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In the News--Again! 2004

Fulton Plan for Budget is Revealed
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 15, 2004

Fulton County's proposed $740.6 million budget for 2005 would hire more police officers, set aside more money for road work and hold the line on taxes.

The proposal offered late Monday by Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel starts two months of budget negotiations with Fulton's six other commissioners before a final spending plan is adopted Jan. 19.

Overall, Fulton would increase spending by $28 million in the two funds that pay for most general government operations. Much of that would go toward ending a long hiring freeze, increased health care costs and a 4 percent pay raise for employees.

Still, Handel's plan does have some goodies for county residents.

She wants to set aside $5.4 million for road and bridge projects and hire 20 police officers. Last year, the budget proposal called for substantial property tax hikes.

Handel, who ran on an anti-tax platform, headed that off. For 2005, she proposed rolling back property tax rates to offset increased property values.

Dick Freeman, who lives east of Alpharetta in north Fulton, said he was pleased by all three proposals, especially that of hiring more police officers.

"We absolutely need that," Freeman said. "We can't even get a police officer out here."

He said nearby residents are so frustrated with services that some are considering annexing into Alpharetta.

Handel said at public hearings, residents all over the county said they needed more officers on the street, so, the budget reflects that.

"We need to have more police officers in the neighborhoods," Handel said.

She would pay for those officers with what is likely her most controversial proposal — $3 million saved by eliminating bulk rubbish pickup in south Fulton and cutting pork-barrel set-asides for the two north Fulton district commissioners.

The money has been part of a long-standing political deal between Northside Republicans and Southside Democrats that both zealously protect. Other commissioners have tried before to eliminate the deal but failed.

"We can do more and do better for the citizens by realigning our priorities," Handel said.

The bulk of Fulton's government operations comes out of two funds. The $624.2 million general fund pays for services offered countywide like courts and libraries.

The $116.4 million special services district fund pays for police, fire and other services not offered by Fulton County inside city limits.

The largest single agency in the county remains the Sheriff's Office, with about 1,000 positions and a proposed budget of $83.9 million.

Handel's recommending that Sheriff-elect Myron Freeman get a $3 million increase.

Also, she said she plans to set aside $2 million that can be used to house prisoners in remote locations if the county jail gets too crowded.

She also proposed keeping the county's supplement to Grady Memorial Hospital constant at $80.3 million.

Grand Rapids PL [Rejects Hooker,] Selects Local Candidate
Library Journal web site posting, September 21, 2004

Facing a choice between two candidates, the board of the Grand Rapids Public Library, MI on September 18 unanimously voted to hire Marcia Warner, director of the Public Libraries of Saginaw, MI. The other candidate was Mary Kaye Hooker, the controversial former head of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. As the Grand Rapids Press noted, Warner was endorsed by the employee union of Grand Rapids PL and is a former president of the Michigan Library Association. In a posting on the web site AFPLWatch.com, run by employees of the Atlanta-Fulton library who have been critical of the administration, the webmaster wrote, “We're wondering what turned the Grand Rapids trustees against Hooker's candidacy,” asking “Was it the spate of impassioned emails launched toward Michigan late last week from assorted AFPL employees and former employees? Was it that photocopy of the $18 million damages check made out to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that found Hooker guilty of race discrimination at AFPL? Was it that parcel of garlic and crucifixes FedExed to Grand Rapids' board members late Friday evening?” Note: Hooker was not found ‘guilty,’ but was found liable in a civil trial.

Two Finalists for PL Director in Grand Rapids;
One is Ex-Director at Atlanta-Fulton PL
Library Journal web site, September 15, 2004

The Grand Rapids Public Library Board, MI will interview two finalists for its open directorship on Saturday, Sept. 18, then aim to name one of them to the position later that day. The finalists are Marcia A. Warner, director of the Public Libraries of Saginaw, MI and Mary Kaye Hooker, former director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. Veteran director Robert Raz retired in July. Initially, a third finalist was named--Elaine K. Didier, professor at the Kresge Library at Oakland University and chair of the State Library of Michigan--but she withdrew from the process. The library board's advisory committee compiled the list of finalists with the help of the search firm Gossage Sager Associates of Deerfield, IL. "The interview process has been on-schedule toward our desired goal of having a new director in place for the start of the new calendar year," Nancy Douglas, Library Commissioner and chair of advisory committee, said in a press release. "More importantly, we have a very capable and talented set of finalists from which the full Board may choose." Hooker's presence as a finalist may raise some eyebrows back in Atlanta; she was fired from her post in June after being a named defendant in a race discrimination case against the library that was settled for $18 million and was the subject of severe criticism by employees, both in a workplace audit and on a web site run by critical staffers.

Suit Alleges Racial Purge in DeKalb
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 25, 2004

Four current and former DeKalb County government employees claim in a federal lawsuit that DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones worked to replace white managers in the parks department with African-Americans.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, claims Jones and other county officials said they wanted a "darker administration" to reflect "the new DeKalb County."

Speaking for the county government, Jones' executive assistant, Richard Stogner, called the lawsuit frivolous.

"The accusation that Vernon Jones is racially motivated isn't supported by the facts," said Stogner, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. "I'm white. The fire chief he appointed is white, and three other director-level and department-manager-level appointees are white. If his goal is to discriminate against white people, he isn't very good at it."\

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Herbert Lowe, an African-American manager in the parks department, and three white managers in the department. The plaintiffs claim that Lowe was asked to "dig up dirt" on the white managers so they could be fired or forced to quit.

Seeking a Black Image
The lawsuit says Jones and other county officials told Lowe they wanted to replace the white managers because of their race, and that Jones asked Lowe to "do what was necessary for the team." Lowe refused, the suit says, and was fired in February.

The lawsuit claims the white managers were denied pay raises, were excluded from department meetings and were told they could no longer have contact with the media because officials wanted to present a "black administration" to the public.

The three white managers were eventually demoted or lost their jobs, according to the lawsuit. The white plaintiffs are Michael Bryant and John Drake, who still work for the parks department, and Becky Kelley, former parks department director, who is now the director of the parks and historic sites division of the state's Department of Natural Resources.

Chris Anulewicz, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said Lowe was now unemployed.

"I think that he believed that what was going on was illegal and morally wrong and he just couldn't be a part of it," Anulewicz said.

The lawyer did not make Lowe or the other plaintiffs available for interviews. Attempts by the Journal-Constitution to reach them were unsuccessful Tuesday.

The other county officials named as defendants in the lawsuit are: Marilyn Boyd Drew, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Morris Williams, assistant county administrator, and Joe Stone, director of human resources.

Jones was out of town Tuesday, and county officials said he could not be reached for comment.

Stogner said the county's hiring record shows the lawsuit is without merit. He said Jones had appointed 16 people to director-level jobs over the past three years and that nine of them were white.

Anulewicz said the case against DeKalb was strong because of Lowe's testimony.

"It is rare that you have direct evidence of discrimination. Here we have that direct evidence of Herb Lowe. I think they thought Herb Lowe was going to be a team player, he was going to do what they asked him to do. . . . When he refused to do that, that threw a monkey wrench in their plans," the lawyer said.

Fear of Big Judgment
Anulewicz said his legal team, which includes former state Attorney General Michael Bowers and former DeKalb District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, was seeking documents from the county to back up the allegations.

County Commissioner Elaine Boyer, a critic of Jones, said she worries about possible financial fallout of the lawsuit, given that Bowers won a similar case involving racial discrimination in the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System.

"Think about how successful Mike Bowers was in that Fulton County lawsuit. We're in big trouble," Boyer said.

In the Fulton County case, a federal jury in January 2002 awarded $25 million to eight white librarians to compensate them for discrimination. A federal judge reduced the award to $16.8 million.

Anti-White Bias Claims Described;
DeKalb Wanted 'Darker Administration,' Lawsuit Claims
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 26, 2004

A reverse discrimination lawsuit filed this week by four DeKalb County parks employees alleges a two-pronged, systematic effort to achieve a "darker administration": marginalize white managers and reward black ones.

The suit against Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones, the county's first black CEO, and members of his administration alleges that Jones tried to force white employees to leave by offering preferential treatment to black employees in hiring, pay and travel benefits. At the same time, the white managers allegedly were moved to windowless rooms, refused mileage stipends, denied pay increases and had their authority limited.

At least one more discrimination case is in the works. Lee Parks, attorney for former DeKalb Recreation Director Jane McMillan, says he will file a similar discrimination suit in federal court next month.

"She is suffering the same kind of problems" as those in the lawsuit filed by the four parks employees, Parks said. Parks is the attorney whose suit forced the University of Georgia to change its gender-based admission policies.

