HUNTINGTON BEACH Central Library (Flickr/cclark395).
Just before the Huntington Beach City Council was poised to decide on whether to have management of the city library system taken over by a private firm, the proposal was … put back on the shelf.
The agenda on Tuesday called for consideration of a proposal by LS&S to provide “managed library services” for the city’s five-library system in response to a request for proposal on such a program.
But LS&S, represented by former Mayor Mike Posey, withdrew its proposal on Monday.
“We dodged a bullet today,” said one speaker.
Nevertheless, the issue dominated the public comments segment of the meeting. Of the 16 who spoke on the library issue, 15 were pleased by the dropping of the LS&S proposal.
Representatives of the ProtectHB group promised that solicitation of signatures to prevent the library system from being “privatized” or “outsourced” would continue.
Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark pronounced the matter finished. “It’s done,” she said.
The next meeting of the council is scheduled for Tuesday, July 2.