Centralia —

By Alex Brown

The Chronicle

When Timberland Regional Library leaders first faced the public with their plan to close a third of the system’s libraries, residents were told that the proposal was part of a new model to better serve communities, and that current library staff would be an important part of that future — even if their physical buildings were closed.

“The library staff you know and love will still be here (if the library closes),” District Manager Trisha Cronin told a packed town hall in Randle this September, following a leak to the community that the library was on the verge of closing. “What a library looks like in 21st century … might look a little different, but that does not mean we’re going away.”

Over time, though, Timberland planned to reduce the staff by half in the communities on the closure list, leaving a pared-down crew of employees to carry out its proclaimed goal to “improve and expand service” in those areas.

“Overall, an initial (number) when looking at the first part of that plan, I want to say it was a total of 12 (full-time equivalents cut),” said TRL Finance Manager Eric Lowell. “We weren’t looking to lay off people. We were looking for attrition and retirements.”

A full-time equivalent equals the hours worked by a single full-time employee. Because many library staffers are part-time, cutting 12 FTEs would have meant shedding more than 12 actual employees. In total, the nine libraries that were slated for closure in the since-scrapped Capital Facilities Proposal have a current staffing level of about 23 FTEs.

The new service models in that proposal included the installation and servicing of remote lockers, “express” facilities modeled after a coffee stand and mobile van services to reach those who aren’t proximate to Timberland locations. TRL leaders emphasized that the proposal wasn’t just about saving money, but to find innovative ways to serve the 90 percent of residents in its five-county region that don’t currently use its services.

With the cuts included in that plan, though, each community that saw its library building closed would have been left with an average of just more than one FTE. The staffing cuts, Lowell said, would have saved the system about $700,000 to $800,000 annually, which is about the deficit Timberland projects it will have in 2019. A document obtained by The Chronicle shows TRL projected just more than $100,000 in information technology savings as a result of the closures.

Another document obtained as part of a public records request showed that the initial costs associated with setting up the new services proposed would have totaled just more than $1 million. About half of that would have gone toward purchasing vans, including $170,000 for one based in Centralia. Another $350,000 would have been spent on the “express” facilities, including $50,000 for one in Randle. Another $80,000 would have purchased two remote locker systems, including one in Packwood. And $75,000 would have created Open+ — a system to allow keycard access during unstaffed hours — at six libraries, including Winlock.

Lowell said Timberland did not project when those savings and new costs would have been phased in.

“There was never a firm — ‘This is what we’re going to do in the first year,’” he said. “This was to present this to our board and talk about, ‘This is what we’re looking at. These are ideas that we have.’ The savings would be over time. It’s not like we’re going to do this, boop, like that.”

The Capital Facilities Proposal was first made public in September, at which point the public and members of the board took issue with the secretive nature in which administrative staff created it. The board voted in November to kill the proposal for good, but also to begin holding extra meetings to work on the district’s financial issues. The board also voted to begin a one-year pilot program of Open+ at Winlock and McCleary.

Several board members complained repeatedly in recent months that the proposal did not outline the savings and costs of the plan, giving them little idea what it would do to address Timberland’s projected deficit.

The proposed closures and service model changes came amid Timberland’s grappling with long-term budget issues. In recent years, the system has switched medical insurance providers and slashed its collections budget, both of which saved about $500,000. Lowell noted cutting collections is an unsustainable long-term strategy, as that is one of the services patrons most emphatically demand. Though solutions are tricky, he said, the problem is simple.

“Expenditures are outpacing revenues,” he said. “We’re like the county. Lewis County is facing similar — they’ve got the 1 percent (limit to annual property tax increases) like we do. Timber revenue’s not like it used to be.”

Timberland’s preliminary budget for 2019 projects an increase in revenues of more than $900,000, while expenditures will spike by $1.8 million. That will turn the $300,000 or so surplus the system expects to finish with in 2018 into a $600,000 deficit for next year’s operations. By far the biggest portion of the spending increases come from salaries and benefits, which are projected to rise a combined $800,000 in 2019. TRL’s total general fund budget is about $24 million.

Lowell said medical expenses have been one of the main drivers of Timberland’s financial trouble, increasing 10 percent annually many years in a row. This year’s increase of 5 to 7 percent is the lowest it’s been in some time, he said.

The staffing costs have been a point of contention recently, as branch staffers and members of the public have complained that system administrators are making far more than frontline employees. Given that the administration drafted the plans that would have closed a third of those local libraries, the notion that they’re earning a great deal more has become especially frustrating to some.

“I make $11.63 an hour. That’s 13 cents above minimum wage,” Centralia library staffer Kelly Walker said at a recent Timberland board meeting. “Right now, 35 percent of the budget is going here to the Service Center, leaving 65 percent to your libraries. I think that’s a misbalance.”

Walker said she was slated to get a 5 cent hourly raise next year, then walked through the budgeted raises for Timberland leadership. Administrative Support Services Manager Brenda Lane is looking at a raise of about $19,000. Human Resources Manager Walter Bracy is in line for a $13,000 raise. Lowell will be getting about $7,000 more.

She then noted that Timberland’s administration has talked about cutting staff and library hours, calling them necessary sacrifices if closures are off the table. TRL has since instituted a soft hiring freeze, carefully evaluating if open positions are essential before hiring to fill them. To demand such sacrifices of the branches when leaders in Tumwater are getting big raises isn’t fair, Walker said.

“There’s just a big variance here,” she said. “I’m surprised we’re looking at such large raises when we’re facing a budget shortfall and facing staffing shortfalls.”

In all, Service Center employees will account for about 35 percent of the salary increases in Timberland’s 2019 budget, despite making up around 30 percent of its total staffing. The Service Center also makes up about 35 percent of the system’s overall salary costs, and a similar amount of its benefit costs. According to Lowell, raises occur automatically on an annual basis, with the same set percentages for Service Center leadership and branch staff.

“Aside from the director, administration is on the same salary schedule as staff members,” he said. “Our step increases are the same percentage, and our (cost of living increases) are the same percentage.”

Walker and others have noted that some leadership members, including Lowell and Bracy, have moved up multiple steps from one year to the next, offering them the chance to jump up several salary grades. Lowell said that’s not atypical for leadership roles.

“If someone’s job duty greatly changes and the people they’re supervising greatly changes, they might go up more,” he said.

Along with the soft hiring freeze, Timberland is looking at other ways to potentially address the budget shortfall. Board members have submitted a letter urging the Washington Department of Natural Resources to consider the effects of its timber harvesting cutbacks, which have cut TRL’s timber revenue by more than half since the 1990s.

According to Lowell, cutting back on scheduled raises has not been among the discussions of ways to solve the budget issue. Salaries and benefits throughout Timberland are set to go up $778,000 system-wide next year, with $229,000 of those increases coming at the Service Center. TRL’s deficit is projected to be about $600,000.

Lowell said he could only speak for his own pay, and said he could be making far more if he chose to work elsewhere. His previous job in city government paid a similar salary for far less responsibility, he said.

“If I were to go for a school district, I could probably make $150,000, as opposed to my $100,000,” he said.

Currently, Timberland is working on a compensation and classification study, which will compare the pay of its workers in various departments with those in other agencies in the region. That study should be finished next year, Lowell said.

He also noted that before his arrival as Finance Manager, Timberland did not disclose the salaries of individual employees. Though doing so has invited scrutiny, he said it was an important step to implement to provide transparency.