"There is a fairly organized, methodical effort to put African-Americans in jobs that have a profile with the public," Parks said. "Where the position has a public face, the current administration wants it to be a black face."

Claims Called Frivolous
County spokesman Burke Brennan said Thursday that the county had no further comment on the matter because of the suicide of County Attorney Charles Hicks. On Tuesday, Jones' executive assistant, Richard Stogner, who is a defendant in the lawsuit, called the allegations frivolous. Stogner, who is white, noted that Jones has hired several white department heads since taking office in 2001.

The white plaintiffs in the suit are Michael Bryant and John Drake, who still work for the parks department, and Becky Kelley, former parks director, who is now the director of state parks and historic sites. Plaintiff Herbert Lowe, a black former manager in the parks department, claims he was fired because he refused to "dig up dirt" that would help discredit white managers.

The lawsuit also claims that Morris Williams, a Jones administration official named as a defendant in the suit, told park officials "to hire a 'black' contractor to run the county's Sugar Creek Golf Course." The suit alleges that Williams told Bryant to turn off a tape recorder that was recording that part of their conversation.

Not Allowed to Speak
Bryant later complained that the black contractor awarded the Sugar Creek contract "was paying his wife an excessively high salary over and above the management fee services," according to the suit. Drake also complained about "financial improprieties" at the golf course. Parks Director Marilyn Boyd Drew, who is also a defendant in the suit, then stripped both Drake and Bryant of oversight of the golf course contract, the suit alleges.

A golf course employee referred all questions to the county government.

According to the suit, Kelley says that Jones "jumped from his chair and stepped toward [her] in a frightening and threatening manner" during a meeting. At least two other women — an unsuccessful CEO candidate and a community activist — have claimed that Jones has threatened them. Jones has denied the allegations, calling them political.

Hints of Kelley's coming departure came soon after Jones was sworn in, she says in the suit. In March 2001, voters were asked to approve a $125 million bond referendum to buy parkland. Kelley, who had worked in the parks department since 1976, claims she was not allowed to speak during public hearings and was relegated to running a PowerPoint presentation on the bond program.

Kelley later was moved from a large office to an 8-by-10-foot room without windows or an air conditioning vent, the suit contends. She resigned in 2002.

Boxhill Critical of Fulton Library Opening
Alphareta-Roswell Revue & News, August 19, 2004

'Disappointed' Library Wasn't Left Unfinished, She Says Some Work Not Authorized
The Dr. Robert E. Fulton Library at Ocee will open Oct. 9 but how it will serve the Ocee-Warsaw area of Johns Creek is still debated among the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

The most recent harangue boiled up at the August 11 mid-year budget review when Commissioner Nancy Boxill raised an objection to the full 25,000 square feet of space in the library at Ocee being used.

The original funding for the library had been agreed to build the full footprint of the library but fund the collection for only 18,000 square feet. When it was shown that the need for the full 25,000-square-foot regional library was indeed there, then the library would expand its collection.

The project proceeded slowly, and it has taken six years to bring the library to the point where it will finally open in the fall. Every step in the library’s construction has been a contentious battle for funding among the Board of Commissioners and cost one interim library director her job when she supported the construction site on county land near the intersection of Abbotts Road and Jones Bridge Road.

Supporters of the Ocee site thought most of the battle had been won when the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Board of Trustees agreed to completely finish the interior of the library and spread the initial collection throughout the entire footprint of the building.

At least one commissioner said this was not what the Board of Commissioners authorized. Boxill said she expected to see 7,000 square feet of the building uncarpeted and unpainted, cordoned off from patrons’ use.

"If you build it, they will come,” Boxill said. "What that means is the Friends of the [Fulton] library will have bake sales and car washes to raise money to buy the books and furnishings. Then they will ask if the county can give them more librarians. That disappoints me.”

Boxill said at the opening of the library she expected people to be "barred from seeing part of the library.”

"I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I feel like I’ve been taken advantage of,” she said. "If I could, I would go back and roll out the carpet and take the paint off the walls [of 7,000 square feet].”

She then linked that to the 7,000-square-foot Martin Luther King Library which will replace the MLK Library in her district which was closed when it was deemed too old and too expensive to renovate. In the interim while the new MLK is under construction, the county will lease space to continue to serve her District 5 constituents.

Boxill was somewhat mollified when told there is funding in the current budget to begin leasing the space for MLK. The new 8,000-square-foot East Atlanta Library, which is in DeKalb County but part of the AFPLS system, will also open this year.

Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel said any decisions about what will be done with the libraries will be taken by the full board.

"I am troubled by the nature of [Boxill’s] conversation,” Handel said.

Boxill replied, "I am troubled by actions of [county] staff.”

The late Commissioner Robert Fulton had championed the construction of a regional library for Ocee and died just months before the library was originally scheduled to open this past spring. To honor those efforts, the library is to be named in his honor.

Fulton and interim Library Director Ella Yates agreed to the site location, which some at the time said was a circumnavigation of both the library board of trustees and the Board of Commissioners. Yates’ contract as interim director was not renewed, but the decision on the location stood and the project continued to move forward.

New blood on the board of trustees supported the Ocee project and with funding committed to design and engineering, the Board of Commissioners agreed to go ahead with construction but with the caveat that only 18,000 square feet of the library would be used initially.

Later, the community convinced the board of trustees to build out the entire 25,000 square feet, not only to save the extra costs of coming back to finish out the building but to give the library more aesthetic appeal.

The library will have an initial collection of 100,000 items with plans to phase in an additional 50,000 items over the next two years. The new interim Library Director Anne Haimes said this will also give the library time to shape the collection to the specific needs of the community. Meanwhile, the collection will be spread throughout the entire footprint of the library.

Supporters of the Fulton Library point out this is how the Northeast Spruill Oaks Library on Old Alabama Road was phased in. They also point out that within a month or two of opening, the Spruill Oaks Library, also 25,000 square feet, had the highest circulation of any library in the 33-library system. Roswell Branch Library is second, and Alpharetta Branch Library and Sandy Springs Regional Library are third and fourth, although Alpharetta and Sandy Springs are so close in circulation it depends on which month one looks at to determine which is third and which is fourth. However Alpharetta is only 10,000 square feet while Sandy Springs is 25,000 square feet.

After the meeting, Boxill said what is important is that the facilities and operation of the library system stay within board policy.

"The [Fulton] Library is very needed and probably long overdue,” Boxill said. "My questions were to ensure that construction and operation don’t exceed any limits that have been imposed by this board. It will exceed those limits by the cost of paint and carpeting and if it leads to additional librarians [to operate at 25,000 square feet versus 18,000 square feet].”

Asked if it will take more librarians to handle the initial collection whether at 18,000 square feet or 25,000 square feet, Boxill said she did not know, but that answer should have come first.

"All I know is the board adopted certain parameters, and I would like the board to stay within those parameters. I’m just asking the questions,” she said.

Newly elected District 3 Commissioner Lynne Riley said she wanted to see the minutes of those board discussions and determine who has authority. However, she said the library board of trustees has already determined the need for a full regional library is there simply based on the number people it will have to serve.

"I believe once it is opened, it will surpass Spruill Oaks in circulation,” Riley said.

Handel said the brouhaha was the kind of divisive rhetoric she hopes the Board of Commissioners can put to rest.

"I am deeply troubled by the nature and tone of the discussion,” Handel said. "All of Fulton County’s citizens deserve a first class library system, and to pursue this line of discussion pitting one end of the county against the other I find distasteful.”

She said Boxill was cavalier and sarcastic in her remarks, when she would like to remove paint from the walls and take up carpet. Handel called it a disservice.

The board has adopted a different strategy to serve the burgeoning suburban population, building larger libraries to realize more economies of scale, she said. While there are more, smaller libraries serving neighborhoods in Atlanta, that model would not work in North Fulton nor south Fulton as it grows.

"It is a deliberate, regional approach. It is a strategic plan that will allow us to bring library services to more people,” she said.

Handel scoffed at Boxill’s "build it and they will come” remark.

"The whole point of building the library is to bring more service to the people. That should be our focus, not trying to squelch service,” she said. "That is why I was so troubled by the discussion. Pitting one side against the other is just wrong.”

New Atlanta-Fulton Library Board Has Six Holdover Members
Library Journal online, "Breaking News," August 16, 2004

Though the Georgia Legislature reformed the board of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, cutting the number from 17 to 11 and changing the appointments process, the new board doesn't look that different. Six of the new board members are holdovers from the previous board, as five county commissioners and the Atlanta City Council have made reappointments. Notes the web site AFPLWatch.com, which is operated by critical staffers at the library, "Needless to say, most library employees and many library users are disappointed that the legislation designed to reform the notoriously meddlesome and incompetent library board didn't result in an entirely new crew of library trustees.... Fortunately... the County Manager, rather than the library board, will be hiring the library system's director from now on. It remains to be seen whether the new members of the board--who are in the minority--will make a difference in the way the board conducts itself." The board was to meet August 25 and propose by-laws.

