Flagler Beach on Thursday formally rejected an inquiry by Flagler County government about the possibility of merging the Flagler Beach Public Library with the county’s system. But that does not necessarily close the book on a collaborative partnership. City Commissioner Jane Mealy, the fiercest defender of the Flagler Beach library’s independence, is intrigued by the possibility of a cooperative that would preserve that independence but expand Flagler Beach residents’ access to county library resources, likely at no additional cost.
Holly Albanese, who heads the county library system and is director of special projects, says the county and the city could enter into an agreement that would result in a library cooperative that leaves the Flagler Beach library’s independence intact, but with benefits in additional resources and access to Flagler Beach residents that commissioners and their constituents may not be aware of–as indeed Mealy was not.
For example, while Flagler Beach residents have access to–and borrowing privileges from–the public libraries in Palm Coast and Bunnell, they may not have books or other materials from those libraries delivered for pick-up at the Flagler Beach library. Nor can they access the county’s electronic resources, databases and ebooks without a county library card. A cooperative would change all that, making that sort of access–and delivery system–seamless, thus vastly expanding the amount of library materials Flagler Beach residents could tap. “I would think that their residents would like that as an option, but it’s not my call,” Albanese said.
“I had no idea that kind of thing was possible,” Mealy said. Albanese suspects that most of the city commissioners are not aware of such possibilities.
“It’s still a municipal library within their boundaries and they would have a say as to what happens in it or what doesn’t happen in it,” Albanese said. “But the cooperative idea gives them more independence than being part of the county.”
Albanese points to Lake County as an example of a working cooperative. The county has 15 libraries–six of them run by the county, nine of them run by independent cities, all of them forming a cooperative where Lake County residents, wherever they live, have equal access and borrowing privileges, as well as delivery options to their closest library. (See one of the Lake County agreements with the City of Eustis for library services.)
It would have to be a two-way street. Right now, while Flagler Beach residents, who are also county residents, can have free library cards at the county’s libraries, Flagler Beach charges $25 a year to county or Palm Coast and Bunnell residents who want to have borrowing privileges from Flagler Beach. (The city lists $2,000 in library charges for service this year.) A cooperative agreement would necessarily eliminate that charge.
A cooperative would not cost the city money. Rather, once a system is established as a cooperative, “there would potentially be some additional funding from the state library because they would be part of a cooperative,” Albanese said. “Right now they get nothing for that. And that money would be used for materials and databases.” If anything, “there may be some savings on the part of Flagler Beach but I can’t tell you what that may be off the top of my head.”
The Flagler Beach city library this year is a $205,000 operation, up 100 percent from 2020, when it was a $132,000 operation. Salaries and benefits account for three quarters of the budge, with library materials such as books accounting for $18,000, or 9 percent of the budget. (See the full budget here.)
In comparison, the Flagler Public Library system has a $1.6 million budget (up 33 percent since 2020), 12 percent of which–$193,000–is devoted to library materials. (See the full budget here.)
County Commissioner Donald O’Brien, who is the commission’s liaison on the county’s Library Board of Trustees, brought up the possibility of consolidation in the context of a discussion at the last joint-government meeting gathering county and city officials, at the end of January. Those meetings were instigated by Flagler Beach, originally to help Flagler Beach lighten its burdens of Palm Coast and county residents crashing its beaches and zeroing out its parking spaces. It was perhaps in the spirit of financial cooperation that O’Brien, who–to Albanese’s recollection–had not discussed the issue at the Library Board of Trustees, brought up the possibility of library consolidation.
“Maybe at some point in the future, we could have dialogue with the city of Flagler Beach about helping or assuming or taking over the library in Flagler Beach,” O’Brien said. “I think the county could bring a lot to the table in terms of the county library resources, and I don’t know if that’s ever been discussed in the recent past, but I would like to put that on the table as something that maybe we can open for dialogue in the future.” O’Brien acknowledged that there’d been no interest in consolidation in the past, “but I’m wanting to reintroduce it because I think if we could bring it into the library system, we could really benefit some of the folks, the citizens and the residents and Flagler Beach.”
The Flagler Beach library dates back to a small stack of books that began accumulating at the Flagler Woman’s Club’s clubhouse in the 1950s, where it soon turned into a small library. The club asked the city for more room. The library moved to a corner of City Hall in 1978 (not the current building, but where the Building Department ended up some years later). The library moved to its current South Seventh Street location in 1981, when it took over a one-room school. The city renovated it and expanded it in 1997.
Mealy, a member of the Flagler Woman’s Club, has continued to champion the club’s legacy, as had the late Mary Ann Clark previously. But it was Clark some 20 years ago who had broached the controversial subject of consolidation, rejected then as now–and as O’Brien’s suggestion was, when Commission Chair Eric Cooley, who sat on the joint government panel, reported on O’Brien’s proposal at a city commission two weeks ago.
“I don’t think there’s need for it to be discussed further. I think we know what the answer is,” Mealy said at the time. “My answer is not only no, but hell no. And it’s not because I’m not being transparent. But this is an issue that we have discussed before. This library is very much an integral part of our city. And we don’t want to be part of the county.”
Commissioner Rick Belhumeur put it this way: “Two words: Fiercely independent.”
“I believe Commissioner Mealy has it right,” Commissioner Scott Spradley said. Commissioner James Sherman agreed on more neutral terms, and Mayor Suzie Johnston said the city fights for things that define it. “The library is one of them.”
On Thursday, City Manager Dale Marin wrote County Administrator Heidi Petito to formally decline the proposal, referring to the commission’s consensus. “The discussion culminated with the unanimous consensus that the City’s library should remain an independent City operation,” Martin wrote (after complimenting the county and Albanese on securing a $4 million grant that will be applied to the future $16 million South Branch Library in Bunnell.) .
