Is it Too Soon for a Vote on Library Governance Issues With Unresolved Financial and Operational Impacts?

Saturday morning, December 7, Samuels Public Library staff, Board of Trustee members, and supporting patrons of Virginia’s 2024 Library of the Year gathered in the library’s public meeting room for the second of two scheduled informational and question-and-answer sessions of the week. As noted in Royal Examiner’s coverage of the first of those meetings four days earlier, the subject of those meetings was the planned December 10th Warren County Board of Supervisors Public Hearing and vote on creating the enabling County Code change to allow creation of a “Warren County Library Board” (WCLB) that would transfer operational and financial decision-making to a supervisor-appointed new County entity of just five members with no residential requirements or professional preferences indicated.

And while not totally packing the meeting room as occured the previous Wednesday, the crowd was significant on a day competing with various pre-Town Christmas Parade events occuring around the community. And notably that crowd included, not only a masked but feeling better from a recent bout with COVID Board of Supervisors Chairman Cheryl Cullers, but also county supervisors Vice-Chairman “Jay” Butler and County Board Finance Subcommittee Chairman Vicky Cook.

Library Trustee President Melody Hotek, at podium to left of graphic, welcomes citizen supporters of Samuels Public Library to 2nd Q&A session in week leading up to first scheduled vote enabling creation of a county supervisors-appointed controlling library board of 5 members. Below, another perspective on the crowded room. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

As previously reported, judging from public comments Cullers appears thus far the lone of the five supervisors to express direct opposition to the planned County operational and financial take over of the independent 501 C-3 non-profit entity’s business model. “I don’t see how we can do it cheaper,” Cullers has observed of the available facts concerning Samuel Library operations, including the acquistion of grants and state funding assistance that could disappear within the proposed altered framework.

And while North River’s Richard Jamieson, Cook’s Finance Subcommittee co-member and apparent driving force in pushing forward creation of the new municipal governmental entity, has tried to portray the library and media as villains in “creating” a hostile aura of the subcommittee’s recommendation for altering the nature of the County’s relationship with its 225-year-old public library subcontractor, library supporters and opponents of the WCLB creation have pointed to thus-far unanswered questions about the potential financial and cost consequences, not to mention legality questions, of the proposal now on the table for first consideration this Tuesday at the supervisors 7 p.m. December 10 meeting.

As general background and an overview of the implications of the County proposal were introduced Saturday, the presence of the three supervisors cited above was acknowledged. That opening portion of Saturday’s meeting included some new information. That was the draft enabling ordinance up for a vote Tuesday that was circulated by the County the day after the December 4th first Library Q&A Public Meeting. It includes appointment authority, one per supervisor, as well as terms, officers, power and duties, and budget disbursement and records.

It might be noted that while that December 10 BOS meeting agenda packet link was circulated to 41 online recipients, including the County’s Voter Registrar, members of the County Sheriff’s Office, the County’s Zoning and IT officials, some Town government recipients, and media outlets, it was NOT sent to Samuels Library officials, who were alerted to its distribution by this reporter.

That exclusion of the involved County public library subcontracting entity’s personnel seems to continue a trend of non-communication by the involved supervisors regarding exactly what they are proposing and what it implies for the library’s future that has been an ongoing point of concern stated publicly by library officials.

From left, Library Operations Director Eileen Grady and Library Director Erin Rooney seated, and meeting Chairman Hotek at podium with library-generated graphics on wall explaining Samuels comparison to other libraries of similar or differing sizes and municipal service populations. Below, the ‘Why Are We Here’ graphic outlines coming discussion.

Reasons for the supervisors seeming rush to judgement on altering the structure of Virginia’s 2024 Library of the Year were disputed with supporting facts. As meeting Chairman and Board of Trustees President Melody Hotek introduced the theme “Why Are We Here Today” she concluded that based on the public record:

“It’s not about transparency;

“It’s not about money;

“It’s not about accountability;

“It’s not about communication” (Well, at least on the Library side);

“It’s not about saving money.”

In fact, Hotek pulled a quote from Supervisor Vicky Cook in the wake of the Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) being signed resolving last year’s budgeting impasse given to the Northern Virginia Daily on October 4, 2023: “I want to acknoweldge that the Library Board of Trustees did an outstanding job. And I do respect the legacy of the library and how much it means to our community,” Cook began, adding, “I also believe that the agreement (now-existing MOA expiring next June 30) has addressed all of the board of supervisors’ expectations and accountability of our tax dollars,” Hotek concluded Cook’s quote from last year, observing, “Yet here we are.”