$10 Million Fulton Surplus Projected for Year
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 11, 2004

Fulton finance officials projected Wednesday the county will end the year with a $10 million surplus.

County officials began 2004 saying a huge property tax increase was needed to make ends meet. Instead, the county Board of Commissioners adopted a general fund budget with a whopping $45 million deficit.

But commissioners learned Wednesday that revenues will be higher than expected by $31.3 million and expenses would be lower by $23.4 million. The $54.7 million positive has the county looking at a $10 million surplus.

Finance officials said much of the spending savings could be attributed to a hiring freeze imposed on several departments. County Manager Tom Andrews said service delivery had not been harmed because most of the impact had been contained to administration.

Commissioners weren't so sure and asked a series of questions about service delivery.

"We are clearly not doing some things," said Commissioner Nancy Boxill. "The question is, 'Is that OK or has it been detrimental?'"

Ocee Library: Books Overdue
Alpharetta News & Revue, July 20, 2004

All summer the 25,000-square-foot Ocee regional library has sat empty, doors locked with thousands of books sitting in a warehouse. While Johns Creek residents have waited anxiously for the long-promised facility to open, they will have to be patient a few more months.

The $10 million library has been delayed mostly by personnel problems and a lot of footdragging by a director who was on her way out. Like the rest of Fulton County, the staff has had to keep the doors open while under a hiring freeze. While Ocee library was given an exception to this freeze, the transfer of personnel still has been slowed. Meanwhile, with the cloud of an $18 million discrimination judgement looming over the department, there did not appear to be any sense of urgency to get Ocee open. The library was supposed to open in spring or perhaps June, now library officials are saying September or early October.

Katy Burge, vice president of the Friends of Ocee Library, a volunteer group raising funds for the library, said she is growing impatient.

"I find it extremely frustrating that the library is not open yet. I have six children at home this summer, and I would love to use that library,” Burge said. "Everyone is anxious to see it open. People I know are disgusted and say they will just go to Barnes and Noble to get books for their children. But I have six kids, and I just can’t afford to do that.”

The good news for Burge and others, is that wheels have begun to turn. Interim Library Director Anne Haimes who took over in May said she understands the community’s impatience.

"I would be frustrated, too,” Haimes said. "We are working to get staffing in place now.”

Haimes said when she was asked to take on the job of interim director by County Manager Tom Andrews, one of the priorities he gave her was to get Ocee staffing in gear.

Under a new state law, passed in part to reorganize the ineffective Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, the director answers directly to the county manager now and not the Board of Trustees. That board was also reorganized and reduced to 11 members as an advisory board only.

Now that the county administration has more control, the assurances are that the library will move forward.

The good news is Ocee got its new branch manager last week and the library’s collection is beginning to be unpacked and put on the shelves.

Gayle Holloman is the new manager, bringing 10 years of experience with the AFPLS. Prior to being named branch manager at Ocee, she was the branch manager at the East Atlanta Library. She is also familiar with starting up a regional library after serving as assistant branch manager at Northeast Spruill Oaks Regional Library on Old Alabama Road when it opened.

Holloman has a master’s degree in information studies from Clark Atlanta University and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University.

"I’m ecstatic about coming here even though it is going to mean a lot of hard work,” Holloman said. "The county is growing so fast, [the library] is really needed out here. We will be filling a community need.”

When the library was first proposed to be built at 25,000 square feet, the Board of Commissioners voted to limit the original space to 18,000 square feet of finished space, but those restrictions have since been changed, Holloman said.

"The library will open with all the space in use,” she said. "I’m sure we’re going to need it.”

The AFPLS will spend 80 percent of budget for the library’s collection in the first year and spread the last 20 percent over the next two years to give Holloman some flexibility in building the collection’s strengths to meet the community’s needs.

The library will contain 100,000 books and other materials to start, but it is expandable to hold 150,000 items.

With the books on the premises, Holloman’s next task will be to hire and train the 16-member staff of full-time librarians.

"We have a lot to do, to get the staff ready to be where we want to be. The library won’t be just about books. It will be about good quality service, and that means we will have to move a little more slowly to be ready,” she said.

Meanwhile, Holloman said she is pleased to already have a strong cadre of volunteers through the Friends of Ocee.

"Volunteers are our strength,” she said.

Karen Purcell, president of Friends of Ocee Library, said her volunteers can’t wait to do more. They are all looking forward to the day the library opens.

"We seem to be making progress. I think the library is moving along,” Purcell said.

Fulton Library System Begins New Chapter
Northside Neighbor, June 24, 2004

The sitting Board of Trustees of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library meets for the last time this afternoon.

State legislation authored by District 56 state Sen. Tom Price, R-Roswell, reorganized the library board. It reduces the city of Atlanta's influence by abolishing the 17-member board and creating an 11-member board, eight to be appointed by Fulton County commissioners and three by the city.

Price also made the library director report to the county manager. When Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the legislation in May, County Manager Tom Andrews fired controversial library director Mary Kaye Hooker.

The library system was beset by problems during Ms. Hook's tenure. Settling a lawsuit by eight librarians who said Ms. Hooker transferred them because of their skin color will cost the county $18 million. Anne Haimes was appointed interim director while the county manager conducts a national search.

Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts reappointed Sandy Springs resident Roger Rupnow to the Board of Trustees.

"The current board had made some real changes in the last six to nine months," said Rupnow, who was first appointed in September 2002.

"We had given the then-director responsibility for employment of personnel," he said. "The board had been responsible up to that point in time, until right after the first of the year. I didn't see that as my task as a board member. Several of the new board members [in 2003] agreed that was not appropriate. The board is a policy maker, not a manager/administrator."

Another change was the development of a strategic plan, still in the works.

"I don't know whether the new board will want to continue that," Rupnow said.

"We set some goals and objectives she [Ms. Hooker] was going to be responsible for achieving over a certain period of time," he said. "We made efforts to get some books stored at the main library onto the shelves."

Staffers blamed a number of resignations on discontent with management.

"We used to get anonymous letters complaining about a multitude of things," Rupnow said. "I think we did have some success fixing some of the problems.

Atlanta has a good library system, he said.

"We need to have an agreement that we want a great or outstanding library. Then we can work to achieve it. It takes the board wanting it and the staff wanting it. Time will tell what the new board wants and what resources the county commission commits."

Locally, he is satisfied as a user of the Sandy Springs library, but not all its users are, he said.

"I'm going to be spending more time looking at what we've got in the branches. We started a new data information system that will give us the number of users, the books they use and so forth. You've got to get a good handle on what's there."

Library System Turns Page, Finally
Editorial, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 28, 2004, page A16

”The crew has mutinied, Captain Bligh has been put over the side in her lifeboat, and we have a new captain. Let’s all resolve now to do our part to get this ship turned around and on a better heading.”

--Comment on the Atlantans For Progressive Libraries Web site (www.afplwatch.com )

The destructive force of hurricanes and tornadoes is so extraordinary that it’s hard to turn away and stop exclaiming over the wreckage. So it is with the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.

No other local government entity has left more ruin in its wake. Under the tyranny of an incompetent and hyperpolitical board of trustees, the libraries discriminated so openly that eight white librarians won an $18 million settlement last year. The system chewed up directors faster than the Hawks depleted coaches. A series of outside reviews found more dissent and backstabbing than the final episode of “The Mole.”

The gawking is over. A new state law that goes into effect on July 1 reduces both the size and the powers of the independent 17-member board that ran the 32-branch system into the ground. Gone is director Mary Kay[e] Hooker, and her departure has been greeted as a liberation.

The new law grants Fulton County greater control over the system, including the hiring of the director. Although Fulton pays most of the system’s bills, it has had scant input into its management until now.

Dominated by city of Atlanta appointments, the board of trustees was supposed to assure that the system was fair to all corners of the county. But board members infested the $30 million system with ward politics and treated the libraries as personal fiefdoms.

Under the streamlined 11-member board, Fulton appoints seven members, while the city gets two slots. The Atlanta mayor and the Fulton County Commission chair—or their designees—will also hold seats.

A national search is under way for a new director, a critical role made harder to fill by the system’s tainted reputation. To show that the Atlanta-Fulton County Library System is reader for a fresh start, none of the current board members should be reappointed. This is one disaster that requires a complete decontamination.

