A newly released report shows the County of Simcoe was in the wrong when it made the decision to cut library services across the region in the spring.
According to a report published Oct. 17 by closed-meeting investigator Paula Boutis of Aird & Berlis LLP, an improper vote was held in a closed session of county council April 19, when council voted to dissolve the county’s library co-operative and instead spend $280,000 from its reserves on the Information Library Service (ILS), which staff said would save money in the long run.
The co-operative was formed in 1948 and served 14 public libraries (29 branches) by allowing them to share services, resources and funds to pool purchasing power for specific collections or items.
The decision has caused backlash from both the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury and the Town of Innisfil, the most diverse municipalities in the region, whose residents use the library’s multilingual services and texts.
Jennifer Harrison, chair of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library board, says the cuts could mean more than 1,000 local residents, particularly racialized residents and those with disabilities, are at risk of losing the services they rely on at the library.
The co-operative cost the county about $800,000 each year, of which Innisfil was responsible for a little more than 13 per cent. Under the ILS, the budget shrinks by about $300,000, which accounts for not only five positions, but also the physical collections budget. The 45,000 titles, including the multilingual collection, the county currently holds will be distributed to member libraries.
The county sent letters to each municipality and library board at the beginning of June, outlining the establishment of the ILS and transitioning away from the Simcoe County Library Co-operative.
The ILS would “focus its services on providing software as a service (SaaS) to existing Simcoe County libraries,” the letter stated, adding the county would assume existing licensing costs and project-management costs, while the “available assets and resources of the Simcoe County Library Co-operative (would) be distributed to the municipal libraries.”
Former Collingwood Library CEO Ken Haigh said the dissolution of the library co-op would impact smaller libraries the most because they would be left on their own for purchases without the bargaining power of higher numbers for procurements that usually went through the co-op.
Details from the county on exactly how much the new ILS will fill in the gaps left by the co-op are scant, as the decision to move to the new model was discussed in closed sessions of county council and the county’s service delivery task force, and no official reports on the change have been made public.
The report found the discussion in the closed meeting should have been limited to the labour relations and the negotiations concerns and that the task force held an improper vote in closed session since the motion contained several items that did not address a procedural matter or constitute a direction to officers, employees or agents of the county.
“We know that Simcoe County made an error when they made their cuts to library services and it is now confirmed that the way that decision was made — behind closed doors — was also an error, after a finding from the closed-meeting investigator,” said Harrison. “Our library board still requires answers to the remaining questions about library services after these significant cuts by the county; we have been waiting for months, all the while working on our 2023 budget that is to be presented to our council soon. To say this unresponsiveness is difficult and concerning is an understatement. I am hopeful that having newly elected councillors around the county council table means answers will be forthcoming.”
The County of Simcoe has said existing collections of materials owned by the county would be donated to library branches for public access at no cost to the individual municipal branches and would include multilingual collections.
“This finding against the county by the closed-meeting investigator should be a wake-up call that Simcoe County must start fixing the mess they made to library services,” said Jonathan Scott, vice-chair of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Library Board. “We’ve been clear on what we would consider some measure of fixing this problem. Our request that the county provide our library with our per capita share of the county’s remaining library budget in lieu of joining the new Information Library System has also still not received an answer. This request dates back to June and has been the subject of multiple formal letters, resolutions of our council, and emails from our library and town staff. It is not an acceptable business practice for Simcoe County to go half a year without answering a question from the library board and the council of its largest municipality.”
The report concluded with a recommendation the county develop a checklist or that current templates for reports be modified to ensure any items to be voted on in closed session be reviewed so only directions or instructions may be voted on in closed session, and that items for a closed agenda be carefully considered.
The full report can be found here and will be discussed at the next county council meeting Nov. 8. More to come.
— With files from Patrick Bales, Jessica Owen and Rob Paul