But again: that was before Mealy learned (today) of the possibility of a cooperative, which would be attained through a mere inter-governmental (or “interlocal”) agreement similar to the one Flagler Beach has with the county for its IT needs. Albanese pointed to that IT agreement as already laying the groundwork for facilitating any technological cooperation that could be established between the two library systems, since the same IT department oversees both. Mealy, who also leads the city’s Citizens Academy–a weekly seminar for those interested in learning about the city’s government–said the academy’s next stop, next week, is the library, where she intends to have a conversation with Melissa Parish, the city librarian.
Albanese, for her part, stressed that she was neither having conversations about consolidation nor intending to approach the city about it, so as not to raise false alarms. (She did not contact a reporter today. It was the other way around.) “They would have to approach us if they want to be part of the county system or they want in any shape way or form share resource,” she said.
TR says
Glad that it didn’t happen yet. Because once a government entity is involved in controlling anything it becomes a part of the swirling toilet and eventually will go down the drain. I don’t see any reason for the county to get involved in the PUBLIC library other than greed and they already know a way to make money. They just haven’t played that card yet. If the county does become involved I can guarantee somehow it will cost the tax payers money.
cc says
The county pays for the public library. It’s already involved. This article is about the PRIVATE city library in Flagler Beach joining the county system which is already in place.
FlaglerLive says
The Flagler Beach Public Library is not a private library. It is entirely taxpayer supported. The link to the library’s budget is in the article.
cc says
I stand corrected. I used the word private to mean the rest of the county can’t use our books without paying. The library is paid for by the citizens of Flagler Beach NOT by the county. It is for the exclusive use of Flagler Beach residents. Anyone who lives outside the city limits must pay to use the library. Whereas the county library is free to ALL county residents. The city library is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
candy cornelssen says
How wonderful for the Flagler Beach Library to have the opportunity to join forces with the Flagler County Library! I am all for it! What an improvement that would be. At the Flagler Beach Library, the paper card catalogue system is inadequate, books cannot be reserved or renewed on line, and all transactions are by pen and paper. The Flagler Beach Library is severely impacted by budget and does not have the financial resources to keep up with the needs of our community. The two librarians do not even live in Flagler Beach and are fiercely opposed to change. Flooding is a constant problem and the library is costing the city money. It’s time to build a new library over the bridge where there will be no flooding. It’s time to be FRIENDS with the county library system and accept their gracious offer. As a reader, I want to be able to use the greater resources offered by the county.
Kim Pandich Gridley says
What is couched as a positive comment, is actually a passive, aggressive attack on a disgruntled, FIRED employee who claimed (and I quote) that “this was the best job I ever had.” Her incompetence and inability to fix her mistakes led to the need for the head librarian to let her go, albeit after much agonizing on her part.
I have been a volunteer at the Flagler Beach Library for over two years now and I have witnessed the personalized attention and quirky charm that the library affords. When patrons walk in, they are inevitably addressed by name and are given recommendations based on previously checked-out books. There is a viable online system that affords patrons a means by which to read both audio and regular books via Kindle or other device. There are multiple groups that use the library on a weekly basis and the children’s section and large print section are both constantly updated and expanded. As far as the librarians not living within the city of Flagler Beach, all I can say is “so what?” They are not elected officials and you would be hard-pressed to find two more dedicated lovers of the library who spend way more than their contracted time at their positions. Again, this is Candy’s shot at two people who gave her multiple chances to stop screwing up and unfortunately, she was just unable to comply.
We are having a book sale from February 22-24 from 10-2 and I would encourage anyone with doubts about the value of our library to check out the sale and the library in general. It is the classic example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
cc says
The Flagler Beach Library is an antique. It’s charming. There is beauty in that. As a reader and a book club leader, I believe that the city library needs to be run electronically not by pen and paper.
Heidi Petito, Flagler County Administrator, spoke to the Citizen’s Academy recently. She explained that many offers had been made to Flagler Beach to add the library to the county system. What a win-win that would be. The county has IT in place to catalogue all the materials.
Holly Albanese, the head librarian of the Flagler County Library spoke to the Citizen’s Academy last week. She expressed her willingness to help the Flagler Beach Library to keep it’s personality under the umbrella of the county.
I stand by my opinion that the city should consider this opportunity to create a better and more modern library for our small town.
Mark says
If Holly is going to be on board with it then it will be could be good, if it’s just the County coming up with the details then I would not join a cooperative. The County has pretty much shrunk the new library footprint and will most likely take more away from the County libraries in the future with the current board and possible future board.
Nancy N. says
The elephant in the room that no one is mentioning is this…Flagler Beach should run FAR away from anything that will put their city library budget or book selection under the control of the county commission, which is far more conservative than Flagler Beach is.
Mothersworry says
My wife loves the library and uses it constantly. Having said that, anything with “county” involved based on the daily screw ups with the county give pause for concern. Sure there may be benefits but is the gittin’ worth the goin’??
Mark says
The Flagler Beach library is an absolutely horrible experience and is completely outdated. I am not surprised that most of the budget goes to the staff who treat you like they own the place. I cut up my card after the last episode of arrogance that I have experienced since moving here in 2012. Read comments and reviews about this place, the negative ones are spot on. I now drive to Palm Coast to get treated with respect and service. FB still uses a card catalog and you call.in to renew books. I did that, but the lady on the other end did not do her job. When I turned it in, Marge gave me a hard time about it, blaming me. I have apology letter from the director about the incident. Just let that sink in. A library has to apologize for the treatment of a customer! I say get the county in asap! I can’t believe I pay big bucks taxes to get treated like that.