Library System Searches for Leader;
Embattled Executive’s Firing ‘A Step that Had to be Taken’
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 27, 2004, page J1

Fulton officials say they want a new library director who can handled the professional side of running a $30 million library system and navigate the tricky politics of a system long in turmoil.

Tom Andrews, county manager, said a national search should be under way soon. He hopes to have chosen the new director by August 1. The post pays more than $100,000 a year.

“We want to attract the very best candidate,” Andrews said. “The ideal person would have experience in a large urban library system as well as suburban libraries. You need someone who is very fair, first and foremost.”

Andrews opened the position last week with the firing of Mary Kaye Hooker, who spent five tumultuous years as director. He met with library staff on Tuesday to inform them of the search, ease their fears of transition and seek their input on a new director.

Hooker led a 32-branch library system known nationally as a soap opera because it has been embroiled in racial controversy.

Last year, commissioners finally agreed to pay $18 million to settle a lawsuit the county lost to eight white librarians who complained they were reassigned because of the color of their skin.

Hooker’s actions also put her at odds with many library system employees.

A study of staff members this year found broad dislike of Hooker and overwhelming distrust of the board. Shortly before she was fired, she filed her own discrimination complaint against the library board. It remains under investigation.

“It was a step that had to be taken,” Commissioner Tom Lowe said. “Whether it was her fault or not, certainly she was a contributing factor.”

Hooker could not be reached for comment.

Andrews said the system’s reputation will make finding a new director more difficult.

Before Hooker, the17-member board had earned a reputation for micromanaging. It also had run off several directors.

The costly settlement, though, created the political will to change. Legislators passed a bill that eliminates the current board June 30 and replaces it with an 11-member board with lesser powers.

Andrews said he plans to stress the organizational changes to the American Library Association to keep the search fro a replacement from becoming too difficult.

Commissioner Rob Pitts described his ideal candidate as “a true professional at the helm but one who is going to be sensitive to the exra issues that always crop up.”

Officials such as Pitts and Andrews hope a new director and library board mean an end to years of turmoil in the county’s libraries.

“I support the decision” to fire Hooker, said County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel. “With all of the challenges we’ve had, this is a chance to move forward. We need new leadership to reshape the culture of the libraries.”

Atlanta PL Director Fired
Library Journal web site, posted May 24, 2004; see also the July 15, 2004 print edition (page 18)

After a a bill was passed to reform the board of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library and to authorize the county manager to hire and fire the director, there was much speculation about the fate of Director Mary Kaye Hooker. A five-year veteran, she was one of four people (along with three board members, only one still on the board) found liable in a race discrimination case that settled for $18 million. She was also the subject of severe criticism by employees, as noted in a workplace audit. After Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed SB 231, County Manager Thomas Andrews on May 19 announced that "Mary Kaye Hooker has been relieved of her responsibilities as Director of the Atlanta-Fulton Library System effective June 2, 2004. Ms. Anne Haimes has been appointed Interim Director effective May 21, 2004, and will serve in this capacity until a permanent director has been selected as a result of a nationwide search." Haimes is one of two Branch Group managers. Deputy Director Carolyn Garnes retired in August, 2003 and was not replaced, and the Central Library has an acting administrator. The 17-member board will be dissolved June 30 and a new board of 11 members will include seven members appointed by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and two appointed by the City of Atlanta, plus the mayor of Atlanta and chair of the Board of Commissioners (or their designees).

Chief Librarian Fired, Board Next
WXIA 11 Alive [Television] News Broadcast, May 20, 2004

The latest chapter at the Atlanta-Fulton County Library System finds its director out of a job and its Board of Trustees about to be erased.

Mary Kaye Hooker’s 5-year tenure directing the 32-branch library system is reaching its end after a hail of accusations that she and the library’s Board of Trustees treated employees unequally.

Fulton County Manager Tom Andrews led the advance with the support of several county commissioners, including chairwoman Karen Handel. Hooker has yet to comment on losing her job.

Attorney Mike Bowers, said, “The message is what we’ve been preaching in this country for a long time. You can’t treat people on the basis of their race or, to say it another way, equality under the law applies here.”

Librarian Maureen Kelly counts as one of seven White librarians who sued the system, claiming their skin color led to being demoted or transferred from the system's main downtown Atlanta branch to more menial positions at other outlying libraries. After losing last summer’s court battle to, Fulton County agreed earlier this year to pay an $18 million settlement.

Kelly said, “I’m confident that somehow this will work out because this is what America is supposed to be about.”

During the trial, tape recordings of board meetings proved some library board members actually said “There were too many White faces” in management and it “was not welcoming to Black folks to see so many White faces.”

Bowers, said, “There were recordings of some of the library board members which clearly indicated the assignments involving these individuals were made on the basis of their race.”

Now, after several complaints about micro-managing and low staff morale, Hooker has been fired as director and library board will be abolished. The system’s current 17-member Board of Trustees is set to be formally dissolved on June 30.

There’s been no confirmation on how the new board will be chosen.

Fulton Fires Head of Unquiet Libraries
By D.A. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 20, 2004, p. C-4

Fulton County officials hope that years of turmoil in the county's libraries are ending with Wednesday's firing of the system director and the pending abolition of the 17-member library board long known for micromanaging.

County Manager Tom Andrews dismissed Mary Kaye Hooker Wednesday afternoon. He notified staff in an e-mail sent late Wednesday.

Legislation wiping out the current 17-member board takes effect June 30.

"I support the decision" to fire Hooker, said County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel. "With all of the challenges we've had, this is a chance to move forward. We need new leadership to reshape the culture of the libraries."

Hooker spent five tumultuous years leading a 32-branch library system known nationally as a soap opera because it has been embroiled in controversy so long, much of it about race. Last year, commissioners finally agreed to pay $18 million to settle a lawsuit the county lost to eight white librarians who complained they were reassigned for racial reasons.

Hooker's actions also put her at odds with many library system employees. A study of staff members this year found broad dislike of Hooker and overwhelming distrust of the board.

"It was a step that had to be taken," Commissioner Tom Lowe said.

Hooker could not be reached for comment.

A Great Library Helps to Make a Great City
Excerpts from an editorial by Colin Campbell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 20, 2004, p. C-2

...The city of Atlanta has had horrible luck lately with its libraries. Downtown's lovely old Carnegie Library was stupidly torn down. Its replacement is hard to distinguish visually from the Fulton County jail.

Political and racial rivalries have poisoned the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. Some branches have been shortchanged. And--though the system's librarians include some of the nicest and most professional anywhere--management has been so bad that the system recently lost a racial discrimination lawsuit and was ordered to pay $18 million in damages. (On Wednesday, the Atlanta-Fulton library director was fired.)

It would be grand to see a splendid new library in Atlanta--something of national importance. We'll see....

Atlanta Director Files Complaint with EEOC
American Libraries, May 2004, pages 20-21

The latest in a series of personnel disputes at the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library comes from the top: The U.S. Equal Opportunity commission is investigating a complaint from Director Mary aye Hooker claiming that library trustees are “conspiring” to oust her. “Throughout my tenure I have been the victim of a systematic campaign of race discrimination, retaliation, and harassment,” Hooker wrote in a three-page letter to the EEOC. The complaint lays the blame for actions that precipitated a reverse race-discrimination suit on Carolyn Garnes, who recently retired as AFPL deputy director (AL, Feb., p. 14). Hooker assets that she was unable to stop Garnes from her “open hostility toward Caucasians, including me,” according to the March 23 Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Garnes, who is African American, responded, “This saddens me. I gave 30 years of my life to make things better. Most people know the bottleneck is at the top.”

The February 11 complaint was filed the same day that the 17-member library board ordered Hooker to undergo management and sensitivity training (AL, Apr., p. 17-18). The complaint also alleges that Hooker feared trustees would “use” the management study “as a pretext for my eventual termination.”

“I do not understand Ms. Hooker’s complaint,” Fulton County Attorney O.V. Brantley said in the Journal-Constitution. “I look forward to learning more about it as the investigation unfolds.”

GA Legislature Approves Bill to Reform Atlanta PL Board
Library Journal online, "Late Bulletins," May 1, 2004

A bill to reform the beleaguered Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System—which had previously stalled in the Georgia legislature—passed in April. SB 231 will abolish the library's current Board of Trustees, reduce the new board's size from 17 to 11 members, and authorize the county manager (not the board) to hire and fire the library director. The library has been rocked by a reverse discrimination suit, with three board members and Director Mary Kaye Hooker named as defendants, which was settled for $18 million, and a harsh study of Hooker's leadership and library procedures (see News, LJ 3/15/04, p. 18ff.). The legislation is awaiting the governor's signature, expected no later than the beginning of May.

