Decisions Made In Haste

A Board of Supervisors is accountable to the citizens. We’ve heard a lot from four of the five members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors about accountability as it applies to departments and agencies other than themselves. But what about them?

For nearly six months, these four supervisors have been on a mission to shove out one of the county’s shining stars, Samuels Public Library, despite overwhelming public support for the library, not for their plan to hire a vendor at a greater cost in every way. Yet, they push on and refuse to answer practical questions such as: Will the vendor bring a collection of books and other materials? Where will the vendor house what they will have to bring?

We deserve to know their plan before they write a check with our money. Any attempt to steal assets that Samuels owns will result in a court case. Similarly, any attempt to break the lease on Criser Road midway through the term will result in a court case. Court cases cost money, and that money will be our money. Who wants to spend it that way?

At a board meeting earlier this year, one of the county supervisors said he had heard support for their plan from a “silent majority”. Well, they’ve been very silent indeed, but those in support of Samuels have been plenty loud. Just watch the meeting videos and read this opinion page from months ago through today. There has been a notably small contingent of Samuels detractors compared to the groundswell of support for Samuels Public Library.

As officials elected to represent the districts of Warren County, the Board of Supervisors has a duty to listen to what the people are saying. Four of the five seated now have cotton in their ears.

Another way to know what people think is through an election, and we have one coming up on June 17th. The local winners of that primary will likely shift the Board of Supervisors from “Punish Samuels Irrationally” to “Support Samuels Now”.  Early voting has been going on for a few weeks already.

And now, just two weeks before we know the results of that election, the board has on its June 3rd agenda under the Consent section “10. Contract – Library Systems & Services LLC – Contract for Library Services – Eric Belk”.

No doubt, this item will be brought to discussion, as it should, considering that: a) Superlative library services are already provided in Warren County by Samuels Public Library; b) the questions about the vendor’s physical collection and address remain unanswered; c) This contract would lock the County in for 10 years. If the contract is broken within that period, the County would owe the vendor for its cancellation. If it’s broken on or before June 30, 2026, Warren County must reimburse the vendor $250,000.

Even people who don’t care whether there’s any library in Warren County will care a lot that they—as taxpayers—could be on the hook for as much as $600,000 in legal costs and $250,000 for a broken contract, on top of the already growing ledger of legal fees associated with the four supervisors’ reckless mission.

When their secret plan sees daylight, it will fall apart, and we taxpayers will be left with the bill for their folly.

Kelli Hart
Warren County, VA

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