By Gretchen Garrity
The Christian County Commission has appointed two new members to the county library board of trustees.
Echo Alexander of Highlandville was appointed to replace Treasurer Paula Bishop for the
South County area, while attorney Diana P. Brazeale of Ozark has been
appointed in place of current President Matthew Suarez for the Ozark area.
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| Echo Alexander |
The Commission took a more direct role over the appointment process after the library's executive director and board of trustees had experienced months of contention with local citizens regarding the placement of sexually explicit books in the children's section of the library.
Parents and citizens have been working to implement a ratings system for books in the children's and teen (ages 12-17) sections. While the current board unanimously voted down the idea at their June 20, 2023 monthly meeting, citizens had also approached the county commission, asking about the appointment process.
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| Diana P. Brazeale |
Many county boards are self-perpetuating in that they find and present board members to the county commission for appointment or reappointment. Such appointments are routinely approved by the commission, however, in the case of the library board of trustees, the commission decided to take a more active role in vetting candidates.
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| Matthew Suarez |
Ultimately, the commission received 24 applications for the two appointments. After narrowing down the field to a handful of candidates, the commissioners interviewed them individually, asking the same questions and using a point system to determine who would be appointed.
The appointments were announced and voted on at the July 3, 2023 Christian County Commission meeting.
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| Paula Bishop |
The library board of trustees is an unpaid position. The next position to be up for appointment or reappointment will be in 2024 for the West County area that includes Clever. Board of Trustee Stephanie Sekscinski (Member-at-Large) is the current appointee.
Applications for the position are available here.
The new trustees will attend their first public meeting as trustees on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.
It is absolutely remarkable when books are placed in children section of any public library without regard to the well being of children but to the drum match of a national special interest group -- any group! Take back our libraries. I am a concerned grandfather and sexually explicit content is not in the best interest of a child.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Thank you. Comments are not moderated unless they are posted after seven days of the article's publication. Sorry I didn't notice it immediately.
ReplyDelete