Legislation Revamps Library Board
Director Answers to County Manager
Alpharetta News & Revue, April 21, 2004

It will be a leaner Altanta-Fulton Public Library Board of Trustees come July 1, when legislation takes effect to reduce the number of board members from 17 to 11. Observers say they hope it will be a board that will not be dominated by Atlanta politics.

Perhaps more significant than the reduction in the size of the board will be the change to the executive director. Instead of being hired and fired by the library board, which has shown itself to be mercurial in its dealings with the director, the library director will now answer directly to the county manager.

For years, blue ribbon panels, library supporters, legislators and other elected officials have called for a streamlining of the racially and geographically divisive board. Residents outside the I-285 beltway complained the board was too "Atlanta-centric” and did not give those outside the beltway proper representation.

This was especially troubling since critics pointed out the library budget comes solely from Fulton County and none from Atlanta.

State Sen. Tom Price, R-Roswell, has championed Senate Bill 231 to streamline the board for two years, and this year was successful in shepherding the bill through the General Assembly.

In reducing the board from what many said was an unwieldy 17 members to ll, the legislation removed the six members appointed by the library trustees. Instead, the board will be composed of seven members chosen by each of the Fulton Board of Commissioners. In addition, one seat will go to the county chairperson or her designee, one seat to the mayor of Atlanta or her designee, and two members chosen by the Atlanta City Council, one of whom must live in that part of DeKalb County in the Atlanta City limits.

The changes came after Fulton County had to weather an $18 million discrimination judgment and received a scathing internal audit. It determined that morale within the library system was low and that within the system there was a perception that promotions were given out of favoritism rather than merit. In a survey of employees more than half said they believed that complaints would be met with retaliation, especially from top management and the board.

Price says he thinks the legislation will lead to a new day for the board. He said he does not think one incident led up to the passage of the legislation, but was the preponderance of problems with past board members. In addition to the huge financial judgment, previous boards had run-ins with their directors who accused board members of stultifying micro-management.

"I think with all of the publicity, with problem after problem, virtually everyone agreed that a change was needed,” Price said. "This looked like a reasonable step.”

In addition to the reduction of board members and having the director report to the county manager, the board will not have quite so many elected officials hanging on either. Two county commissioners and at least one Atlanta City Council member. had been ex-officio members.

Now only the commission chairperson and the Atlanta mayor will have seats, and they will likely turn those duties over to a designee.

County Chairwoman Karen Handel said she was "elated” at the restructuring.

"It means we will be able to put some sanity back into the library system,” Handel said.

She agreed with Price in that perhaps the most important aspect of the legislation is making the director responsible to the county manager.

"This gives county residents who live outside the city of Atlanta a majority on that board for the first time. That is only fair since the county pays for the system and Atlanta does not contribute one dime,” Handel said.

GA Legislature Passes Bill to Abolish, then Reform Atlanta-Fulton PL
Library Journal online posting, April 14, 2004

A bill to abolish the board of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library passed last week. It had stalled in the Georgia Legislature in past years. SB 231 will abolish the library's current 17-member board of trustees and create a new board of 11 members.

The board will include seven members appointed by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and two appointed by the City of Atlanta, plus the mayor of Atlanta and chair of the Board of Commissioners (or their designees). Except for the latter two ex officio members, no elected official may serve. This is apparently a response to the role of elected officials on the board, some of whom were seen as using their membership to direct resources toward their constituents. The new configuration also reduces the influence of the city of Atlanta on the board. The system began in Atlanta but the fastest growth in recent years has been in the suburban areas. The board has been reluctant to close some low-circulating urban branches. The county funds the library.

The bill also authorizes the County Manager (not the board) to hire and fire the library director. The library has been rocked by a reverse discrimination suit, with three board members (two since departed) and Director Mary Kaye Hooker named as defendants, which settled for $18 million. Also, a consultant hired to evaluate workplace procedures reported severe criticism of Hooker's leadership and recommended that the board stay out of most hiring decisions.

The legislation will become effective after the governor signs it, no later than the first week of May. Steve Dorvee, vice-chair of the board, told LJ, "I don't know if any old board members would be appointed to the new board. My hope is that there be some transition planning done between old and new," so both old and new members can monitor the library's response to the workplace audit and contribute to the strategic plan that is nearing completion. Dorvee noted that several current board members were appointed after the lawsuit was filed. Dorvee was unwilling to speculate about Hooker's fate. Hooker has since filed her own discrimination complaint.

Atlanta Library Director Charges Discrimination
Library Journal online, posted March 30, 2004

The beleaguered director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, Mary Kaye Hooker, has filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming "race discrimination, retaliation and harassment by the board of trustees and other officials of the library system." Hooker, who is white, was one of four defendants found liable for discrimination against four white librarians, a case ultimately settled for $18 million. More recently, in response to an audit in which staff complained she has to a "tendency to lead through fear, threats, and intimidation," the library board of trustees on February 11 ordered her to undergo management and sensitivity training. Hooker, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, filed the complaint that same day.

Hooker's complaint, the newspaper said, blamed both the board and her former deputy director, Carolyn Garnes, an African-American, who has since retired. The complaint said Hooker tried to stop Garnes from her "open hostility toward Caucasians, including me." Garnes was considered an ally of William McClure, the former board chair who also was one of the four defendants found liable. "This saddens me," Garnes told the newspaper. "I gave 30 years of my life to make things better. Most people know the bottleneck is at the top."

Library Chief Files Complaint
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 24, 2004

The embattled director of Fulton County's libraries alleges she is the victim of a widespread conspiracy to force her from office.

Mary Kaye Hooker's charges in a three-page letter filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission read much like similar complaints employees have leveled against Hooker — retaliation, discrimination and unfair treatment.

The filing is the latest round of turmoil in a library system that has swirled in racial hostility for years.

"Throughout my tenure I have been the victim of a systematic campaign of race discrimination, retaliation and harassment by the board of trustees and other officials of the library system," Hooker wrote.

O.V. Brantley, the county's attorney, said he is puzzled by Hooker's filing because she did not ask for any action to be taken on her behalf.

"I do not understand Ms. Hooker's complaint," Brantley said. "I look forward to learning more about it as the investigation unfolds."

Hooker, who is white, filed the complaint Feb. 11 with the federal EEOC. That same day the library trustees met to consider what action should be taken against her in response to an audit that found library employees gripped by fear and mistrust of Hooker and the trustees.

Rather than dismiss the director, the board retained her and ordered she take management and sensitivity training. Her complaint is now under investigation.

Hooker, who did not return calls Tuesday, said in the letter she's repeatedly had her job threatened. She said she feared "the board will use the recent study . . . as a pretext for my eventual termination."

Library board members contacted about the complaint said they could not comment.

Hooker has run the 32-branch system for five years, and earns $116,502 a year. She was in charge four years ago when the system reorganized staff at the Central Library in Atlanta. White employees were moved from key positions.

The suit spawned by the shuffle cost Fulton County $18 million. A later settlement with two original plaintiffs who alleged continued retaliation cost the county an additional $250,000.

Hooker blames those acts on the 17-member board of trustees and her former deputy director, Carolyn Garnes, an African-American. The complaint says Hooker tried in vain to stop Garnes from her "open hostility toward Caucasians, including me."

"This saddens me," said Garnes, who is now retired. "I gave 30 years of my life to make things better. Most people know the bottleneck is at the top."

Race Divided Fulton Libraries; Years after Suits, Morale Still Low
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 20, 2004

The trustees of Fulton County's public libraries felt they had a problem: Too many management slots at the system's flagship facility were filled by white women.

So as 2000 dawned, the board asked for a race-based head count at the Central Library in Atlanta. Then, over the objections of the county attorney, the library system's executive reassigned a number of white librarians to lesser posts.

That began a legal battle that has cost taxpayers more than $18 million — enough to build two new libraries or operate the entire 32-branch system for seven months.

There has been another cost: The legal trouble has exposed the often ugly inner workings of a library system gripped by racial turmoil. It has sullied the library system's reputation, it has led to a proposal to replace the 17-member library board with a smaller body, and it has been held up as an example of Fulton County's long history of racial strife.

"It's a microcosm of what was going on in Fulton County," said Chris Anulewicz, a lawyer who represented seven white librarians who won a multimillion-dollar judgment in a racial discrimination lawsuit in 2002. "The root cause is an obsession with race rather than doing the right thing."

Ella Yates, director from 1979 to '81 and again for a short time in 1998, said some older black Atlanta residents harbored anger toward the system because they weren't allowed to use the libraries or work in them before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

In the 1970s, the library system's few pioneering black employees faced difficulties with discrimination and unfair treatment, Yates said.

