In a move opposed by hundreds of community members, the Timberland Regional Library (TRL) Board of Trustees on Wednesday authorized library administration to lay off staff in response to a $3.8 million budget shortfall.
The board did not approve a specific number of layoffs, but rather authorized Executive Director Cheryl Heywood “to take all necessary action to implement the reduction in force in accordance with the applicable policy procedures and legal requirements.”
Anonymous library employees confirmed Thursday that layoff notices were initially scheduled to be sent out on Sunday, but will be delayed two weeks due to ongoing union negotiations.
Layoffs are expected to take effect May 1. Some have suggested more than 50 employees will be impacted, but Timberland has not confirmed the number of layoffs.
“We have been working closely with our union and closely with our board on impact bargaining. At this point, it still remains confidential, so we can’t go into specifics, but we have kept the board apprised, and the board has given us direction,” Heywood said during the board’s regular meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
Another meeting with the union that represents Timberland employees, was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 26, according to Heywood.
“The union is working collaboratively with the TRL administration to bargain the impacts of this difficult situation,” Beth Gawne, staff representative for the union representing Timberland workers, AFSCME, told the Thurston Chronicle on Thursday, Feb. 26. “Our top priority is — and always will be — our members, and we are focused on protecting their contract.”
Gawne said that the union “can’t share specifics yet,” but expects updates in the coming days.
Board members said Feb. 25 that, while they regret that the layoffs were needed, they had no other choice.
“It’s a hard thing, but it’s a necessary thing,” Board of Trustees President Brian Mittge said directly ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
The Board of Trustees also approved other budget cuts, including an $1.8 million reduction to the collections budget, a reduction in free printing to $20 per month from $44 per month effective March 1, and other operational changes, to address the shortfall.
TRL has been depleting its reserves since 2020 and has consistently had more expenditures than revenue since 2023, according to budget documents.
During a Feb. 10 meeting, Heywood said she has been aware of a pending budget crisis since she started in her role in 2013 and that Timberland has been working on implementing long-term solutions over the years to address it.
During over two hours of public comment — in addition to 125 written comments submitted to the board in advance — many called for the board to issue a vote of no confidence in Heywood and two other high-level library executives, Operations Director Brenda Lane and Library Services Director Andrea Heisel, who they claimed put the library district in this position.
The comments echoed those given at a special meeting on Feb. 10. For this meeting, however, Mittge asked commenters to “remain respectful of your volunteer trustees and administrative staff here tonight. Speak your mind about what we should do, but please don’t impugn character or motives. That does not help us move forward.”
Examples of administrative actions cited by public commenters as contributing to the budget crisis include excessive facility remodels, like one to the Ilwaco library that relocated a beloved mural against community wishes; investment in a new materials management software; the refusal to go out to voters for a levy lid lift after the library’s last attempt failed in 2009; and a failure to adequately explore other revenue options like grants or fundraising before jumping to staffing cuts.
Most public commenters also criticized the board and administration for waiting so long to address a budget that was regularly spending more than it took in.
Board members and administrators have said they knew about the impending budget crisis for at least a decade, and have been working on implementing long-term solutions over the years to try to address it.
“I want to emphasize that the current situation at Timberland Library is unusual. This is not normal. This is not how public institutions responsible for taxpayer funds operate,” said Michael Rainey, president and executive director of the union Washington State Council of City Employees (WSCCE), which represents over 16,000 public service workers across 175 locations throughout Washington — including the Timberland Regional Library and several other regional library districts.
The local Timberland union, AFSCME Local 3758, falls under the umbrella of WSCCE.
“As a union familiar with public agency operations, especially library budgets, we are deeply concerned about how Timberland has managed its budget,” Rainey said during public comment on Wednesday.
Of particular concern, he said, was Timberland negotiating a contract with AFSCME weeks before announcing a budget crisis and emergency layoffs.
AFSCME has called for an independent investigation into possible budget mismanagement.
“The most generous reading of this situation is that the library administration severely underestimated the scale of the budget and general fund shortfall in the numbers they provided in December. Yet that would still amount to severe financial negligence,” the AFSCME said in a Feb. 6 release.
“Our communities deserve accountability for the decision making that led to this crisis, which will severely impact the services they rely on, and our employees deserve the security they were assured,” Rainey said.
Board member Mary Beth Harrington and Timberland Staffing and Benefits Coordinator Savannah Campbell both expressed their full support of Timberland administration on Wednesday.
“Even if you don’t like them or their decisions or know that if you were in charge, things would have been different — that ship has now sailed,” Campbell said. “Decisions need to be made now. Our admin staff are people who care deeply and they love our libraries.”
Campbell said she had never “been so demoralized and embarrassed” than when she sat in on public comment during the Feb. 11 meeting, calling out those who gave public comment.
Harrington said she was concerned about administrators being "denigrated in public,” calling Timberland “the most efficient library organization I have ever encountered.”
To the over 200 community members attending Wednesday's meeting, she said, “There is no wicked witch or wizard behind a curtain pulling levers, just a dedicated staff and committed volunteer board of trustees all placed in a difficult, no-win situation, trying to make the best decisions that will have the least impact on your community.”
Many who spoke Wednesday said that the Timberland board and administration’s handling of the budget crisis has broken the trust between those in charge of the library and those who use it.
“Transparency is key to maintaining trust, and that means even allowing people to see the mistakes you make. We all make mistakes,” one public commenter said.
Others said that the handling of the situation has also broken trust between library administration and frontline staff.
“I have worked in other libraries in other states, and I have never seen such hostility between library aides and administration,” one public commenter who called for a vote of no-confidence in the three administrators said. “I really don’t know how you’re going to recover your relationship with the aides. Their morale is so low. I don’t know how you’re going to recover from that.”
Timberland has received consistently clean financial audits, but a recent accountability audit examining Timberland’s operations from 2019 to 2021 did reveal multiple issues, according to reporting by The Olympian.
