By Gretchen Garrity
There is a great deal of confusion about what a bylaw is, what a guideline is, what a policy is, what a statute is and their legal weight.
The order of authority for guidelines, bylaws, state statutes, and policies, from highest to lowest, is generally as follows:
- State Statutes: These are laws enacted by a state legislature and carry the highest legal authority within a state, superseded only by federal law or the state/federal constitution.
- Bylaws: These are rules adopted by an organization (e.g., a corporation, association, or municipality) to govern its internal operations. Bylaws have legal force within the organization but must comply with state statutes.
- Policies: These are formal statements or procedures adopted by an organization to guide its operations or decision-making. Policies are subordinate to bylaws and state statutes and typically address specific operational matters.
- Guidelines: These are non-binding recommendations or suggestions for best practices. Guidelines have the least legal authority and are often flexible, serving as advisory rather than mandatory rules. (Courtesy of Grok3).
The News-Leader's Marta Mieze has written an article titled "Christian County Library employee resigned from interim role, then was fired." It's behind a paywall, so won't get much notice, but there are (as usual) several errors in it, a lot of assumptions, and the ever present slant. This article will focus on the differences in the definitions above.
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First, Reporter Mieze notes, "The library's policy manual lays out executive succession as voluntary. The policy notes that the executive director must select two staff, one as an "on call" interim and another as an "understudy."
When the former interim director, Dana Roberts, stepped down on March 4, 2025, she designated Tory Pegram as the interim director. In an article published in the News-Leader, Roberts said, "Tory has the experience and skills needed to lead us through this next phase, and I am confident in her abilities."
At that time, Pegram would have selected other staff members to be designated as an "on call" interim and "understudy." Apparently, that did not happen because when she stepped down from the interim executive director position, no staff member was assigned to take her place. Additionally, Pegram had been serving as the Custodian of Records. Executive directors are able to name other staff members as custodians when appropriate. Pegram also stepped down as custodian on June 13, as indicated HERE.
In such a situation, the Library Board, of necessity, assumes direct oversight for the day-to-day operations of the library until a new interim or permanent executive director is named. What are the repercussions for the Library when no interim director was assigned? Exactly some of the issues Mieze recounts in her article and slants in such a way as to blame the Library Board:
- Possible financial signatory issues
- Custodian of records not named
- Sunshine request fulfillment issues
Has Mieze considered the situation from the angle that a county library board would have to take the reins of the executive director until a new one is in place? Who would she suggest take over when the previous interim director seemingly could not or did not assign anyone? This is where state statute comes to the rescue. The Library Board is the overarching governing body of the Library District.
As such, they have the legal right and duty to assume and/or delegate the day-to-day operations when needed. Remember, policies are subordinate to bylaws and state statutes.
Next, Reporter Mieze says, "Both under state law governing county libraries and the board's own bylaws, the board has the authority to hire, evaluate, and terminate the executive director." Here Mieze is being coy and hoping you won't notice she is attempting to justify another point later on. If she was being honest and had done some research, Mieze would know that state law does not stipulate that a Library Board can only hire, evaluate, and terminate an executive director. It is not that narrow. In fact, state statute gives broad governing powers to library boards.
I would challenge Mieze to find in state statute where county library districts are limited in governing library employees beyond the librarian who fulfills the executive director position.
That particular policy or guideline has been adopted in libraries specifically to give undue governing power to an executive director. It is a well-used policy that has also found a home in your local school districts where the superintendents enjoy the same kind of governing power that siphons authority from school boards. It should be looked at by the Library Board's subcommittee on bylaws as it is most likely a policy of the Marxist American Library Association.
She goes on: "The state public library trustee manual provided as a resource by the Missouri Secretary of State explicitly notes that the board has only true authority over the director, not other staff." First, it's a resource, not law.
Second, the Missouri State Board of Trustee Handbook, (which is heavily influenced by the ALA/MLA and Sec. of State Denny Hoskins should do something about that), has no force of law. In the introduction, it states, "The information presented in this handbook is in no way to be considered as legal advice."
The handbook provides guidelines, which as stated above, "...are non-binding recommendations or suggestions for best practices. Guidelines have the least legal authority and are often flexible, serving as advisory rather than mandatory rules."
What we have here is a failure to understand the important distinctions between policy, law, and guidelines. Reporter Marta Mieze is not alone. The communistic activists in our community who are receiving guidance from the ALA and its comrade organizations, are spewing the same inaccuracies. Some of them undoubtedly know the difference, but are militant enough to not care about the truth.
Hopefully, Ms. Mieze will continue her education in a spirit of journalistic integrity and not ideological slant. A bit of advice, Marta. At some point you will move on from your journalism career. When you look back, you will have either the sting of shame for publishing inaccurate, slanted articles, or you will have the satisfaction of being a truth-teller. Be a truth-teller. Your conscience will thank you.