DATELINE FAIRHOPE
Just before Fairhope would have to declare a work halt on the new library, or start writing hot checks to the contractors, the city council came through with money. Not real cash, you understand, but a loan. And not a real loan to the city either. The loan is the responsibility of the Fairhope Public Library Board – principal and interest to be paid by this private group using funds from donors, grants, yard sales or whatever. The city is sort of a co-signer using its credit to secure money to allow the public library to be finished and furnished and open on time.
This all seems on the surface to be a good thing. The citizens are getting a beautiful and functional new city facility while the burden of paying for most of it belongs to someone else. Sure the city is putting in $3 million and guaranteeing another $2 million, but as one council member noted, “Fairhope is getting an $8 million dollar library for $3 million.”
At this point, one might wonder if the word “Fairhope” should be struck from the library’s name. Given the limited investment and commitment to its success on the part of the city, why not honor the biggest donor and give them naming rights. I can see it now: “The Elwood Suggins Library” and inside, to give credit to the city for its fractional share, the “Fairhope Closet” or bathroom stall or whatever. Still a public facility. Everyone can use it. But they will be constantly reminded of who made it happen. What a fund-raising incentive! And a great opportunity to privatize something the city apparently would just as soon not have to keep spending money on.
Win-win deal for both parties. The tab is being picked up using OPM – the source of the lead: other people’s money (a shorthand financing term from the go-go and greedy 1990s) – and tax dollars can go elsewhere. Like maybe to more flowers and trees – something Fairhope’s leadership really understands and is motivated to spend real city money on.
And that brings up another issue. When OPM is paying the bills, these other-than other people don’t hold back. Build big for the future? Sure. As Council member Cecil Christenberry noted, the building is designed not for the needs of today, but for needs 100 years from now. So we’re spending 2006 dollars to build things that will meet needs anticipated in the year 2106 or there about.
But no problem. With the loan, we can afford it. Let’s finish off the second floor right now. We know something will move into the space when it becomes available – as nature abhors a vacuum, bureaucrats can’t tolerate empty space. When the library needs to grow into its 100-year skin, I bet that they will find that it all filled up with something (maybe with the mayor’s office) about 99 years early. New furniture? But of course. The old stuff is so…..old. We now have the bucks to ditch the old and go all new. New library, new furnishings – what an opportunity.
Anyhow the action of the council kept the wolf from the door but let the big-spenders walk right in. Sure it’s going to be a nice library. A great improvement for the city and its residents – even if it’s a stretch to stick the city’s name on it.
DATELINE DAPHNE
Another council event where the issue of OPM came up. This time it was a move by a council member to allow a private organization to grab some Daphne city money and spend it for their own purposes. The issue was funding the nearly bankrupt Jubilee Queen program. The council had already authorized a scholarship for the winner of the contest, but the issue of helping the organization out of its financial crisis keeps coming up no matter how hard the majority tries to kill it.
Council member Regina Landry most recently took time during the public meeting to make the case for helping this struggling organization out – with dollars. She pulled out all the stops when she noted that she was the very first Jubilee Queen and her success could in part be attributed to her experience in competing, winning and serving in that position. Great stuff, and maybe the basis for an inspirational booklet, but hardly a compelling case for giving public money to a divided and possibly terminal organization.
And fortunately the council steered sharply away from this “opportunity.” Gus Palumbo said it first and best when he noted that this proposal had come up during two previous meetings and a work session and each time it had been rejected. “Why,” he asked, “with all of the important business to consider does the council have to spend time on this – something that we have rejected (three times) before.”
Yay for Gus and also for Cathy Barnette. She reinforced his position noting that she didn’t want to get the council involved in the business of a group like this by funding the activities of one faction. The scholarship is enough and that should be the end of it. Wow, no professional courtesy on this pet program, but a refreshing change from business-as-usual at the Daphne City Council.
Contact Pete Gleszer at jubilee@lagniappemobile.com.
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