The sole bidder to take over management of Huntington Beach’s public libraries withdrew its bid ahead of Tuesday’s City Council meeting on the matter, according to city officials, appearing to put a halt to city efforts that drew widespread opposition.
The City Council was set to consider privatizing management of its city libraries and vote on entering into negotiations with Library Systems & Services, a private Maryland-based company. There’s been ardent opposition from residents and library workers against moving toward privatization.
LS&S notified the city on Monday that it was withdrawing its bid.
City spokesperson Jennifer Carey said LS&S did not provide a reason for the withdrawal. LS&S did not respond to a request for comment.
The City Council in a split March vote directed city staff to explore privatization and solicit bids via a request for proposal. The city took bids over a weeklong period in late May and early June.
City officials have said moving to private management could save the city up to $1 million a year. Disadvantages noted in a staff report include a difficult transition period that would involve labor negotiations, significant community opposition and the loss of volunteers and donations.
The withdrawal was a surprise to residents opposed to privatization of the city’s five libraries. The talks had prompted residents to start gathering signatures for a petition that seeks to create a law that would prevent the city’s libraries from being privatized in the future without majority approval from the City Council and voters.
“We have won a battle, but not the war,” said Carol Daus, a member of the nonprofit Friends of the Huntington Beach Library. “That’s why we will continue to work hard collecting signatures for both our petitions to protect our public library.”
Daus speculated that the petition might have played a role in LS&S choosing to withdraw. Supporters gathered more than 1,600 signatures in a week since the petition began circulating.
“I really feel that put pressure,” Daus said. “I can’t understand why they would pull it the night before the City Council meeting.”
The other petition, which has now gathered more than 6,000 signatures, seeks to remove a review board the council is creating that will have the power to reject new children’s books from being added to the library’s collection and move books already in circulation to a restricted section. Both petitions have until the fall to get signatures from 10% of registered voters in Huntington Beach to qualify the initiatives.
Councilmember Dan Kalmick said Assistant City Manager Travis Hopkins notified him in an email that LS&S had withdrawn its bid.
“I don’t think the issue is dead” given the petitions, Kalmick said in an email. “The issue is alive and with more than 1,000 signatures collected in a week, both initiatives will qualify and very likely pass once put to the voters. Which is something I suggested the council do directly months ago.”
Officials with Illinois-based nonprofit EveryLibrary in a statement said it decided against bidding after the city did not give “adequate responses” to its questions on how it would address labor issues for the union-represented library workers. The overall “political and legal climate” in the city further dissuaded it from bidding.
“We were concerned that the RFP requirements had been written in such a way that only one company could be scored as a fully qualified bidder,” EveryLibrary said in a June statement.
“We respect the talent and integrity of the Huntington Beach Library’s staff and leadership tremendously. In the end, we hope that this RFP will be rescinded and that they will be allowed to get back to work serving everyone in Huntington Beach,” the statement said.
Tim Steed, assistant general manager of the OCEA, which represents the library’s managers, welcomed the news but said the city’s reputation was damaged.
“As we have maintained for the past three months, the decision to issue a bid to privatize the Huntington Beach City Library was bad for the residents of Huntington Beach,” Steed said in an email. “Outsourced, privatized library management by a for-profit company would have led to many current employees being fired or required to work fewer hours. Regular patrons, who have developed important relationships with library staff, would have lost important points of contact. This is particularly important for families and seniors in our community. While this is short-term relief, the long-term damage to the reputation of the City is already done. We should keep politics out of our public libraries and the politicians should focus on the things that matter in the City.”
The library item is still on Tuesday’s agenda since it can’t be modified once within 72 hours of the meeting.
“At the meeting this evening, staff will provide this update as part of the agendized item and ask for City Council direction on how to proceed,” Carey said.
