Noaki Schwartz
NEWPORT BEACH -- The City Council has taken the disowned Library
Foundation under its wing and offered to find the group temporary space
somewhere in City Hall.
The action comes on the heels of a move by the Newport Beach Library
board of trustees to disband the fund-raising group and evict it from its
office in the Central Library. The trustees are disputing the
foundation's fund-raising practices.
But council members urged the two groups to meet with a professionally
trained facilitator after heated emotions cool down.
While foundation chair Dave Carmichael eagerly embraced the idea,
frustrated trustee chairman Jim Wood said too much time had already been
spent on the issue.
"[The trustees' responsibility] is to look after the good name of the
library," Wood said, tapping the podium to underscore his words.
The City Council found itself in the uncomfortable position of getting
involved in the dispute after Councilwoman Norma Glover brought the
matter before the study session. She wanted city staff to outline the two
library bodies' respective roles.
The council members were clearly disappointed with Wood's decision to
reject professional mediation. And although Mayor John Noyes urged him to
bring the matter to a board vote, Wood stood his ground.
"What started as a tempest in a teapot is now a barroom brawl," Wood
said.
The dispute over control over the foundation's savings has been festering
for more than a year. While the foundation has attempted to build an
endowment fund to help the library weather bad financial times, the
trustees rejected the idea and wanted the $1.5 million for more immediate
uses.
Frustration on either side escalated to such an extent that the trustees
sent a letter to the foundation on Jan. 18 demanding that unless
foundation members signed a cooperating agreement, they would have to
move out of the library office and turn over the endowment fund. Wood
also wanted the nonprofit group to change its name.
While the trustees can demand the foundation leave the premises, City
Atty. Bob Burnham pointed out they cannot control the foundation and do
not have exclusive rights to the library's name.
The foundation must remain legally independent of the trustees in order
to operate as a private nonprofit, Burnham said. Therefore, the trustees
cannot gain the financial control they seek.
In addition, the foundation has already decided that should it disband,
the money would go to the Orange County Community Foundation, which would