But as Fulton County's population began to change — by 1980, the county was majority black, compared with less than 40 percent in 1970 — the makeup of the library board changed, too.

"When the board became black, there was a backlash to when the board was majority white," said Yates, the county's first black library director.

William McClure, library board chairman at the time, led a group of black board members who were focused on remaking the staff based on race rather than professional performance, Yates said.

Out of concern that they'd be considered racists, white library trustees often went along with acts they considered objectionable, said Larry Curry, a white north Fulton resident who served on the board from 2000 to 2001.

"You didn't want to come across as bigoted, so you always deferred," Curry said.

McClure has declined several times to comment for this article. He's expected to be replaced when his term on the library board ends June 30.

The turmoil, Yates said, prompted her to resign in 1998.

"I am not running a black library or a white library," she said. "We are here to serve the people."

In the meantime, state Sen. Tom Price (R-Roswell) has pushed a bill through the Senate that would replace the 17-member library board with a nine-member body. The library system's director would report to the county manager. She now reports only to the trustees.

His legislation still must pass the Georgia House, where it needs support from two-thirds — or 12 — of the Fulton County delegation.

"I'm hopeful we will get it out," Price said. "We are not there yet, but we are close."

Central Library Saga
The library board members made their intentions clear four years ago.

Mary Ward, an African-American and board vice chairwoman at the time, said during a Jan. 6, 2000, meeting that "the Central Library . . . has in it a white-dominated administration," minutes show. She suggested the board remedy the situation.

Board chairman McClure, who also is African-American, agreed. During a visit to the Central Library around that time, he was overheard saying "there are too many old white women" in management positions and that the board should "get rid of" them, the librarians' lawsuit contended.

County lawyers lost the case two years later. The county contended the reassignments were neither racist nor demotions. The county also lost its appeals. The librarians originally won $25 million, which was later reduced by a federal judge. County lawyers called the judgment the largest discrimination award against the county.

This year two of the original plaintiffs, Mary Starck and Maureen Kelly, won an additional $250,000 settlement from the county when they charged they were retaliated against because of the first suit. Both continue to work in the library system.

The library recently spent $112,000 to study personnel procedures and employee attitudes.

In the report, released last month, Nancy Reynolds of Elarbee Thompson Sapp and Wilson, an Atlanta-based law firm, found low morale across all racial groups, ages and job levels.

"It appears that the primary drivers of low morale are the perception that promotions and transfers are not handled fairly, poor communications at levels above immediate supervision and the perception that staff cannot express opinions without fear of reprisal," the report concluded.

The staff was so consumed by fear that half wouldn't even answer the anonymous surveys. Those who did complained of rampant discrimination, retaliation and mistreatment by Mary Kaye Hooker, the system's executive director, who is white.

"The director has a tendency . . . to lead through fear, threats and intimidation," the report read. "She is not only perceived to target individuals at whim, but has reportedly in some cases openly announced her desire [and ability] to have specific individuals removed. Moreover, she is consistently described as unpredictably prone to belittling and berating staff."

Hooker declined comment.

The conflicts, some say, have taken a toll on the library's reputation. Greta Southard, president of the Chicago-based American Public Library Association, said the issue had received extensive coverage in the national library press. "If [the director's] job were to come open today, I'm not sure how many applicants there would be," Southard said. "People are aware of the controversy."

Patrons Like Libraries
Even if the library system's employees are unhappy, customer satisfaction surveys last year give the libraries and staff relatively high marks.

Several patrons said they were aware of the lawsuit but that it did not affect their dealings with library employees.

Ann Delatte, a consultant, considers the Sandy Springs branch a quiet place to study or do research.

"I don't see" the employee unrest, Delatte said. "I don't ever feel like I'm involved in their conflicts."

In the meantime, library trustees say they are trying to quell the unrest. Last month they ordered Hooker to undergo sensitivity training but let her keep her $100,000-plus-a-year job. But Yates maintains that the only way to clean up the library system is to wipe out the current board and start over.

[Inset:]
About the Library System
The 32-branch library system was created largely from the 1983 merger of the Atlanta and Fulton County systems.

The system now has a circulationo of about 3 million annually and a similar number of visits. The system claims 301,980 registered users.

It is semi-independent from county government--employees are county staff, but they report to the director and the library trustees, not the county manager and board of commissioners. The system has a $30 million annual budget and about 400 positions.

The system doesn't fare well in national rankings. The annual Hennen's American Public Library Ratings use such factors as staff, circulation, budget and material resources to grade systems across the country. Atlanta's score of 413 came in at less than half of the top-performing systems. Denver, which boasts the top-ranked system, scored a 909.

Georgia ranks 45th nationally for the quality of its libraries. Atlanta's score comes in slightly higher than the state average of 374. Washington, D.C. ranked last with a 291.

Atlanta-Fulton Director Told to Attend Management and Sensitivity Training
Library Journal, March 15, 2004, pp. 18, 20 (Online posting: February 14, 2004)

Following the recommendation of a consultant, the board of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System (AFPLS) has ordered Director Mary Kaye Hooker to attend management and sensitivity training.

In the equal employment opportunity audit, staffers complained that Hooker has a tendency "to lead through fear, threats and intimidation" among other criticisms.

The director also will be given increased responsibility for hiring--another change urged by the consultant. Board member and Fulton County Commissioner Bob Fulton told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the board could finally evaluate her leadership. However, board member Clint Johnson said that the need for training raised a question: "If you are dissatisfied to that extent, you are dissatisfied to the point to change directors."

Double Standard?
Critical staffers at the web site AFPLWatch reacted scornfully, arguing that, given that Hooker was a defendant in a recently-settled $18 million discrimination suit, the county has a double standard for dealing with such violations: rank-and-file employees get fired, but managers like Hooker get training.

The site authors urged library trustees who want to dissociate themselves from the board's action to resign in protest. A further posting on AFPLWatch cited a range of infrastructure problems blamed on Hooker, including an over two-plus-week breakdown in library e-mail, missed courier service, partial processing of some incoming materials, and breakdowns in computers and microfilm reader/printers.

Atlanta-Fulton PL Director Gets More Authority, Training
American Libraries online edition, February 13, 2004

In the wake of a consultant’s report that critically examined personnel procedures and employee morale at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, the board of trustees, at a special two-hour meeting February 11, voted to give Library Director Mary Kaye Hooker increased authority over personnel decisions. But it also directed her to undergo management and sensitivity training, the February 12 Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Trustee Bob Fulton, who also serves on the Fulton County Commission, said Hooker’s new responsibilities will allow the board to evaluate her performance more effectively. “She’s never had the chance before,” he said. However, board member Clint Johnson questioned why a manager with an annual salary greater than $100,000 needed to be retrained. “If you are dissatisfied to that extent, you are dissatisfied to the point to change directors,” he told the Journal-Constitution.

“I’m at a loss to understand how this organization is controlled by rumor, innuendo, and outright lies,” said trustee and commissioner Emma Darnell, alluding to a watchdog website that many staffers apparently read and contribute to.

The $112,000 consultant’s report—written at the board’s request by Nancy Reynolds of the Atlanta law firm Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp, and Wilson—recommended changes in the way employees are evaluated, and described many of them as extremely afraid and distrustful of both Hooker and the trustees.

Fulton Library Director Will Stay, Get Training
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 12, 2004

Fulton County's library director was allowed to keep her job Wednesday but must undergo management and sensitivity training in the wake of a report critical of library operations.

Mary Kaye Hooker also was given increased authority as the board of trustees voted to turn over personnel decisions to the director. Hooker, who has held her position for five years, sat silently through much of the two-hour special meeting Wednesday and left without comment.

Fulton Commissioner Bob Fulton, who's also on the library board, said the changes finally will allow the library board to evaluate whether Hooker can lead the system.

"She's never had the chance before," he said.

The $112,000 report by Nancy Reynolds of Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp and Wilson examined two areas: personnel procedures and employee morale. The board asked for the review after losing an $18-million judgment in a discrimination case.

Reynolds recommended a number of changes to how employees are treated and evaluated. She found employees so gripped by fear and paranoia of management that half wouldn't even answer anonymous questionnaires. Those who did leveled harsh criticisms of the 17-member library board and Hooker.

"We have a very serious morale problem and employee turmoil," said Stephen Dorvee, a library trustee. "It's perceptions, and perceptions become reality."

Wednesday's meeting had the rumor mill on overdrive with talk that Hooker would not survive the day as director. One rumor suggested an employee walkout if Hooker was not ousted. The $30 million operation has about 400 employees.

