SPRINGFIELD – Library supporters filled the City Council Chambers at City Hall in Springfield on April 6, after a social media post circulated online over the weekend claiming that library positions have been terminated and programs and services are expected to be reduced.

According to the post by Ariel Sexton, the City of Springfield quietly terminated two positions, effective July 1, which coincides with the first day of the new fiscal year. The post read in part: “After nearly a year of community pleading to not cut the library budget, these decisions were made outside of the public budget process that’s supposed to take place next month.”

At Monday’s meeting, before folks gave public comments, City Manager Nancy Newton provided some context on the decision-making process for the City’s upcoming budget, noting that part of her job is to produce a balanced budget.

“I work with our finance department. We look at a lot of factors, one of which is the General Fund projections,” she said. “We take all of those things into consideration, as well as all of the services that the city provides, roads, public safety, certainly the library, and some of our internal services. We have already made some cuts going in or thinking about going into this next budget year that haven’t been made public yet because they simply aren’t part of the general fund.”

She also addressed “misinformation online” and said she does not feel discussions about potential layoffs are appropriate for a public meeting.

“I think the keyword on this is that this is a ‘proposed’ budget,” Newton said.

Mayor Sean VanGordon pointed out that, at the stage the council is at, no action items are being decided on, and the public is encouraged to attend the May 4 budget committee meeting, where they will discuss the budget and proposal and weigh all potential service impacts.

At the meeting, library supporters carried a piece of red paper that read “We love our library,” and on the back was a breakdown of the layoffs, provided by Save Springfield Library. It said that the teen librarian position was terminated. The other position terminated was vacant, but its salary helped fund part-time library assistants to fill existing coverage gaps. The new staffing levels can only maintain five days of service, resulting in reduced open hours. According to the note, library staff have been notified that the library will soon be closed on Mondays.

An internal document sent to The Chronicle by a resident who requested anonymity stated that cuts to teen programs are to be expected, and an outreach specialist will not be hired this summer due to very limited staff availability.

According to representatives of Save Springfield Library, layoffs are scheduled to take effect on July 1. Service reductions are expected to follow, including a Tuesday through Saturday operating schedule. Details about programs have yet to be worked out, according to library representatives.

Public comment

Five-year-old Avalyn Pires and her 7-year-old sister, Amelie, were the first people to talk about library concerns during the public comment period.

“The library is important. We should keep the librarians. The library is important because the librarians help us to read and help us to find books,” Avalyn said. “It helps us learn to listen and to pay attention, and it helps us to learn to be quiet when other people are reading something.”

Her older sister went next, saying, “The library teaches many things, like learning how to read, getting better at reading, and just plain enjoying it. Story time is very popular, too. Without story time, the library probably wouldn’t get a lot of people in it, and possibly even go out of business.”

Over a dozen other folks spoke up to show their support for the library and implore the council to listen to the public outcry. Springfield resident Ariel Sexton asked for accountability from the council.

“You say we need to wait until next month to discuss the budget, but you are already making budget decisions without us. We need to know why two librarian positions were terminated prior to the public meeting next month. Who authorized this, and why was it done behind closed doors?” Sexton said. “Why did you recently authorize a 5% wage increase to the city manager when she was already earning over $218,000 a year. Every resident of this town has to budget their finances and prioritize spending. This council needs to be the same and hear us as we say that the library is a priority.”

Growing public figure, Ky Fireside, also spoke in support of the library, calling it a safe third space, especially for teenagers.

“There are so few third places for teens to go, and the library is one of them, but this library in particular has incredible teen programs that they run, and the employee who was given notice runs those programs,” Fireside said.

Another speaker, Rob Sheldon, reiterated that the teen librarian position had been terminated.

“Two library positions have now been cut in the last few days as a result of action or inaction by this city council. One of those positions was the teen services librarian, which will likely lead to the cancellation of teen-oriented programs at the library,” Sheldon said. “I appreciate some of the explanations by the city manager, but I think it’s incredibly disingenuous to describe this as a proposed budget where there are decisions yet to be made and layoff notices are going out already. Decisions like this clearly communicate your priorities. There has been some finger-pointing at the city manager, but you have the power to act here if, in fact, the city manager isn’t handling this or other issues the way you want them handled, and you have a duty to act immediately to reverse this damage,” he said.

An Academy of Arts and Academics student, Christopher Fister, said he regularly sees 10-15 teenagers utilizing the library’s Teen Tuesdays every week.

“I want to bring up that the library is where I found many opportunities for myself. I was able to find a summer program called Young Leaders, which is completely free. It was something that was brought up for the library, that was an entire day camp at the library, which they have no other place in Springfield to do this at,” he said.

Council had an opportunity to respond to comments.

“That was really great feedback. I know we’re trying to work through a very complicated situation,” VanGordon said. “I hear you guys, but you telling us what you prioritize is very impactful to make sure that we keep that in mind.”

The City and Library encourage public input to keep providing community input at future city council meetings.