A guest column in the Mariposa Gazette, 2022-Aug-4:

The CAO's destruction of the county library

GUEST OPINION

By JANET CHASE-WILLIAMS

Editor's note: The following letter was sent to the Mariposa
County Board of Supervisors concerning the county library.
We feel the public has a high interest in this topic.

Esteemed Supervisors,

I am writing this letter as the former Mariposa County
librarian.  I have real, substantiated concern about the
County Administrative Officer's running of the library.

After years of him expounding on teamwork and county unity
and succession planning, he has come into the library, with
no experience beyond the very occasional use of his card,
and upended team morale, the way the library is run and
staff confidence.  What started as an employee who would not
listen to me and would blank me when I spoke to her, has
turned into a major staffing crisis.

He has been persuaded by one permanent, 20-hour-a-week
employee that she knows how to run the library and who
should be on staff.  I would be lying to say how
disrespected and angry I am.

But I am not writing on behalf of my feelings.  I am writing
on behalf of a library that I have loved and sweated and
worked for; because it is a fantastic institution that the
local community relies on for its stability.  Seeing it
dismantled in two weeks is beyond belief.  The CAO spoke to
me of a plan to put the library under his administrative
leadership.  I sincerely hope this is not what he intended.

I have had the only two full-time staff approach for
references because they are not listened to by the CAO; they
have a combined over 14 years of experience at the Mariposa
County Library.  They have created and run programming,
developed relationships and goodwill with the public and
with the San Joaquin Valley Library System.

I cannot fathom the arrogance of the CAO who is taking the
place of someone who should have some experience with the
running of the library (not to mention a masters in library
and information science) and then interfering with the
staffing and running of the library.

The gullibility and inexperience of the CAO should not ruin
what is an excellent library, which currently has a
first-rate reputation in the community.  I held my tongue
about the ridiculous, incompetent fiasco that was the roll
out of the Oracle system.  It is still a mess.  The personal
stress it caused me, on a continual basis, was a partial
reason for my early retirement.  This interference with
library seems a continuation of that kind of decision
making.

I, as a civilian now, am deeply disturbed about the smooth
running of the library and transition to new leadership at
the Mariposa County Library.  It is arrogant of me, but I
know who can run the library with the goodwill of 98 percent
of the staff and it is not the two people who seem to be
running the CAO.

I was told, when I tried to get rid of the employee who
constantly would not follow rules and who would be
aggressive with other employees, that it looked like
retaliation.  When this mess becomes public it is going to
look like forethought and good judgment.

Please use your good judgment to rectify this mess before
damage is done to the library that will take years to undo.

Janet Chase-Williams, MLIS, retired, is the former librarian
at the Mariposa County Library.