Title
DEPUTATIONS REGARDING MOTION 24-G-009, 2024 BUSINESS PLAN AND BUDGET - SERVICE PARTNERS
The following individuals provided Deputations regarding motion 24-G-009, the 2024 Business Plan and Budget:
1. Trudee Romanek advised she was speaking in response to an amendment made at the January 24th City Council meeting to $78,000 from the budget of the Barrie Public Library (BPL) Board.
Ms. Romanek discussed her history as a BPL patron for over 50 years, providing her with many treasured experiences at the library. She described her career as a book author of more than a dozen traditionally published fiction and nonfiction books for kids and young adults, as well as a playwriter that included plays that explore the City's past.
Ms. Romanek expressed the importance of the BPL and its collections to the community. She commented that the library allowed her to learn the real stories behind the rumors linking to Barrie's past truth to its present and future.
Ms. Romanek advised that recently she learned most of the local history section of the downtown library was donated to the Simcoe County Archives. She commented that the Archive is a wonderful facility responsible for the historical holdings of the entire County but is no longer accessible to all its citizens due to its location. She noted that staff at the library informed her that the collection was aging and that the irreplaceable materials had been donated due to the library's inability to properly store and adequately preserve them.
Ms. Romanek expressed the importance of maintaining a healthy library collection, which is a costly process that involves much more than renewing magazine subscriptions and purchasing some books; it requires maintaining and caring for existing holdings, as well as having knowledgeable staff about the collection, and so much more.
Ms. Romanek urged members of Council to approve the full original budget request.
Members of Council asked a number of questions to Ms. Romanak and received responses.
2. Victoria Scott asked that Council reconsider last week's amendment to the 2024 Business Plan and Budget, removing $78,387 from the BPL budget, and approve its original request.
Ms. Scott discussed the BPL's budget presentation and subsequent discussions received at the January 24th General Committee related to reducing $78,000, which would have ideally been put towards the BPL's collection.
Ms. Scott quoted comments made by members of the Council at the General Committee meeting related to disappointment that the BPL was reducing the material purchases budget being its core function. She noted that she shared this disappointment as a downtown resident and library patron but understood the library's urgent need to redirect funds towards a pilot project for social services downtown. She commented on BPL’s long history as a safe space for self-study, learning, and socializing, however, they should not have to make the decision to fund public safety over public resources. Ms. Scott also commented on the discussions made in the media regarding Council agreeing that funding materials, programming, and other primary services were essential to properly serve Barrie residents and uphold the BPL's mandate.
Ms. Scott discussed the County of Simcoe coming forward to fund the social services position and will free up $78,000 that should go back towards the BPL’s core services. She expressed her disappointment that Council ignored the proposal to redirect this amount to collections, and instead voted to take the money out of the BPL's budget completely.
Ms. Scott further discussed the BPL’s 12,000 new members from the last year looking to access library services, programming resources, and collections and the results from the BPL Economic Impact Report in 2018 that revealed that every dollar invested in the BPL generates a value benefit of $4. She expressed that cutting $78,000 from the library budget would rob a community of a value benefit of over $312,000.
Ms. Scott concluded by expressing the importance of keeping the library collections current and the community strong in 2024 and she asked that Council support the BPL’s full budget request.