re: East Baton Rouge library board member questions $94,900 for interactive globe

EBR library budget could be halved without losing anything significant. Same with BREC.

CATS and COA should be getting nothing.

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Custom office furniture is absurdly expensive

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Why does it have to be custom office furniture?
35k for 1 office is insane when taxpayers are the ones paying for it

As someone who attended yesterday's Library Board of Control meeting, Chance Wilson showed his youth and inexperience. Rather than asking senior library staff for explanations or reasons regarding some line items, he ran straight to the media for an attention-getting, "look at me" moment.

Between The Advocate, WAFB, and WBRZ, here are a few answers to questions or allegations Mr. Wilson raised:

1. $35,000 was not spent on office furniture; the total was less than $13,000. For those who think the lower total is still extravagant, good office furniture isn't cheap. Desks, chairs, tables, and bookcases available from popular retailers are intended for occasional home use, not continuous daily use.

2. The Audio-Visual system was replaced because although only 5 - 6 years old, the original system was broken and unusable more often than it worked. Unfortunately, that's what sometimes happens when a governmental department or agency is forced to go with the lowest bid. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

3. At one point yesterday, Mr. Wilson stated "In my career . . . ." Respectfully, Mr. Wilson is only 19 years old. Though he is more accomplished than many of his peers, 19 is hardly an age that allows a person to draw upon practices and experiences learned in a career.

4. Regarding the now infamous $94,000 OmniGlobe for placement in the River Center Branch, from the beginning, this building was designed, and is being built, so that its emphasis will be technology. With this globe, library patrons will have visual access to literally hundreds, if not thousands, of global phenomena, be they scientific, economic, or cultural. When this item was first proposed, the cost was $94,000. However, in the meantime, the cost has decreased, and library staff have become aware of another similar product. So though $94,000 was budgeted, by the time the globe is purchased, IF it is purchased, the actual price will be much lower.

5. Mr. Wilson put forth the argument that library staff and board members were trying to "sneak extravagant expenditures past the Metro Council." (Not a direct quote, but words to that effect.) Nothing could be further from the truth. Every library board meeting and budget workshop is open to the public, Metro-Council members, and the media. Also, after submitting a requested budget, it is reviewed by the Finance Department, Purchasing Department, Human Resources, and the Mayor-President. Only after that point is the entire budget presented to the Metro-Council for their review and approval. Simply put, ample opportunity is given to any interested parties to weigh in with their opinions.

6. Roughly 2 weeks ago, the library board held a workshop to discuss and debate 2020's budget. The meeting ran for 3.5 hours, but Mr. Wilson left after the first hour. All of his questions or concerns could have been addressed at that workshop, but he didn't stay long enough to raise his points. Had he stayed, yesterday's drama might have been avoided.

I know this is long, and I apologize. However, rarely is an issue simple and clear cut. "The devil is in the details" as they say, and there are MANY details the media failed to cover.

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Wilson points to the 2018 budget to show hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money is being wasted. The board approved allocating $94,000 for an interactive globe for the new library downtown. Also included in that budget, more than $170,000 for a book dispenser at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, and $35,000 for furniture for a single office at the Main Library on Goodwood.

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From WBRZ

Whoever thought of this & presented it to the board to actually consider needs to be banned from having anything to do with taxpayer dollars

Wilson didn’t mention the biggest waste of money; the extravagant main library with all the trimming and the expensive cantilever design Downtown.

The young man’s tactics are unorthodox but he’s right. The Library has more money than they need.

Thieves stealing all of our $$$$
When are people going to say enough already?

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its staggering how easy shite passes in baton rouge when it comes to taxes

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Yes, just put the vote on a random day of the year when no one is going to vote except the people who benefit directly from it.