"I am at a loss to understand how this organization is controlled by rumor, innuendo and outright lies," said Commissioner Emma Darnell, who's also a library trustee. She complained many staffers seem to get their information from a Web site devoted to Hooker's ouster.

Board members, though, weren't unanimous in support. Clint Johnson questioned why the board would send a manager making more than $100,000 a year for retraining.

"If you are dissatisfied to that extent, you are dissatisfied to the point to change directors," Johnson said.

Report, Editorial Slam Atlanta-Fulton PL; Second Suit Settled
Online edition of Library Journal, February 9, 2004

A consultant's report on the troubled Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System (AFPLS) has reinforced the grumbles of employees, portraying a system plagued by mistrust and low morale, undermined by a volatile director and micromanaging board. The equal employment opportunity audit was commissioned last fall after the library, which lost an $18 million discrimination suit, saw another set of grievances filed by two plaintiffs . In the 37-page report by the law firm of Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson, staffers complained that Director Mary Kaye Hooker has a tendency "to lead through fear, threats and intimidation" and that "she either lacks the ability to lead effectively or lacks the knowledge and/or skills to manage a library." The suit was won by eight white librarians, but, in the report, a wide variety of staff said promotions were unfairly awarded, accused the board of favoritism, and said evaluations were used vindictively for personal reasons. Even those satisfied with their jobs reported low morale, due to their inability to serve the public properly. They cited insufficient equipment, lack of materials, a slow acquisitions process, and, especially, balky computers. Such problems should be the simplest to resolve, the report observes.

While the audit was commissioned by the board, a devastating footnote essentially argues for major board reform. It notes that the 17-member board-which is involved in all personnel decisions-exercises more control over day-to-day matters than the boards of most corporations, even though it experiences more turnover and board members are not necessarily familiar with library operations. Such factors are "not conductive to such involvement." County Commission chair Karen Handel told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "There is no question we need a complete change in leadership there." While the report called for the board to delegate more hiring to the director, and for the director to undergo management and sensitivity training, it does not address changing the board composition. Legislation to cut the board to nine and have the director report to the county manager has passed the Georgia Senate but remains stalled in the House, the Journal-Constitution reported. In an editorial February 5, the newspaper endorsed the pending legislation, said the current board should be disbanded, and said Hooker "probably should be removed."

Also, a settlement has been reached in a second lawsuit against the AFPLS, filed by librarians Mary Starck and Maureen Kelly, who were also plaintiffs in the previous lawsuit. The suit charged both discrimination and retaliation. Kelly protested a transfer and Starck protested the denial of a job-she had been the preferred candidate and eventually was chosen after filing a grievance. The librarians' attorney, Chris Anulewicz, confirmed that the suit was settled for $250,000 but declined to provide further details. He said he expected Kelly to stay in her current position.

Report Finds Mismanagement in Atlanta PL Operations
American Libraries online edition, February 6, 2004

A consultant hired by Atlanta–Fulton Public Library trustees has issued a 37-page report critical of both Library Director Mary Kaye Hooker and the board’s micromanagement of the library system. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported February 3 that the document, commissioned to investigate allegations of equal-employment-opportunity laws in the wake of an $18-million reverse-discrimination lawsuit brought against the library, surveyed library employees to learn their assessment of hiring and disciplinary practices. Around half of the staff responded to the questions. The newspaper quoted the report as saying that “mistrust remains rampant on all levels”; that Hooker leads “through fear, threats, and intimidation”; and that her management methods “created the impression among many that she either lacks the ability to lead effectively or lacks the knowledge and/or skills to manage a library.”

County commissioners are dismayed over the report, which according to the library-staff-produced website Atlantans for Progressive Libraries cost Fulton County taxpayers $112,000. “In order to get things done, you must have the confidence of the majority of the fair-minded individuals in your organization,” Commissioner Emma Darnell, who also serves as a library trustee, told the Journal-Constitution. “We’ve got problems here. . . . I’m disturbed by the report.”

Staff also were critical of the board’s management of AFPL, a system that may change if a bill to reform the library’s governance passes the state legislature. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Price (R-Roswell), would trim the board from a cumbersome 17 voting members to nine and put the director under the county manager’s control.

Meanwhile, Atlanta’s Fox affiliate WAGA-TV reported February 2 that a second lawsuit, filed against the library by employees Mary Starck and Maureen Kelly, has been settled for $250,000. The plaintiffs had claimed that the library administration and board had retaliated against them for filing the previous suit.

Put Library under New Management
Letter to the Editor by former AFPL board member Larry Curry, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 6, 2004

While the library board may be alarmed, it refuses to act ("Report Alarms Library Board," [AJC] Metro, Feb. 3).

Not one, but two separate discrimination charges have been upheld resulting in an $18 million-plus settlement. Still, this board has not dismissed Mary Kaye Hooker, the library director. Not only should she go, but since this board has insisted on micromanaging the library system and controlling all personnel actions, those board members who approved the personnel moves should also be dismissed. Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen, as several current influential board members (including several elected officials) would have to vote themselves off the board.

I hope the county commissioners will redouble efforts to get the state Legislature to enact legislation limiting the size and power of the library board and placing its director under the control of the county manager. This would ensure that library employees are treated fairly and help restore integrity and pride to the library system.

Pull Plug on Odious Library Board
Editorial, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 5, 2004

When Atlanta-Fulton County Library Board member William McClure voiced his opinion that the library system had "too many old white women" in management, he had no idea how expensive those words would be.

Four years and $18 million later, a shamefaced Fulton County is still struggling with the fallout.

Its library system is an embarrassing mess, made so by race-baiting politics. The only good news coming out of a discrimination suit filed by eight librarians is that even the politicians who set up the flawed system -- in which an unwieldy and contentious board oversees a $32 million operation -- now recognize it must be changed. A scathing report issued this week revealed a department run by threats and micromanagement, a work force afraid even to answer anonymous survey questions and a director, Mary Kaye Hooker, who probably should be removed.

The discrimination suit turned the spotlight on the system's problems, but they have apparently been brewing for many years. The system is run by a 17-member board appoin ted jointly by politicians from Atlanta and Fulton County, who have feuded for 20 years over control of the system. Now Fulton, which has paid all the bills for the system since 1983, has to pay $6 million a year for three years to settle the discrimination suit caused, in large part, by a board over which it has little control.

Enough already. These are libraries we're talking about here.

The entire library board should be disbanded. A new director with solid library experience should be hired and should report to the Fulton County Commission and manager, just as other department heads do. If there is a need, a citizens' advisory committee could be appointed (with geographic diversity the major consideration, not political affiliation) to make sure all parts of the county are equally well served by the library system.

State Sen. Tom Price (R-Roswell) has introduced local legislation that would do essentially what needs to be done. All the Fulton County delegation has to do is sign on to it and solve this ridiculous problem that has plagued the county for so long. It is outrageous and sad that so much time, energy and money had to be spent on this issue before those who can solve the problem focused on it.

Now that they have, the solution should come swiftly and without further sturm und drang.

Report Alarms Library Board;
Fulton Staffers Cite Mismanagement, Bias under Director
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 3, 2004

A report on Fulton County's libraries finds employees see the system as rife with discrimination and mismanagement and failing under a director who refuses or is unable to lead.

The 37-page document casts considerable doubt on whether Mary Kaye Hooker should continue to head the $32 million-a-year operation. It paints a picture of library staff torn apart by mistrust, paralyzed by fear and lacking confidence in Hooker.

"In order to get things done, you must have the confidence of the majority of the fair-minded individuals in your organization," said Commissioner Emma Darnell, who sits on the 17-member library board. "We've got problems there. . . . I'm disturbed by the report."

The report was commissioned in reaction to an $18 million judgment awarded last year to eight librarians who sued the board and system management for discrimination. Lawyers pored over hiring, firing, disciplinary and promotional practices, policies and paperwork.

They found a number of practices that should be improved to limit mistreatment of employees.

They also surveyed employees of the system to find their views on workplace issues, especially management. Half were afraid to even respond to the questions.

The results from those who did were uniformly harsh.

"As in prior surveys, mistrust remains rampant on all levels," the report reads. Staffers complain that Hooker leads "through fear, threats and intimidation" and that her poor management has "created the impression among many that she either lacks the ability to lead effectively or lacks the knowledge and/or skills to manage a library."

Commissioner Bob Fulton said evaluating Hooker is difficult because "the abuse she's been subjected to by some members of the board make it difficult to say what you've got." "You can make a good argument to get rid of her," he added.

The board hired Hooker in 1999 after two previous directors resigned following conflicts with board members.

