Signal Hill Municipal Code Ch. 2.88 Public Library

The city council establishes and provides for the regulation and maintenance of a public library in the city to be known as the Signal Hill Public Library. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure that the Signal Hill Public Library provides a quiet, orderly, and safe environment in which people may read, study, use library materials and equipment, and attend programs.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 § 3 (part), 2019; prior code §§2.20.010, 2.20.100 (Ord. 97 §§1, 10, 1928))

A. The city manager or designee shall establish the rules of conduct for library patrons (rules) and all regulations to regulate disruptive behavior, noise, offensive odors, health and sanitation hazards, and possessions, materials, or objects brought into the library that are likely to interfere with its use by others. Such rules shall be formulated to ensure that the libraries and meeting facilities serve their primary purposes. In the case of libraries, these purposes include the provision of a quiet and orderly environment in which people may read, study, use library materials and equipment and contemplate. The rules shall not unreasonably or unfairly restrict access to the library by any person or group. The city manager or his or her designee may do and perform any and all other acts and things necessary or proper to carry out the provisions of this chapter.

B. Rules for the use of the library shall be posted on the library’s website and made available at all public service desks. The rules will also be provided to library cardholders at the time they initially obtain or renew a library card. Any person who violates the rules shall be advised of the violation and the rules’ requirements and may be subject to enforcement and the penalties proscribed therein.

C. The city manager or his or her designee shall direct and control all affairs of the library. The city manager shall cause to be employed a library director, and authorize the library director to employ such assistants and employees as may be necessary for the proper management of the library, and fix their compensation; provided, however, that prior to such employment, the compensation of the library director, assistants and employees shall have been fixed and approved by a majority of the members of the city council voting in favor thereof.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 §3 (part), 2019)

A. Any person who violates any of the rules may be required to leave the library and/or be subject to the suspension of his or her borrowing or library visitation privileges for a period not to exceed one year, as provided by the rules.

B. Notwithstanding subsection (A) of this section, any person who carries overdue library fines or who fails to timely return borrowed library materials shall be subject to the suspension of his or her borrowing privileges, until such time that all outstanding fines are paid and all borrowed materials are returned or paid for.

C. Any person who fails or refuses to leave the library or its immediate adjacent grounds after being given the requisite notice, warning and direction to leave, or who returns to the library or its immediate adjacent grounds during the period in which his or her library visitation privilege is suspended, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, which shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars per violation, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 §3 (part), 2019)

Any person subject to suspension of his or her borrowing or library visitation privileges, as authorized by subsection (A) or (B) of section 2.88.030, may appeal the suspension to a hearing officer by completing an appeal form, stating the basis of the appeal, and returning it to the city clerk’s office within seven days of the start of the suspension.

1. The city manager or his or her designee shall serve as the hearing officer for any appeal.

2. City staff shall submit a written report concerning the suspension to the hearing officer, with a copy to the person requesting the hearing, within ten business days of the city’s receipt of the request for appeal. The hearing officer may request additional written or oral information from city staff or the recipient of the suspension prior to issuing a written decision.

3. The hearing officer shall render a written decision within thirty business days of the city’s receipt of the request for appeal. The hearing officer may extend this thirty-day period, in writing, in order to gather and consider additional evidence.

4. Unless otherwise ordered by the hearing officer or by a court of competent jurisdiction, a suspension shall remain in effect during the pendency of any administrative or judicial appeal.

5. Any person directly aggrieved by an administrative decision of the hearing officer may obtain review of the administrative decision by filing a petition for review with the superior court in Los Angeles County.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 §3 (part), 2019)

A. The legislative body of the city shall annually allocate from the general funds of the city a sum of money, the amount of which shall be determined by the legislative body, which sum, together with all money acquired by gift, devise, bequest or otherwise for the purposes of the library shall be apportioned to a fund to be designated the library fund and be applied to the purposes authorized under this chapter.

B. If such payment into the treasury should be inconsistent with the conditions or terms of any such gift, devise, or bequest, the city shall provide for the safety and preservation of the same, and the application thereof to the use of the library, in accordance with the terms and conditions of such gift, devise, or bequest.

C. Payments from the fund shall be made in the same manner as provided for the payment of other demands against the city; provided, that all demands on such fund shall be first presented to the city council and approved by it before being ordered paid.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 § 3 (part), 2019; prior code §2.20.060 (Ord. 97 §6, 1928))

The library established under this chapter shall be forever free to the inhabitants and nonresident taxpayers of the city, subject always to such rules and regulations as may be adopted or established by the city, and provided that, for violations of the same, a person may be fined or excluded from the privileges of the library as set forth herein.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 § 3 (part), 2019; prior code §2.20.080 (Ord. 97 §8, 1928))

The title to all property acquired for the purposes of the library established under this chapter, when not inconsistent with the terms of its acquisition, or otherwise designated, shall vest in the city and, in the name of the city, may be sued for and defended by action at law or otherwise.

(Ord. 2019-06-1507 § 3 (part), 2019; prior code §2.20.090 (Ord. 97 §9, 1928))