council should now be able to screw up the city so quickly with your temporary power. The Four are an embarrassment.

Moving perfectly great books for the children's section was already way out of control, especially without providing any guIdelines to the librarians.

What's in it for the city council members who are putting this forward? Campaign contributions?
What is next, privatizing the police and fire dept?
NO!
Mary Ann Celinder
Celinder's Glass Design
21341 Fleet Lane
Huntington Beach Ca 92646
studio 714 962 8361
cell 714 504 8361
www.customleadedglass.com
From: Erin Johnston
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: March 19, 2024 Council Meeting
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 8:56:22 AM
Good morning,

I am a 14-year resident of Huntington Beach with two children in our elementary schools. We are daily users of our library and could not be more impressed with the library services. Our city residents share this sentiment, as noted in the “2023 Quality of Life Community Survey”:

-
“Particularly high satisfaction with water reliability, fire protection and paramedic services, special events, library services, and 911 emergency response”.

Given such high satisfaction with the library services as they currently exist, I am writing to advocate against the Agenda Items below.

Agenda Item 24 Community-Parent Guardian Review Board for Review of Procurement of Children’s Library Material

During the 2023 Strategic Plan Workshop, held on June 8, 2023, City Council identified 8 goals and priorities for the Fiscal Year 2023-2027 Strategic Plan: 1) High Performing Organization; 2) Fiscal Stability; 3) Public Engagement; 4) Public Safety; 5) Homelessness; 6) Infrastructure Investment; 7) Housing; and 8) Economic Development.

This Agenda Item does not address any of these stated goals or priorities. It should therefore wait until the next priority-setting session to avoid diverting city and community resources from our goals and priorities as established in the Strategic Plan.

Agenda Item 22 for Managed Library Services

Given the high resident satisfaction with our current library services, I propose we analyze other areas within the Budget for cost reductions before looking to change library operations.

In the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan workshop, the following were listed as opportunities to boost our fiscal stability:
- Undertake a new cost of service (fee) study and cost allocation plan - Update Developer Impact Fees to ensure new development is paying its fair share - Implement centralized contract management system - Develop a long-term vehicle replacement plan - Review General Fund reserve levels using the Government Finance Officers Association Risk Analysis Template
-
Consider options for new revenues
- Restart Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), Utility User

We should review those as priority over library services. In addition, we should rationalize our city headcount, as it has grown 2% since the 2021-2022 Budget Year (+22 headcount) while the city population has decreased 3% in this timeframe (-5,311 residents).

Regards,
Erin Johnston