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LONG BEACH – The city might not close the book on the Main Library after all.

The City Council’s Budget Oversight Committee voted unanimously Friday to remove a proposal to shutter the library from the city’s proposed 2009 fiscal year budget, instead recommending a plan that would close the library on Sundays and Mondays but keep it open the rest of the week.

The full council still must approve the library alternative when it adopts the proposed budget, which it is scheduled to do Tuesday. But with city management and the three-member Budget Oversight Committee both behind the plan, as well as several other council members having expressed concerns about the Main Library’s closure, chances are the downtown building will stay open.

City Manager Pat West, who presented the committee with three new library options Friday, said a city library task force had indicated that closing the library now wouldn’t be prudent.

The initial plan was to close the library after a temporary library site was found nearby in the downtown area, and then eventually to build a new library in the next two to three years.

“One of the key comments and concerns that we had during our first task force meetings was the rush to do the temporary facility,” West said. “The time period didn’t give us the adequate time to really study what services are gonna go in there and look adequately at what opportunities we have in the downtown area.”

After the library closure proposal was announced in July, public outcry was furious and opponents gave the council a petition with more than 5,800 signatures of residents against the proposal.

Eventually, the Main Library will be closed, but only after a site and funding for a temporary location are identified, West said.

A leaky roof needing millions of dollars in repair and seismic safety problems plague the 31-year-old Main Library. Furthermore, closing the library would save $1.8 million as the city faces a $16.9 million budget deficit, city officials have said.

Postponing the library closure will help city officials better plan the building’s future, West said. Construction of a new library largely depends on voter approval of a $571 million infrastructure improvement parcel tax in November.

“We still have seismic issues with the Main Library, but one thing that we can do is take the Main Library out of the rush to adopt a budget … to look at opportunities for us to deal with the seismic issues there and spend more time and energy as we look at that temporary facility,” West said.

To keep the Main Library open, cuts will be needed elsewhere.

West gave the committee three options to make up the $1.8 million needed to help shore up the city budget.

The committee chose an option that calls for closing the Main Library on Sundays and Mondays, closing the library two hours earlier on Thursdays, cutting book funding by 33 percent, and eliminating about six staff positions. The schedule reduction would result in eliminating about 14.5 full-time positions.

The rejected options included closing three of the city’s 11 branch libraries permanently and the Main Library on Sundays or closing one branch library permanently and the Main Library two days per week and over winter holidays.

The committee members – Gary DeLong, Suja Lowenthal and Patrick O’Donnell – indicated branch libraries shouldn’t be affected by the cuts.

“Closing three branch libraries, or any of them, isn’t an option for me,” Lowenthal said.

Eleanore Schmidt, director of library services, said that beyond the shorter hours, losing several staff members will affect service and may mean fewer special programs at the Main Library.

“There will be longer lines, there will be fewer staff to assist the patrons,” Schmidt said.

But there is hope to keep five of the library staff positions that would be cut, West told the committee.

The council could save the positions by cutting $500,000 elsewhere, he said.

That possibility was among a list of other proposed cuts that have raised the ire of council members or the public but that now could be restored to the budget.

The committee ranked seven possible restorations in order of importance to recommend to the council. Among the high-priority restorations are $500,000 for Main Library staff, $402,568 for the City Prosecutor’s office and about $98,000 to keep open evening gym hours at three community centers.

To pay for these costs, the committee considered 10 possible budget cuts, indicating they would most support eliminating two vacant City Clerk positions and further reducing the Police Department’s Community Relations Division, so long as the cuts don’t impact the Neighborhood Watch program.

The committee also said three of the possible cuts that had been presented by West aren’t acceptable for consideration at all. Those programs are the Municipal Band, summer concerts and the sidewalk repair program.

paul.eakins@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1278

SAVING THE MAIN LIBRARY

The Budget Oversight Committee is recommending that the council approve the following proposal to keep the Main Library open and still save

$1.8 million:

Close the Main Library Sunday and Monday ($1.15 million savings)

Reduce Main Library book and resources budget by 33percent ($64,037 savings)

Eliminate unfilled tech services position ($81,576 savings)

Eliminate 4.89 full-time equivalent positions ($500,000)

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