Letter to the Editor: Chronicle Editorial Too Hard on Heywood

Posted

In response to the editorial in The Chronicle’s Dec. 1 print edition, titled “Our Views: How did Buttoned-Down Libraries Get So Controversial?”, we believe clarification is needed.

Contrary to what the editorial stated, Timberland Regional Library Director Cheryl Heywood did admit fault and took responsibility for the fallout caused by the Capital Facilities Proposal. In fact, Cheryl wrote in the Nov. 27 memo you referenced that she “deeply apologizes for the lack of transparency over the past few months focused on the Capital Facilities Proposal and the proposed 2019 budget.” This apology was followed by an in-person apology at the TRL board meeting the following evening, along with a statement to the district’s patrons in the library system’s monthly newsletter the following Monday.

The sentence in the editorial mentioning Cheryl confronted Chronicle reporter Alex Brown at the Nov. 28 TRL board meeting was not accurate. Brown approached her immediately after she left an executive session with TRL’s board. If anyone was confronted, it was Cheryl by Brown.

We regret the anger and confusion caused by the Capital Facilities Proposal. We acknowledge that its rollout was flawed in many ways. The proposal didn’t include widespread input from our communities, which should have taken place and been included in any draft version of a CFP provided to the board. It is no surprise to those following the CFP’s short lifespan that we as board members opposed this plan, especially its call to close roughly a third of TRL’s branches. We are glad and relieved it is dead.

What many might not know is that the proposal to permanently table the proposal originated with Heywood at the Nov. 28 board meeting. The board unanimously voted to table the proposal. This means no Timberland library will be closed, except for health and safety reasons for the foreseeable future. Cheryl admitted the CFP was the wrong approach and she accepted blame for it. We appreciate her for doing that.

Although mistakes have been made and difficult decisions are in front of us, it is an honor to serve as trustees of TRL’s board. We sincerely appreciate the level of advocacy members of our community have shown over the past few months, attending and speaking at board meetings, writing letters and submitting comments online to demonstrate how much they value and support their local Timberland library and the entire five-county system.

We encourage patrons and other community members to stay engaged. In early 2019, TRL will offer many opportunities for community members to have a voice in determining TRL’s 2020-2022 strategic plan. We are in this together and we must support each other in order to create strong communities. 

In addition to working together to shore up TRL’s impending budget shortfall in 2019 and 2020, we are focused on delivering world-class service both in Timberland libraries and on our website, while determining how to also bring the library “outside its walls” to the people in areas that still remain unserved.



 

Corby Varness

TRL trustee (Grays Harbor County)

Hal Blanton

TRL trustee (Lewis County)

Brian Zylstra

TRL trustee (Lewis County)