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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 8.2 FundAdditionLibraryHrs (2) CITY CLERK' File # D[2]~[Q]-~[QJ e AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: September 1,1998 SUBJECT: Costs Associated with Funding Additional Library Hours (lJ,.eport Prepared by: Richard C. Ambrose, City Manager) EXHIBITS ATTACHED: Exhibit 1: Letter from Linda Wood, County Librarian, dated 7/20/98 Letter from Linda Wood, County Librarian, dated 8/3/98 Exhibit 2: RECOMMENDATION: ~eview report and provide Staffwith appropriate direction. ~ FINANCIAL STATEMENT: See below. DESCRIPTION: On July 7, 1998, the City Council approved an agreement with Alameda County for City provision of 14 additional hours at the Dublin Branch of the Alameda County Library. The cost of these additional hours for Fiscal Year 1998-99 is $224,247. The City Council also requested Staff to investigate the cost of opening the Library for four, five and six hours on Sundays. eThe following table shows the Library's current open hours and identifies City-funded hours with an asterisk(s). Sunday Closed Monday* 1 - 8 pm Tuesday 1 - 8 pm Wednesday* 1 - 6 pm Thursday 1 Oam ~ 6 pm Friday Closed Saturday** 10 am - 5 pm * City funded * * City funds 4 hours every other Saturday The number of hours at the Dublin Library were last increased in Fiscal Year 1997-98 by the County from 31 to J1 hours. The County Librarian has indicated in her letter of July 20, 1998, that the annual cost of funding library hours on Sunday would be as follows: F our Hours Five Hours Six Hours $53,727 $63,829 $80,650 lfthe City Council is interested in funding additional Library hours during Fiscal Year 1998-99, the City _Ould be responsible for the pro-rated portion of the annual cost for the balance of the year, plys a one-time --------------------------------------------------------------------- COPIES TO: ITEMNO.~ G:\CC .MTGS\98-QTR3\9-1-98\AS-UBRY ,DOC start-up cost of$8,276 to cover the County's expenses related to recruiting, hiring and training new .. employees to staff a new Sunday schedule. ln the best case, the implementation of four additional hours on Sundays could be provided no earlier than November 1, 1998, because of the time necessary to complete the recruitment process for library staff. . The implementation of five or six additional hours on Sundays could be provided no earlier than January 1, 1999, due to the time necessary to complete the recruitment process, and the necessity to meet and confer. with the County Labor Union regarding a change to the County's four-hour Sunday shift schedule. lf the County could complete its recruitment process by November 1, 1998, the cost of providing four hours of additional service commencing November 1, 1998, would be as follows: Operating cost Start up cost Total cost $35,806 8.276 $44,082 The cost of funding the five or six hour options effective January 1, 1999 would be as follows: Operating cost Start up cost Total cost 5 Hours $31,300 8.276 $39,576 6 Hours $39,550 8.270 $47,820 Another consideration which could potentially impact the cost of additional Sunday hours, as well as the . City's current cost of funding all hours at the Dublin Library, is the likely withdrawal of the City of Pleasanton from the County Library system. lfPleasanton withdraws on July 1, 1999, and Dublin defers adding Sunday hours until that time, Dublin would not incur the start-up cost identified above, because the staff currently working the current four-hour Sunday schedule at the Pleasanton Library could be utilized at the Dublin Library. It is possible that Ple~anton's withdrawal could potentially increase the cost of funding library services for the remaining agencies served by the Alameda County Library. An evaluation of the fiscal impacts of Pleasanton's withdrawal has not been completed by the County at this time. lfthe Council is interested in funding additional hours in Fiscal Year 1998-99, the Council would need to modify its current agreement with Alameda County and fund the additional on-going expenses from reserves which would require a budget change. RECOMMENDATION It is Staff s recommendation that the Council review the report and provide Staff with the appropriate direction. . --}. - :\ 2 4 50S T EVE N SON B 0 U LEV A R D, F REM 0 N T, C A L I FOR N IA . 9 4 5 3 8 - 2 3 2 6 PHONE (510) 745-1500 FAX (510) 793-2987 . . L I N DAM, WOO D , C 0 U N T Y LIB R A R I A N RECEIVED ~JUL 2 J. 1998 CITY lir UUbLlI\} ALAMEDA COUNTY lIBRARY July 20, 1998 Richard Ambrose, City Manager City of Dublin 100 Civic Plaza Dublin, CA 94568 SUBJECT: COST OF ADDITIONAL LIBRARY HOURS ON SUNDAY . In response to the City Council's request, I am pleased to present for your information the cost of providing four, five or six additional hours on Sundays at the Dublin Library. For added Sunday hours, there are annual operating costs which vary according to the number of hours provided, and there is a one-time only start- up cost to cover our expenses in recruiting, hiring, and training an additional pool of Services As Needed employees to staff a new Sunday schedule. I will explain this further below. The annual operating cost for four hours on a Sunday, which we would offer from 1 :00 - 5:00 p.m., is $53,727. The annual operating cost for five hours is $63,829, and the annual operating cost for six hours is $80,650. This provides for 51 Sundays per year, and if the City begins Sunday hours during the year, the amount would be prorated based on the number of weeks remaining. We do not provide Sunday hours on Easter Sunday due to the difficulty in obtaining staffing. . The one-time only cost to start up Sunday hours during fiscal year 1998/99 is $8,276. The reason for this charge is the way we must cover our staff schedules on Sundays. Under our current labor agreement, we cannot schedule regular Library employees to work more than 4 