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Departing Director Aids Efforts to Reopen Jackson County Libraries“I did everything I could here,” Ted Stark, interim director of the shuttered Jackson County (Ore.) Libraries, told American Libraries about his resigning effective August 17 to head the Menomonie (Wis.) Public Library. Stark succeeded Ronnie Budge, who retired just before the 15-branch system was shuttered in April due to lack of operating funds. A month later, voters defeated an operating levy that would have made up for Congress failing to reauthorize more than $23 million in federal timber subsidies, $8.3 million of which were slated for FY2007 county library services there.
Among Stark’s final duties were helping County Administrator Danny Jordan craft a July 10 letter to area municipalities, community groups, and school districts to “ask what their intentions are” toward facilitating the reinstatement of services, and issuing a Request for Proposal for management of the system. The only two respondents were the county workers union, SEIU Local 503, and Library Systems and Services. Noting that he is “trying to keep everything out on the table,” Jordan told AL that he intended to bring a “range of options” to the county commission once he has digested the RFP and governing-authority responses and the county’s legal department has advised him of the acceptable uses to which branch buildings and property can be put under the 15 negotiated agreements with local governments. The result could be a library-system consolidation or a reopening of all branches under a mixture of public and private management. Regardless, he emphasized, “We still don’t have the money to do it.” In the meantime, residents of the Jackson County towns of Ashland and Talent are determined to get their branches reopened. Ashland voters will consider a property-tax increase on September 18 to fund services until FY2010, and library Friends in Talent are seeking passage in November of a dedicated utility surcharge. Predicting that some libraries would reopen by year’s end, Stark maintained that the 15 facilities “were meant to be a system” and that ultimate success hinged on getting the main Medford library open—if for no other reason than the lack of backroom workspace at many of the branches made them impractical as standalone operations. With Stark’s departure, Jackson County Library staff stands at six employees. |
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