James LaRue - myliblog

Here is the article that tells the tale. I find myself wondering about this issue of "accountability." Suppose (just hypothetically) that Commissioner Repella were to cast the deciding vote on the appointment of a really bad board member. How does the "elected official component" make the situation more accountable? Commissioner Repella is term limited. To show public displeasure against that decision, no one can vote against her for Commissioner next time, because she can't run. And with the many other issues that Commissioners are tasked with, won't library issues tend to get lost in the cloud? If being an elected official just means that people can speak up at public meetings to the decision-makers, the public can do that at library board meetings, too. But also, see this news article from 2011, in which then local Republican Party Chairman Mark Baisley said that "he was approached by a person running for a local utilities board. He says they...

Give ’em What They Want? This is my response to Brian Kenney's piece.

Here's the first article , covering the attempt to take back the nominating process from the Trustees. Here's the second article , covering the meeting between the two bodies. And finally, I have appended the text of the Trustees' guest column to the Douglas County News Press(appearing on page 9 of the March 14, 2013 edition). The Douglas County Libraries, a library district (and like the county, a subdivision of the state), was established by a vote of the citizens in 1990. At that time, the County Commissioners granted to the new Library Board of Trustees (first by InterGovernmental Agreement, and in 2001 by resolution) the right to nominate its own members. The commissioners have always been the final appointing authority. That arrangement isn't uncommon, although there are several variations around the state. There are no elected library boards in Colorado, and appointing authorities often hand over the nominating process. But library law is explicit about...