Costa Mesa staffing library with security officers
Costa Mesa CA Nov 15 2017 The county will spend an additional $50,000 on unarmed security guard services at five of its libraries, including the Costa Mesa Donald Dungan branch, where the hours for security coverage will be expanded.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Oct. 31 to add the money to the county’s existing contract with The Alpha & Omega Group Security Services Inc. to cover the hourly guard rate increase from $14.57 to $15.25 effective Jan. 1.
The company currently provides unarmed guard services at the Tustin, Dana Point and Westminster libraries, the Heritage Park branch in Irvine and the Dungan branch in Costa Mesa.
Those facilities have been cited for having high occurrences of disruptive behavior by patrons, including some with mental illness, drug abuse and aggressive behavior between the public and staff.
Supervisor Todd Spitzer supported the measure but said more should be done to address illicit and disruptive activity at the libraries.
“This is a place where all the community goes and when I see that we have five libraries that are at-risk, and one in particular (Costa Mesa branch), we need way more than an action plan than just hiring more security guards,” Spitzer said. “It’s a little inadequate to me.”
He cited a library in Santa Ana that people have used as a living space, deterring patrons from visiting.
Spitzer also took issue with the issue being put on the board agenda’s consent calendar, which is reserved for routine matters that are all enacted with one vote.
“I think it’s important to have a county-wide discussion… at least an inventory of what other jurisdictions are doing, especially those are most affected by this problem,” Spitzer said.
County CEO Frank Kim will come back to the board at a later date with a report on security disturbances in the libraries.
Costa Mesa city officials were not immediately available for comment.
The Donald Dungan branch is in Lions Park, an area known as a gathering spot for the homeless, but is currently undergoing a $36 million renovation that includes a new 22,860-square-foot library. The Dungan facility is open during construction.
The facility has seen a rise in substance abuse issues on the premises, a county staff report said.
Currently, unarmed guards are stationed at the library from noon to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
“This is to assist library staff in enforcing the board code of conduct necessary in response to incidents that occur from time to time in the branch,” said Matthew Patsel of OC Public Libraries.
The additional hours would most likely cover the Friday gap in security coverage, Patsel said.
As homelessness has spread throughout of the county, libraries have seen some of the effects, he said, referring to areas near the ocean such as Dana Point.
“Any city or area that has issues, the library is going to reflect those issues,” Patsel said.
There are guards at Irvine’s Heritage Park branch because of the sheer volume of visitors, Patsel said. The branch saw about 45,000 visitors last month, the busiest of any county-operated library.
“It’s always packed with students, families,” he said, adding no changes are expected at the library from the board’s approval.
