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Agenda for May 5 Hunt Library Meeting Shows a Board of Trustees Ready to Fight Sale

May 3, 2018 //
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MAY 5 2018 SPECIAL MEETING Agenda copy

Matthew Leslie

The agenda for the special meeting of Fullerton’s Library Board of Trustees at the Hunt Branch Library on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m. at 201 S Basque Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833 has been released, and reproduced above. It can be reached online at this link:

Reg Bus Item 1 – 1964 (09-04-64) Deed of Gift for Hunt Foods Foundation Library – Hunt Foods Industries Foundation (2)

and it suggests that the Library Board is exploring every option except selling the Hunt Branch building, beginning with establishing the intent of the original gift itself by examining the grant deed, appended to the agenda (the first page is reproduced below).

Next, the board will discuss renegotiating the month-to-month lease on the closed Hunt library currently held by neighboring Grace Ministries International, suggesting that the board is either contemplating a recommendation to end the lease, or, at least, raise the lease rate beyond the pitiful amount the church is currently paying for it each month.

Most importantly, the third item makes it clear that the board is serious about re-opening the Hunt as a library by discussing a formal request to the city to finally provide adequate funds to do so.

A discussion about community partnerships follows, but it is the fifth item that reveals the disposition of the board–seeking legal representation, presumably to prevent the sale of the site.

1. Define the intent of the gift of Hunt Library. – Library Director Judy Booth Recommendation: Discuss

2. Renegotiate the lease of Hunt Library to Grace Ministries International. – Library Director Judy Booth Recommendation: Discuss

3. Formally request the City Council to appropriate funds to operate the Hunt Library as a branch library. – Library Director Judy Booth
Recommendation: Discuss

4. Consider possibility of partnering with community organizations at Hunt Library – Library Director Judy Booth
Recommendation: Discuss

5. Library Board of Trustees and outside legal representation – Library Director Judy Booth Recommendation: Discuss

6. Schedule further meetings about Hunt Library at Hunt Library – Library Director Judy Booth Recommendation: Discuss

Reg Bus Item 1 - 1964 (09-04-64) Deed of Gift for Hunt Foods Foundation Library - Hunt Foods Industries Foundation (2) copy

The full pdf of the gift deed can be found at this link:

Reg Bus Item 1 – 1964 (09-04-64) Deed of Gift for Hunt Foods Foundation Library – Hunt Foods Industries Foundation (2)

If the board is willing to stand up to city council members who want to sell of the property for a quick buck, the public should be there to support them. Please plan to attend this meeting at the Hunt Branch Library, 201 S Basque Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833. Board members will be available to answer public questions and tour the site. Readers may stay up to date on this developing story by visiting savethehunt.com

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Categories Architecture, Fullerton City Council, Fullerton Public Library, Historic Preservation, Hunt Branch Library, Uncategorized

Special Tour and Meeting at the Hunt Branch Library Saturday, May 5

May 2, 2018 //
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Hunt Banner

Matthew Leslie

Fullerton’s Library Board of Trustees will hold a special tour and meeting on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m. to allow members of the public to inspect the closed Hunt Branch Library and discuss possible uses for the facility with the trustees. The  Hunt Branch Library is located at  201 S Basque Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833.

This tour represents a rare opportunity to inspect the inside of the library, which is currently leased to a neighboring church for only $ 1,300.00 per month. The building, designed by world famous modernist architect William Pereira, served as a branch of the Fullerton Public Library for half a century before being steadily defunded and eventually closed.

Pereira Time

Architect William Pereira on the cover of Time magazine just one year after the opening of the Hunt Branch Library in Fullerton.

 

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Categories Architecture, Fullerton City Council, Fullerton History, Fullerton Public Library, Hunt Branch Library, Uncategorized

Jennifer Fitzgerald Calls for Library Board to be Replaced by City Council

May 2, 2018 //
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Fitzgerald LIbrary

Jennifer Fitzgerald: Why appoint Fullerton citizens to the library board when the city council can have so much fun running it themselves?

Matthew Leslie

Late last night during a meeting of the Fullerton City Council Jennifer Fitzgerald requested that the council agendize an item to consider effectively replacing Fullerton’s Library Board of Trustees with the city council itself. The request came just after a vote by Fullerton’s council to restructure some of the city’s citizen committees and commissions. Her exact words were:

“I do want to bring the library board code sections up to date. I want to add to that we institute a new organizational structure for the library board that calls for the appointment of the city council members to serve as the trustees to the library board and to form a library advisory commission.”

Surprisingly, none of the other council members commented on this unexpected proposal.

Library boards of trustees in California are state commissions, whose terms are governed by state law*. They cannot be eliminated by the mechanizations of city councils, and for good reason. But city council members can presumably appoint themselves to serve as the library trustees rather than appoint trustees, as they do now.

Ms. Fitzgerald’s brazen move should be properly seen as a way to eliminate any opposition from the current Library Board of Trustees to efforts by some members of the city council to sell not only the Hunt Branch Library, but also a parcel of land on Bastanchury Ave. once meant as the site for an unbuilt northern library branch. The land was donated long ago by the Fullerton Library Foundation, which raises funds for the library.

There is no sensible reason to discontinue the longstanding practice of city council members appointing Fullerton residents to serve as trustees of our public library in favor of taking on those duties themselves. Jennifer Fitzgerald’s suggestion that the library codes need to be “brought up to date” can only be seen as a blatant power grab meant to ensure that land and buildings meant for library facilities can be sold off at will by the city council to backfill a growing gap in Fullerton’s general fund. This move should be resisted.

Fullerton’s Library Board of Trustees will hold a special tour and meeting on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m. to allow members of the public to inspect the closed Hunt Branch Library and discuss possible uses for the facility with the trustees.

 

 

*California State Education Code – https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&division=1.&title=1.&part=11.&chapter=5.&article=2

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Categories Fullerton City Council, Fullerton Public Library, Hunt Branch Library, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Uncategorized
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