Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Consequences of capital funding shortfalls on library projects and operations
0:59:49
·
138 sec
Dennis Walcott, President and CEO of Queens Public Library, explains the consequences of capital funding shortfalls on library projects and operations.
- Projects may stop if there's a shortfall when working with DDC.
- Shortfalls or unrestored capital pegs lead to project delays and increased patchwork repairs.
- Using expense dollars for repairs impacts staffing and creates a domino effect.
- Example given: Using expense dollars to quickly repair a broken boiler instead of going through a lengthy DDC process.
- Highlights the complexity of the capital plan and its impact on library operations.
Dennis Walcott
0:59:49
And what I will do is try to answer it a little differently as well, and that if there's a shortfall on a particular project, then that project stops if you're working with DDC.
0:59:59
And that's something that's unacceptable.
1:00:01
Mean, and therefore when we prioritize our needs as Linda and Tony indicated, our experts who work with our respective systems know those aging infrastructures and they put that in the capital plan process so that way we allocate the appropriate amount of money.
1:00:18
And when that shortfall occurs or there's a capital peg that's never restored, then we have to pull that project back and then it goes back to something that Tony talked about earlier as far as then we have to shift into doing patch work.
1:00:32
And to do the patch work, we're using expense dollars.
1:00:35
And when you use the expense dollars, then that comes out of any particular staff and therefore it goes into a staffing shortfall.
1:00:41
So, it's a domino effect that Linda's talked about earlier as far as the dominoes that continue to fall as a result of both the capital shortfalls, but also the expense shortfalls as well.
1:00:52
And I know thanks to you and thanks to the chair Brannan and to the council members, people really don't have a quick a clear insight on the intricacies and the complexities of the capital plan.
1:01:05
It's not just that simple.
1:01:07
In working with DDC, and we have a good partnership with DDC, I will not dog DDC, but they're bureaucracy as well.
1:01:14
And things get lost in the sauce.
1:01:16
And, as a result of things getting lost in the sauce, then it provides really the slowness of a project which then eats into our expense money because we have to do a repair of a boiler.
1:01:31
And, I've always said this and I'll say it again at this hearing so it's officially in a minute.
1:01:34
I always cite the example of when we had a broken boiler one time.
1:01:39
If we had to go through DDC and the amount that it cost us to do that boiler project And as a result of that length of time, people have frozen their butts off over the winter.
1:01:51
Or we would have to close the library down to that particular community.
1:01:55
Instead of doing that, we shifted our expense dollars to do it quicker and cheaper so that way we can get that project done and keep the library open to the public.
1:02:04
And that's the complexity and the domino effect that we continue to talk about.