New director named for Atherton, Woodside, Portola Valley libraries New director named for Atherton, Woodside, Portola Valley libraries (March 02, 2005)

** PV library employees' earthquake concerns may trigger county action.

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

A new library director is coming to the libraries in Portola Valley, Woodside and Atherton. Along with all the normal duties, the new director will have to address concerns by employees in the Portola Valley branch over working in a building some consider unsafe in an earthquake.

The new director is Susan Goetz, now the assistant branch manager of the public libraries in San Carlos and Brisbane. Ms. Goetz will replace Thom Ball, who said he is leaving March 31 -- after six years in the south county -- to manage the two libraries in Pacifica, where he owns a home.

"Having the opportunity to work at three different libraries in such lovely locales is really a nice opportunity on a personal level," Ms. Goetz told the Almanac.

Ms. Goetz, 37, has been with the San Mateo County Library for seven years, she said, starting as a public-service librarian in Foster City. She has a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of California at Davis and a master's degree in library science from San Jose State University, she said. She lives in San Mateo.

Mr. Ball, 54, said he applied for a transfer to Pacifica when the current manager retired. "It gives me a chance to be a library manager in the town I live in," he said, noting that he had no control over the timing.

Another draw was Pacifica's firm commitment to construct a new library, a project he said he has always looked forward to working on.

Asked about the Portola Valley Town Council's intention to build a new library by September 2007, Mr. Ball expressed reservations over the continuing vocal opposition by part of the community and the lack of a financing plan. "Without the financing in place, I think that giving hard dates is a difficult thing to do," he said.
Portola Valley's library

Since the publication of a January 12 memo by Town Councilman George Comstock, library employees have expressed concerns about working in a 50-year-old school building located in an earthquake fault zone that geologists consider unsafe for occupied structures, said Mr. Ball and Victoria Johnson, the director of the San Mateo County Library.

In his memo, which cited the town insurer's opinion that use of buildings within the fault zone was "an unacceptable risk," Mr. Comstock suggested moving the library to a temporary building on safer ground and immediately abandoning the library, the multi-use room, the artists' studios and gallery and the after-school classrooms.

At its February 9 meeting, the Town Council chose not to abandon the buildings, at least not immediately, citing the turmoil it could create over the possible loss of current activities there. That decision may be revisited, said Councilman Ted Driscoll at the February 23 meeting.

"The memo got everyone's attention," said Mr. Ball. "It brought the debate out into the public."

Ms. Johnson concurred: "I think the employees have the same kind of concerns that people in the community do," she said. "Everybody wants to be safe."

"The library, in my opinion, has no better friends than the people on (the Town Council)," said Mayor Ed Davis.

The county's risk manager is collecting information on geological studies and comments from the risk manager with the Association of Bay Area Governments -- the town's insurer -- said Mary Welch, the county's director of employee public services. The county may hire a structural engineer to evaluate the library building, she said.

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