Opposing the former administration’s privatization of the library, Mayor Glenn Cunningham has begun the process of nullifying the contract with the private consulting firm that has managed the library for the past two years.
Initially, a special council meeting held Wednesday night contained a resolution to terminate the contract with LSSI, the private library management firm that was brought into Jersey City under Bret Schundler’s administration.
The city had renewed LSSI’s contract for another two years in June, a month before Cunningham took office. Like other last-minute measures and appointments of Schundler’s, this was viewed by the current administration as a way to undermine its incoming authority.
Making an appearance at the council caucus meeting prior to the special meeting, Cunningham said that the resolution would be withdrawn for the time being. Corporate Counsel Alex Booth added that the administration does not want LSSI’s termination to be an “adversarial process.”
But Cunningham has made it clear that the city wants to find a way to get out of the contract.
News of the resolution did not reach LSSI until Monday, and the Maryland-based firm has been distressed ever since. “The reason we got the new contract is because we did so well with the first one,” said George Bateman, director of sales for LSSI. Bateman said that the new administration assured LSSI that it would monitor their progress before reaching any definitive decision.
However, it was known throughout the mayoral campaign that Cunningham opposed LSSI’s presence in the library. “There is a difference between Democrats and Republicans,” Bateman said. “On a political level the machine is in motion, and that’s what they’re going to do.”
According to a review LSSI submitted to the city after its first contract expired, the management firm discovered many management problems in the library when it arrived, including a technologically challenged staff, inconsistent library operation hours, and no system-wide office. Bateman said that LSSI stands proud of its track record in Jersey City after automating the library functions, adding a network system for e-mail, and setting up a library web site.
Always a struggle
LSSI never had it easy in Jersey City. The library union originally took the city to court when Schundler was opting to bring LSSI in to completely run the library. The judge sided with the employees, and the Schundler administration used a back door to hire the company, bringing them on as consultants only. Since then, many employees have complained that LSSI has brought in people that are making more money than library employees, but have the same titles and positions. “LSSI eliminated the seniority list, eliminated titles, eliminated all bidding processes,” said David Williams, a supervisor for the Community Awareness Series of the Jersey City Library.
Bateman denies that LSSI did anything to undermine the existing staff, and points to decisions made by the former administration that are being falsely attributed to LSSI.
Either way, Cunningham does not see the need to keep the contract much longer. “Philosophically, I’m only in support of privatization when it’s an absolute savings to the city,” Cunningham said, “and benefits the city.” The first two-year contract with LSSI cost $1.6 million and the second contract renewed in June cost $1.2 million. Cunningham said that this money could be spent on fixing the management problems in the library rather than hiring a firm to fix the problems. “Privatization is not the panacea for curing all of government’s woes,” Cunningham said.
Overall, the city spends approximately $7 million per year on the 11 branches of the Jersey City Free Public Library that employs 99 people. The library is an autonomous agency run by a Board of Trustees whose members are appointed and include the mayor. At the caucus meeting, Cunningham appointed John Mehos and Khan Saleem to the board.
In the resolution that was withdrawn, a line includes an accusation that the LSSI “may be in material breach” of contractual obligations. According to Cunningham, the original contract required LSSI to computerize the entire library, and it has failed to do so. “This may be one of the situations where privatization didn’t meet all the goals that were laid out,” he said.
Citing the current automation process and computerization changes that are underway, Bateman repudiated this accusation and added that the contract does not specifically require LSSI to computerize the entire system. Oddly enough, a state-commissioned Arthur Anderson report of city finances released earlier this year commended LSSI’s effort in Jersey City. “While outsourcing management may be a new concept in public library operations, it was and continues to be the right course of action for Jersey City,” the Arthur Anderson report states. “The library lacked automation, training and leadership prior to LSSI’s arrival.”
While the decision to remove LSSI is inevitable in the point of view of this administration, Councilman Steve Lipski, who sat on the library transition team for the new administration, said things have improved in the local libraries.
“When I went to the Five Corner library branch four years ago to get Powertitians [by former Jersey City Mayor Thomas Smith], they had eight copies, but there was not one on the shelf,” Lipski said. “The mayor of Jersey City writes a book about the city, and you can’t even find it at the library.”
According to Lipski, accountability in management has been LSSI’s biggest asset. During LSSI’s tenure so far, employees received reviews, overtime was reduced, and the system was automated, Lipski said. He also noted that the grants they have applied for and received have been helpful in offsetting their cost.
“They’re not going to be in a very good spot when we go because all of the employees for automation are ours,” Bateman said. LSSI has been training library employees had to use the new automated process, but the process itself has not been completed yet.
Cunningham said that he is confident that the city can manage the library and get the staff up to speed with the automation system when LSSI is gone.