Sundays per year, one per quarter. Part-time staff who volunteer for more Sundays because they want to earn more money are welcome to do so, but we have found ourselves consistently unable to cover Sunday schedules with volunteers from our A L BAN Y _ CAS T R 0 VA L LEY - C E NT E R V ILL E - DUB L I N EXTENSIOr-; SERVICES-FREMONT MAIN - IRVINGTON NEWARK _ NILES - PLEASANTON -SAN LORENZO -UNION CITY EXHIBIT 1 ;. Page 2 . existing staff. Therefore, we provide Sunday hours with a large pool of Services As Needed Librarians and some Services As Needed Library Clerks. Most of the Librarians are employed full-time in other Bay Area libraries, and work" for us on Sundays to supplement their incomes. Few of our Services As Needed employe~s are available every Sunday, so we must maintain a pool of these SAN staff which is much larger than the actual number we hire for any one Sunday. In order to cover staffing at the Dublin Library, we will need to significantly enlarge our pool of SAN Librarians and, perhaps our pool of SAN Library Clerks. This would require expenditures to recruit, hire and provide minimal training for these new Services As Needed employees. This is the reason for the one-time only cost. It is likely that this cost would not need to be charged if Dublin or another city wishes to implement Sunday hours in the 1999/2000 fiscal year no sooner than July 1, 1999. The reason for this is that we currently have sufficient Services As Needed staff to provide Sunday coverage at the Pleasanton Library and if the Pleasanton City Council votes to leave the County Library effective July 1, 1999 (as we expect they will do within the next . sixty days), our staff presently covering Sundays at Pleasanton would become available to be scheduled at another library after that date. You also asked about the effective date to implement new hours if the City should wish to provide funding for Sunday hours. We are currently doing a Civil Service recruitment working with the County's Human Resource Services Department for Services As Needed Librarians. We do not expect to get the list of qualified candidates to interview until late September. My most favorable estimate for our ability to start new Sunday hours at the four hour per week level would be after November 1. After we receive the list, we will need to interview, do reference checks, process new hires, and provide minimal training for the new employees before they can be scheduled. My assumptions about when we will receive the list and that we will be able to hire enough new SAN Librarians from it, are, I believe, the best case scenario. If the Civil Service list does not yield enough new employees to provide the needed pool of SAN Librarians to provide Sunday coverage, we might be delayed by several more months to conduct another recruitment. If the City were to provide funding for the five or six hours per week, I believe the labor organization which represents County Library employees would want to meet and confer since this would require a different Sunday scheduling . pattern than our current four hour shifts at the Fremont and Pleasanton . . . . Page 3 Libraries. The meet and confer process would almost certainly delay the effective implementation date by at least a month. I would suggest that if we were not ready to begin new hours until the first of December, that we should postpone their implementation until January, since the Holiday season is one of the lightest months of library use, and it is unlikely that a new schedule of Sunday hours would attract significant usage in December. I hope this information provides what you and your City Council need to accurately evaluate its potential for the City of Dublin. Please contact me at (510) 745-1536 if you have any questions. Very truly yours, q..~ //;. P;;Z-LH~(}5e) Linda M. Wood County Librarian cc: Pat Zahn, Branch Manager, Dublin Library Joy Cadone, Deputy County Librarian Margaret Strom, Administrative Services Officer Carol Parker, Administrative Specialist Dave Burton, Vice Mayor, City of Dublin LMW:ep t\colibm\richamb.ltr ,>, AUG- 3-98 MON 16:35 ADM FAX NO. 7932987 P. 02 .. A'tAMEO'A ,COUNTY l,HllAl{\! 2 4 50S T EVE N S 0"1'1 B 0 U l / ~' ... It 0, F R E t.\ 0 N T, C" l I FOR ~. ! ^ . 9 4 5 3 8 - 2 3 2 f. P H 0 ," t F A X . L I N D ~ M, (510) 745-1500 51 Ol 793-2987 . WOOD,COUNTY liBRARIAN . August 3, 1998 Richard Ambrose, City Manager City of Dublin 100 Civic Plaza Dublin, CA 94568 Dear Richard: Subject: COST OF SUNDAY LIBRARY HOURS TO BE EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1. 1998 The prorated Cost of providing 4 hours of sunday service at the Dublin Library In fiscal year 1998/99 with the start date of November 1 is $35.806. This will provide for 34 Sundays for the balance of the fiscal year. In addition, the one-time-only charge of $8,276. which I described in my letter of July 20 to you. would also apply. Therefore. the total for beginning Sunday hours on November 1 this fiscal year would be $44,082. As I mentioned in our recent telephone conversation, a November 1 start date is an optimistic . estimate, and it is possible that we would not be able to begin until later in the year due to difficulty in hiring new Services As Needed staff. If a later start date is required, the cost can be easily determined by multiplying the number of Sundays left in the fiscal year by $1.053 per Sunday. This does not include the one-time-only start up cost. Please call me at 745-1536 if you have any questions, Very truly yours, ~'7~ ci.- /)1' JIZL;;.:. J! Linda M. Wood County Librarian LMW:syt cc Joy Cadone, Deputy County Librarian Margaret Strom, Administrative S"ervices Officer Carol Parker. Administrative Services Specialist t\colibrn\sunhrs,dl.lb . ^ I H ^ NT' C A ~ I R 0 VA L L [T . C l N r ~ l( V ILL t . 0 U 8 L I N EXTtNSION SERVICES,FREMONT M^'N. IRVINC;;TON N'WA"K _N".. "P'.^~^NI')N -S^N L""lN':'O -UNION C,ly EXHIBIT 2 ...