The South Georgia Regional Library Board of Trustees will be meeting
Tuesday, March 19 at 1PM in the Folsom Room of the Valdosta-Lowndes County
Public Library to conduct regular business.The meeting is open to the
public and all are welcome to attend. For more information call 333.0086.
SPLOST VII discussion at Monthly Meeting, South Georgia Library Board (SGLB),
Video by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I. and bostongbr on YouTube,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 November 2012.
Kay Harris said there had to be a
minimum of twelve months, so November 2013 would be the next possible time.
She said County Commissioner Richard Raines had expressed full support for the new library,
and she was talking to the other commissioners.
She was asked whether the SPLOST lists would be the same,
and said there might be some changes,
but she hadn’t heard anyone suggest that the Five Points property might be deleted.
That’s curious, because
she quoted Valdosta Mayor Gayle in the VDT 7 November 2012 as saying:
Included in
the RFP
(which was issued by the County, not by the Library Board),
is a list of fourteen numbered submittal instructions
that looks like it might have been the basis for the list of
90 items on the
Library Scoring Worksheet.
The RFP also includes this interesting section:
RESERVATIONS
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners reserves the following rights:
Rejection of any and all submittals
Negotiate changes in the Scope of Work
Negotiate services to be provided
Negotiate fee proposal
Waive any and all technicalities
That last line basically seems like it could be interpreted to mean
they could select whatever appealed to them no matter what the fit
(or not) with what was asked for in the RFP.
Thanks to a
very organized open records response from the South Georgia Regional Library,
we have available agendas and minutes of the SGRL Board and other materials
related to the selection of an architect for the new library at Five Points.
Here is a first batch of those materials,
which sheds a little light on the library architect selection process.
SOUTH GEORGIA REGIONAL LIBRARY
BOARD MINUTES
July 17, 2012
…
V. Architectural (Building and Grounds Committee)
The Firm of Clemons, Rutherford and Associates (CRA)
was approved as the architectural firm for construction
of the Five Points Library.
Moved:
Ray Devery
Second:
Wyn Miller
Ayes:
All
Nays:
None
No further detail is provided in those minutes.
A
Library Scoring Worksheet
for the design and construction of the “Lowndes County Library”
was included in the materials received in response to the open records request
(it’s the extra item in the left edge of the picture in
the previous post).
It lists 30 topics with a potential score of 3 points each for
a total of 90 points,
grouped in categories of
“Responsiveness/Quality of Presentation/Capabilty”,
“Experience, Design Concept and Creativity”,
and
“Personal Overall Impression of the architectural team”.
However, no marked-up worksheets with scores for any architecture firm
were included.
The most-organized open records response ever!
Well, that we’ve asked for, anyway.
Sure, sometimes local government bodies deliver a three-ring binder
of papers.
Sometimes they deliver a CD.
Sometimes they deliver on a USB stick.
Nobody ever delivered all of the above.
OK, I brought the USB stick and the scanner (not pictured),
but look at that CD lying on top of the really thick binder:
the CD contains everything that’s in the binder,
and that saved us a lot of scanning time.
Thank you, Kelly Lenz, Patrick Spurlock, and Tom Gooding!
It will take a bit of time to process all this information; stay tuned.
Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney
Left to right:
an extra item,
the four architect presentations,
the “bible” of what the new library should be (the thick binder and the CD),
and agendas, minutes, and board packets (the other two binders).
Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
at South Georgia Regional Library, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 October 2012.
I know of at least one open records request somewhere else that,
two years later and counting,
Continue reading →
The library board heard citizens at length about a problem that was
apparently news to the board,
later considered the problem at length,
came up with an interim solution,
and formed a committee to examine it longterm.
Citizen concerns about rules against after hours library use
Concerns were raised about hours at the southside library at the monthly meeting
of the South Georgia Library Board, 18 September 2012.
Apparently rules have recently been changed for
all library branches
so that meetings can no longer be held after library hours.
This is a problem for volunteer groups composed of working people.
It was unclear what the latest version of the rules is.
And the library board appeared
unfamiliar with the hours of its own libraries.
However, they did at the end of their meeting
extensively consider the issue
and apparently come to an interim solution with
a path to a more general solution.
The rules change may have been due to
one incident at one branch
(not the southside branch)
for which the library board knew the sponsoring organization.
Questions were raised as to why a blanket rules change ensued.
One citizen pointed out that
taxpayers pay for the library buildings
so it’s not clear why they should be prevented from using them;
school buildings, too.
Another consideration was
elderly parent care, because it’s hard to get help for that
any time other than during the day.
Kay Harris wanted to be sure everyone who wanted to speak had spoken.
At least one citizen left
a written statement for the record,
which is always a good idea.
Then all the citizens who had spoken left the meeting,
apparently uninterested in anything else the library board was doing.
Interestingly,
a southside library support group
was in one of the regular report items.
Transparency
After the other citizens left, one of the library board (his nameplate
said Ray Devery)
asked whether Gretchen could stay.
Kay Harris without hesitation said yes and moved on to approval of the minutes.
Congratulations to Kay Harris on knowing the open meetings law
and sticking to it!
Speaking of the minutes, where are they so the taxpaying public can see them?
Regarding the planned Five Points library, Kay Harris clarified
that staff are not supposed to help promote that
“in any way, shape, or form.”
During paid hours.
After hours is different.
South Georgia Library Board
southside library hours,
Monthly Meeting, South Georgia Library Board (SGLB),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 September 2012.
Who’s running it now that
Kay Harris isn’t chair?
And will whoever it is welcome video cameras?
has resigned as chair and from the board?
