Open Letter to the Warren County Board of Supervisors

My wife and I moved from Alexandria to wonderful Warren County 10 years ago.  While on active duty with the Army, I served two tours in the Pentagon, working with the Army budget.  As a part of our oversight responsibilities, we would have the program managers come in to brief us on their budgets once a year, and we would conduct studies from time to time to determine cost-effectiveness.

When I looked at the 2023 Library study you conducted, it was readily apparent that there is a fatal flaw. The centerpiece of the report compares Samuels Library, a single nonprofit library serving over 41,000 people, to the Handley Regional System, a special-purpose government entity with three libraries serving almost 140,000 people. That is like comparing Spelunkers to McDonalds, both in terms of size and quality. It is not a valid comparison.

If you had done a proper analysis and compared Samuels to a same-sized library – or even taken an average of six similar libraries in Virginia – you would have found that Samuels’ operating expenses compare favorably with their size.  You would also have concluded that there is no mismanagement of funds, no savings to be found, and no reason to change the current structure.

Your oversight responsibilities are important. Samuels Library needs your partnership to continue providing quality library services. You simply can’t use a fatally flawed and incomplete study to justify making changes. That would be oversight malpractice.

In the Army, we had the “Rule of Holes.”  That rule said you should stop digging when you make a mistake and find yourself in a hole.  It’s time for you to stop digging and become a supportive partner of the finest library in the state.

Bill Grewe
COL, USA, RET
Fork District

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