Three Garfield County Library Board of Trustee positions are open - in Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, and New Castle. But the library board and Garfield County Commissioners disagree on how to appoint the two incumbents.
At the Garfield County Board of Commissioners' regular meeting on Nov. 4, Ellen Dole, a member of the citizens' group Protect Our Garco Libraries, spoke to the board.
“It’s my opinion that most people in Garfield County support the freedom to access information, protect our Garfield County libraries, believe the library board trustees should be free from political ideology and be allowed to continue to fully support the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights,” she said.
Dole presented a letter and 1,400 petition signatures to the BOCC. The petition asks commissioners to rescind a controversial resolution from last March regarding the appointment of Garfield County Public Library District trustees.
“Through this resolution, the commissioners gave themselves the power to select library trustees to align with their political ideology and positions on censorship,” she said.
Since 2008, the Garfield County library board has handled the trustee appointment process, and commissioners have made final approvals based on library recommendations. But in March, the commissioners signed Resolution 24-12, taking control of trustee appointments, from advertising for all open positions to interviewing and appointing members.
The resolution was the culmination of several months of discussion among the library board, the commissioners, and the public about whether certain graphic novels should be freely available in the Silt Branch Library.
Back in November, 2023, commissioners formally disapproved, in a resolution, of the library board’s policy about the books. They also denied the library board’s recommendation of Hanna Arauza as a trustee representing Rifle. Myrna Fletchall was appointed in May under the conditions of the March resolution.
Now, three open trustee positions need to be filled, two of which are held by women eligible for a second term. At Monday’s BOCC meeting, Heather Beattie, county attorney, read the crux of Resolution 24-12.
“Whenever a vacancy on the board of trustees occurs, due to the expiration of a term of office or otherwise, the Board of County Commissioners, acting as a committee, shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy. Said appointment must ratified by two- thirds majority vote of the Commissioners,” she said.
Beattie added that the county will advertise for all three positions and that the library attorney is aware of this.
But, it was a different story at the regular library board meeting on Nov. 7. The board voted to reappoint Jocilyn Durrance and Susan Use, the two incumbent trustees, for another term.
Trustee Myrna Fletchall questioned the move. “Are we appointing or are we just approving a motion to recommend it or what our position is to recommend? And we don’t have to go before the commissioners on this?” she asked.
Board president Adrian Rippy-Sheehy referred to the Library Board of Trustee bylaws, which state that only new members of the board will be presented to the commissioners for appointment.
“We’re just going with our bylaws. The county commissioners need to follow our bylaws,” she explained. “This is a reappointment. So this says only new members need to go before the county. So they’ve misunderstood that.”
On Nov. 4, commissioners discussed plans to interview candidates for all three trustee positions on Dec. 5 and appoint new trustees on Dec. 9. A call for applications also went out on Monday with a deadline of Nov 27. They also hope to resolve an Intergovernmental Agreement with the library that’s been in the works since last spring.
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