The Garfield County Board of Commissioners, the Garfield County Public Library District Board of Trustees and a host of community members gathered at the County Administration Building to discuss a intergovernmental agreement (IGA) describing the process for appointing and renewing the mandate of directors during a special meeting on Thursday.

An update to the IGA, in the works since the library district and the county exchanged the first changes in March, was not finalized during the more than three-hour meeting, which quickly turned into a discussion about restricted access to adult books in Garfield County libraries. .

“Just speaking to women who are mothers and grandmothers, why on earth would you want your children to be subjected to filth? No, very reasonable requests have been made before this board,” Commissioner Mike Samson said. “No, dig in our heels. That’s why we’re at this meeting at this time, and it’s sad. All he does is challenge our country, and some forces want to push him as far as possible to a trial and spend unnecessary amounts of money. How very sad. So, Mr. President, I cannot support and I would advise, and we are not taking any decision today.

The county commissioners and library district prepared draft IGAs in advance of the meeting, each detailing the ideal nomination process for different entities. If the county’s draft IGA is signed, county commissioners will interview candidates and select a trustee, as well as re-interview trustees seeking reappointment.

The library district’s proposed IGA, however, seeks to restore the previous nomination process, in which trustees interviewed candidates and made a recommendation to the board of county commissioners, which could then ratify or reject the nomination. Current directors seeking reappointment would also not need to reappear before the commissioners.

“When there is high turnover on a board, it reduces its effectiveness. » said board treasurer Michelle Foster. “This is why we have made it our priority, during interviews with candidates, to ensure that they understand in time the commitment they are making…”

“We focus on their experience on the board and their familiarity with parliamentary procedure. We ask about their community involvement,” Foster added. “We don’t ask them their political affiliation, their philosophy of life, or even what kind of books they like to read. We don’t interview to make new friends, but rather to ensure they will be an effective administrator. We think our process worked well.

Samson proposed amending the final item in the county’s draft IGA, which establishes the process for reappointing current trustees, by removing the statement that prevents commissioners from refusing to ratify the reappointment of a current trustee without valid reason.

“I really wanted to talk to you, Miss Foster, about continuity,” Tony May, former member of the Garfield RE-2 District School Board, » said, responding to Trustee Foster’s previous statement. “I’ve served on many boards and we also believe in the resilience of our citizens to step up and make decisions, to be able, to be more than they can be, to step up and be member of the board of directors. I saw it with the RE-2 school board. Wonderful people. It’s not just about learning what’s going on, but also the passion behind it.

Although the IGA was not finalized, the meeting gave community members in the audience ample time to share their views on the nomination process and discuss restricting access to certain books for adults, including those featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

“I’m just giving you my perspective because I’ve said it a lot during the campaign, because it’s become a campaign topic that just seems mind-boggling to me,” the new Garfield County commissioner said and Colorado State Senator Perry Will. “Without knowing all the ins and outs, I just said: listen, I’m not a book banner, I’m not for banning books. I am for the protection of children. And that’s kind of where I left off during the election campaign.

Restricted access to books has been a hot topic since commissioners passed Resolution 24-12 earlier this year, which put the process of appointing trustees back into the hands of county commissioners. The resolution was adopted after a petition calling for restricted access to Manga for Adult Readers at Garfield County Libraries was created in 2023. The library district had refused to restrict access to certain books.

“We received a letter from one of the frequent commenters that began with ‘Why the big promotion of gay books, gay pride for a month, replaced by family pride.’ “It says ban any books, but put gay pride books on the top shelf so parents can guide their children on which books to read,” said John Mallonee, at-large board member. administration.

Malonee then referred to SB24-216Standards for Library Resource Decisions, which was adopted earlier this year. The law establishes specific standards that public libraries must adhere to when establishing policies regarding the acquisition, retention, display, use and review of library resources and use of facilities public libraries.

“It prohibits removal of library materials based on a particular race, ethnicity, gender identity and issues like that,” Malonee said. “So as a board we have to be very careful when responding to the public on questions related to what we have received.”

Commissioners still plan to interview candidates for the three trustee positions, New Castle, Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, on Dec. 5, despite apparent reappointment of directors Joceyln Durrance, Carbondale and Susan Use, Glenwood Springsat a Nov. 7 library district board meeting.

Myrna Fletchall, the new library district trustee representing Rifle, said Durrance and Use were not reappointed at the Nov. 7 meeting, although the decision was voted on by trustees and reported to the public as a reappointment successfully completed by the Library District Board of Trustees. President Adrian Rippy-Sheehy.

“I think we were all surprised at our last meeting when this happened, when they said we had reappointed board members. We all knew it was not our position nor our right to do so. It was the BOCC,” Fletchall said. “I think there was a lot of confusion at that meeting, and I think we were all looking at each other and trying to ask questions at that meeting, but yeah, we were aware, and I think that we all knew that the BOCC is the one who names him.

County commissioners requested that the entire library district board be present during the Dec. 5 interviews, saying they would provide trustees with the applications of each interviewee at least three days prior. Each board member will be allowed to ask the interviewees one question.

The county will amend its draft IGA to reflect the meeting’s discussions. Another meeting to finalize the IGA has not yet been scheduled, but it will take place after the trustee selection process concludes in December.

“We tackled some really, really difficult topics,” Commissioner Jankovsky said. “I appreciate the comments from everyone in the room and those who were here are gone. So thank you.

Trustee Rippy-Sheehy and board vice president Durrance, as well as Commissioner John Martin, were absent from Thursday’s meeting.