Dept. of Useless Solutions
Updated November 25, 2003
Project Name: Panic Buttons
Project Scope:
Library systemwide installation of panic buttons as a
security enhancement.
Timeline: All “Silent Knight” locations completed.
Project On Target? Yes
--from Hooker's “AFPL Project Status Report, October 2003,” page 4
AFPLWATCH Comment:
Does Hooker--or the trustees, to whom Hooker feeds her Status Report
every month--realize that these panic buttons are far from “silent”?
That any staff member tempted to push one of these buttons in an
emergency would set off a very loud alarm that would further
antagonize anyone who caused them to trigger the alarm in the first
place? This is worse than having no alarms at all, as it gives the
administration a false sense that they have somehow “enhanced” the
security of library employees when they've probably just enhanced
their risk! What staff requested after the recent murder of one of
their colleagues in her office were SILENT alarms--buttons that would
alert the police to an emergency requiring their immediate assistance--
not a way to provoke a violent or potentially violent perpetrator. “Silent Knight” indeed. And how
much did these useless non-silent alarms cost the library system?
Library Trustees Get County Commissioners
To Waste Another $112,000
Posted October 13, 2003
As if it wasn't reprehensible enough that the Fulton County government
has continued to pay a $100,000+ salary to Library Director
Mary Kaye Hooker two years after she was found guilty of violating
federal anti-discrimination laws, the library system's trustees--including
two county commissioners--have gotten the County Commission to approve
$112,000 to "study" in even greater detail the repeatedly-documented
employment discrimination at the library.
Fulton County taxpayers are paying yet another large chunk of allegedly
scarce tax dollars to find out what a federal court jury, a panel of
federal appeals court judges, the county's own attorney, and the
county's own Equal Employment Opportunity Office have already--and
independently--ascertained: that, beginning in May 2000 and continuing
up through at least March 2003, library director Mary Kaye Hooker has
authorized a series of specific, illegal personnel actions that have
detrimentally affected the incomes, working conditions, and careers of
dozens of library employees, and that all of these decisions
were endorsed by the library system's trustees. There's nothing
wrong with the library's policies; what's wrong is the county government's
refusal to hold its library director accountable for violating those
policies. The culprit(s) of these particular violations have
already been identified, by both internal and external investigators.
What's to "study"?
Pertinent questions Fulton County taxpayers and newspaper reporters
might feel moved to ask the commissioners:
- If the issue of equal employment opportunity at the library needs
further study, why can't the commissioners direct their own EEO staff
to conduct such a study? After all, their office files contain a
mountain of allegations and evidence of employment law violations at
the library--including the EEO Office's monthly reports to the County
Manager and numerous documents authorizing illegal personnel actions
that bear the signature of Mary Kaye Hooker.
- Why are taxpayers footing the bill for County Attorney's Office
salaries if this office is not capable of determining whether the
library's policies comply with federal law?
- Why are taxpayers footing the bill for the salary of the library
system's Human Resource Manager if she is incapable of monitoring the
library system's policies for compliance with federal law?
- Do county officials really need an outside law firm and to spend
this much money to determine whether or not the library's "practices
and procedures" are legal?
- What is the true motivation for this particular instance of the
commissioners being asked to "close the barn door after the horse is
long gone"?
- Do the successful bidders for this lucrative contract have
ties to certain library trustees or to certain county commissioners?
- Is this a belated, ass-covering attempt by the trustees and/or the commissioners to show "due diligence"
and "good faith" in any future lawsuits filed by library employees
victimized by Hooker, or filed by outraged citizens such as the
Fulton County Taxpayers Association?
- Are the trustees so afraid Hooker will sue them and/or the county
government if they fire her that they're gathering ammunition to
minimize the chances of such a lawsuit before they fire her?
Whatever the rationale for the study, spending this amount of money
for yet another study of the already-known legal situation of a
reckless and universally loathed library director is extremely ironic:
if an extra $112,000 is truly available in county coffers, most
citizens would probably prefer that the commissioners add this amount
to the woefully inadequate budget for library materials--a budget
which the commissioners have not increased for several years running,
despite the increased demand by citizens for more libraries and library
services.
Instead of agreeing to spend another $112,000 to verify the culpability
of Mary Kaye Hooker, it's too bad the commissioners didn't save
the taxpayers that much next year by demanding that the board fire her
immediately.
The $185,000 Shelving Boondoggle
Posted July 13, 2003; updated October 13, 2003
Following last year’s multi-million-dollar renovation of the Central
Library, an over-loaded unit of shelving on the third floor collapsed.
No one was injured, but the mishap led a safety inspector to decree
the Central Library’s collections off-limits until an outside
contractor’s workers finished bracing the Central Library’s shelves to
prevent further collapses. This process took three months and cost
taxpayers $185,000. While library patrons and staff were being denied
access to the largest collections in the library system, the library
director made several speeches about her (very sudden) concern
about safety.
What the director did not address was why the shelves had collapsed in
the first place.
October 13, 2003 Update:
It took almost six months after the "remedial" shelving was installed by an arbitrarily-imposed
deadline for the county's board of commissioners to authorize the
$185,000 it cost for this unnecessary work. How's that for
"operating the library in a more businesslike manner," as Hooker is so
fond of bragging about?
Taxpayer Alert!
Posted June 4, 2003
Excerpts from a memo e-mailed May 30, 2003 to
all library managers from AFPL's Business Office:
"Fulton County now requires the Library to supply minority
information on performers [for library programs]....If you do not know
this information please ask the performer at the time the program is
booked.
[Excerpt from attached form:]
MINORITY INFORMATION
MUST FILL BY PLACING AN "X" IN APPROPRIATE BOX:
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AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE |
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AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE |
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ASIAN FEMALE |
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ASIAN MALE |
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HISPANIC FEMALE |
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HISPANIC MALE |
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NATIVE AMERICAN FEMALE |
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NATIVE AMERICAN MALE |
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WHITE FEMALE |
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WHITE MALE |
Most recent examples of wasted county taxpayer dollars
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