Hooker, who's likely the only Fulton County department head with a Web site devoted to her ouster, has survived all the intrigue.

She did not return calls Monday.

Staff also criticized the board for micromanaging the library system, a complaint that has been leveled for years.

A bill now pending in the Legislature would abolish the current board and replace it with a less powerful nine-member oversight panel. The director would report to the county manager rather than the library board.

"It's frustrating," said County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel. "There is no question we need a complete change in leadership there."

Fulton Lawmaker Hopes Judgment Will Help Library Bill
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 28, 2004

A Fulton County lawmaker pushing to reform the county's library board hopes his efforts will get a boost from an $18 million judgment against the system for racial discrimination.

"It's not the only reason, but another one," said state Sen. Tom Price (R-Roswell). "The problems have been going on for years. This is symptomatic of a larger problem. We need to make the board more accountable to those who pay the bills."

The board has been the object of unsuccessful reform efforts for years as the system has suffered through charges of mismanagement, poor employee morale and meddling by the board in the agency's daily affairs.

In December commissioners voted to finally stop fighting a discrimination suit won by seven librarians who complained they were reassigned to lesser duties because of their race.

Price's legislation passed the Senate last year and remains stalled in the Georgia House with Fulton officials supporting it and Atlanta officials opposed to any change to the 17-member board.

The Atlanta-Fulton County Library Board was created in 1983 when the two governments combined their systems. Atlanta gave its libraries to Fulton, which pays for and manages the system.

Since then Fulton has complained that since it pays for the system, it should have total control. Atlanta officials have argued they should keep a say in how it runs because they helped build it.

County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel said she hopes the costly judgment finally will help end the argument.

"The board is too big," Handel said. "This is a body that gets a tremendous amount of money but we have little say over what happens."

The pending bill trims the board from 17 to nine voting members and puts the system director under the county manager's control.

System director Mary Kaye Hooker now reports to the library board, which also has hiring and firing power over a director who oversees a $30 million operation.

Tom Andrews, Fulton manager, said he supports the bill. He would be Hooker's boss.

"We are talking about a sizable organization, a lot of money, a lot of facilities and a lot of purchasing to maintain," Andrews said.

Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) said Fulton hasn't pushed the bill in the early days of the 2004 session. "It doesn't appear to be on the radar screen of the delegation," Bruce said.

As a local bill, it needs the signatures of 12 members of the Fulton House delegation to become law, said Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), delegation chairman.

Holmes says the legislation is pointless.

"The size of the board doesn't matter," Holmes said. "You can have the best structure in the world and it would be a failure with the wrong individuals."

Atlanta-Fulton Litigants Get $18-Million
American Libraries, February 2004, page 14

Almost four years after nine upper-management librarians filed a reverse-discrimination suit against the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, the Fulton County Commission has agreed to an $18-million settlement, which is being paid in three installments. Because the settlement is more than half the library system’s $29-million budget for FY 2003, spreading the settlement over the course of a year “was the best we could do,” commission Chair Karen Handel said in the January 8 Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Filed in 2000, the suit contended that eight white women were demoted from senior management to branch administration because trustees wanted more people of color in positions of authority. The complaint of a ninth plaintiff who is African American, Monica Foderingham-Brown, was removed early in the case because a lower-court judge dismissed her claim that she was demoted for objecting to the white librarians’ reassignments. Named as defendants were AFPL Director Mary Kaye Hooker, then–board Chair William McClure, and two other individuals who are no longer trustees. McClure still serves on the board and Hooker continues on as director.

According to the website of a group of dissident staffers, Atlantans for Progressive Libraries, the agreement was reached in late December, some six weeks after Handel began chairing the commission. The website states that the AFPL group’s goal is “to create, through new legislation, a completely different—and totally advisory—board.” In October, a like-minded taxpayers’ group called for the entire board’s resignation.

A second suit filed in December is still pending. Plaintiffs Maureen Kelly and Mary Starck, two of the eight reassigned librarians, claim that trustees have retaliated against them through denial of career advancement because they have been “outspoken leaders” in the now-settled case. The new suit says Kelly was demoted a the end of 2002 as a manager in the central branch, while Starck was passoed over for a senior librarian position even though she was the most qualified applicant.

Fulton County attorney O.V. Brantley countered that officials had promptly investigated the librarians' complaints and taken action. The board had found merit in Starck's complaint and offered her the job, which she accepted; an investigation into Kelly's situation revealed "no finding of retaliation or discrimination," Brantley said.

Atlanta Scalawag of the Week: William McClure
For Costing Us Millions with His Mouth
Creative Loafing, January 15, 2004

At a time when Atlanta is hiking fees to cover $3 billion-plus in sewer upgrades, and a cash-strapped Fulton County is squabbling over how to balance its budget, now comes word that taxpayers are out another $18 million we can't afford. And for this hefty sum we're not even getting new manhole covers or potholes filled -- it's just more money down the crapper.

How did this happen? Some three years ago, the deeply dysfunctional Atlanta-Fulton Public Library board demoted seven veteran white librarians and transferred them from Central Library downtown to various branches across the county.

When a black librarian complained about the treatment of her colleagues, she, too, found herself shuffled off to lesser duties in a remote location. All eight sued the library system for discrimination -- an example of the outrageous sense of job entitlement that's infected government employees, right?

Wrong. Unlike many accusations of discrimination, this one was an open-and-shut case. Members of the majority-black library board were on the record -- and on television -- lamenting the overabundance of white librarians downtown. The nail in the coffin came when it was revealed that, before the reorganization, then-board Chairman William McClure had toured Central Library, where he was heard to announce that "there are too many old white women" in management positions, and that the board needed to "get rid of them."

So it was a no-brainer for a federal jury and an appeals court to quickly find the library guilty of blatant reverse discrimination, illegal retaliation against a whistle-blower and pathetic attempts to cover it all up.

The county then failed at efforts to reach a settlement, apparently not realizing it's best to start negotiations before losing your case. So, just last week, the county finally agreed to pay the $17 million judgment, plus interest and, presumably, a stupidity surcharge, bringing the total to $18 million.

Adding insult to injury, the clown who cost us all this money is still on the library board. McClure didn't even have the decency to get lost after the commissioner who appointed him went off to prison for accepting bribes. He deserves to have the book closed on him soon.

Fulton Finally Settles Suit by 8 Librarians
By D.L. Bennett, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 8, 2004

A racial discrimination suit in Fulton County's library system finally has been settled, costing county taxpayers $18 million.

The 4-year-old case has been resolved by county commissioners dropping all appeals in exchange for the plaintiffs agreeing to take payment over three years.

The librarians sued in 2000 after seven of them, who are white, said they were demoted and moved to outlying branches and one African-American employee was punished for speaking up against the transfers.

"Under the circumstances, this was the best we could do," said Karen Handel, County Commission chairwoman.

Efforts to reach the plaintiffs were unsuccessful Wednesday evening.

Breaking the award up was critical because a single $18 million payment represents more than the county spends each year on functions like planning and zoning, parks and recreation or family and children services. The library department's entire budget for 2003 was only $29 million.

Commissioner Robb Pitts said he was glad to have the matter finally settled. He said he felt there was no way the county could win an appeal.

"This is painful from the point of view of what it will cost the taxpayers," Pitts said.

The decision to offer the settlement came in December as the County Commission considered a 2004 budget that needed more than $70 million from property tax hikes to balance.

The first payment already has been made. The second will come later this year, followed by one in 2005.

County officials unsuccessfully appealed the judgment. The payment offer came after the county's only avenue left was the U.S. Supreme Court. The county's lawyers advised commissioners there was little chance the nation's highest court would take the case.

At the time of the allegations, county chief librarian Mary Kaye Hooker said the transfers resulted from a systemwide reorganization.

But public comments made by board members damaged the defendants' case, especially a recorded public remark by board member William McClure, that "there are too many old white women" in management positions at the downtown library.

McClure, who was board chairman then and is still a member, said the board needed "to get rid of them."

Fulton Settles Librarians' Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
WSBTV.com, posted January 8, 2004

ATLANTA -- The Fulton County Commission has opted for an $18 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by librarians who claimed they were discriminated against because they are white.

The settlement ends four years of litigation but represents more than half the entire library department's budget for 2003, which was $29 million.

It is also more than the county spends each year on functions such as planning and zoning, parks and recreation or family and children services.

"Under the circumstances, this was the best we could do," commission Chairwoman Karen Handel said Wednesday.

The librarians sued in 2000 after seven of them said they were demoted and moved to outlying branches and a black employee was punished for speaking up against the transfers.

Click here to read headlines and/or the text of news stories about the library system that were published in 2003.

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