And here we are, indeed, as the specter of a supervisors takeover of library operations and financial control looms, beginning this coming Tuesday evening, December 10.

Perhaps Cook and her three colleagues (Jamieson, Butler, Stanmeyer) appearing to support the Finance Subcommittee initiative need to be reminded of the level of community support across all their electoral districts for Samuels Public Library and its myriad programs and services for both children and adults.

Why not ask them?

As Saturday’s Q&A session proceeded the question was raised by a patron present as to why the three supervisors present couldn’t respond to questions being asked that directly related to information one would assume was at their disposal, as opposed to that of meeting Chairman and Trustee President Melody Hotek and her colleagues, to whom they were being addressed. Those questions included sought information as to why Samuels Trustees or staff have not been included in the conversation about the new direction the county supervisors are aggressively pushing forward in the wake of last year’s citizens group attack on library content that received national and even international media coverage. Library supporters have publicly addressed the apparent support that effort got from several supervisors at various points last year, notably Jamieson and Butler.

Asked by this reporter about his presence prior to Saturday’s meeting’s start, Happy Creek Supervisor and Vice-Chairman Butler responded, “I’m here to listen.”

The three county supervisors present behind one masked citizen, ‘Jay’ Butler and Vicky Cook closer, and a masked Cheryl Cullers to the rear recovering from a bout with the COVID maintains her distance. Below, how will these four supervisors who have seemed publicly supportive of the new WC Library Board recommendation, vote on Tuesday, two of them having heard ongoing unanswered issues with the proposal indicating lost grant and state revenues, misdirected donations, among other issues.

As to the supervisors ability to respond to citizen questions Saturday, County Board Chairman Cullers rose to respond. She explained that with three of the five supervisors present a supervisors quorum was created. And if they rose to discuss County business it would by state law be categorized as an illegal board of supervisors meeting since it had not been pre-advertised. Cullers received polite applause from a significant portion of the crowd for that explanation.

To Soon for a Vote with Unanswered Financial and Legal Questions?

Toward the meeting’s end with much ground having been covered, and many crticial questions regarding potential lost revenue, including grant and state funding, not to mention County control of future donations made to the library being diverted elsewhere in the County budget, several library patrons present noted that with the absence of verifiable answers to such crucial issues the only logical action for the Warren County Board of Supervisors this Tuesday, December 10, was to table a vote, if not the public hearing itself, until further face-to-face discussion between the supervisors and library officials, and legal counsel as necessary, regarding actual financial and other impacts could occur.

“The board of supervisors needs to explain to the taxpayers what the heck they’re saying,” one lady suggested prior to any further action without clearcut, understandable answers to those unresolved impacts on the library budget and future revenue flow, as well as the general autonomy of the sub-contracted 501-C3 non-profit entity that has successfully handled this community’s public library needs without undue municipal interference for quite some time. Quite some time especially if you date it to Virginia’s 1799 approval of the originally submitted public library charter application, the second ever approved in the Commonwealth.

I believe it was 10 of the 15 Library Board of Trustee members who were present, introducing themselves and professional backgrounds and skills they bring to the Trustees table. The current County Library Board proposal would essentially replace their operational authority with that of 5 supervisor-appointed people with no residential requirements or professional preferences indicated.

It seemed a reasonable point, particularly with the new County-controlled library board effort being presented as fiduciary due diligence and an attempt to increase citizen protections on the use of their tax dollars for library operations. As previously pointed out, it was reasserted that the portion of county taxpayer revenue going to library operations equates to one penny on the dollar of the total annual county budget.

So, Tuesday we shall see if that quorum majority of three supervisors present Saturday were all really listening; all really caring about two-way communications with all of their constituents on the library issue; and all really caring about determining the actual financial implications of what is proposed.

Quick action without substantive, agreed-upon verified answers would seem an odd municipal governance course to take for what has been described by supporting patrons as one of this community’s “greatest” civic assets, with the array of services offered to both children and adults. And it is a positive opinion bouyed by Samuels Public Library’s designation as Virginia’s Library of the Year 2024, acknowledgment of which resulted in outbreaks of applause several times Saturday. That designation is coupled with several supporting designations, one of Trustee President Hotek as Virginia Public Library Trustee of the Year, as well as support group Friends of Samuels Public Library as support group of the Year, both helping the library through last year’s struggles.

Religious wars?

On one final front we will note that Supervisor Jamieson has alleged religious bigotry against himself for references to his Catholic faith as part of the criticism of his role in pushing the new library board incentive forward. But with some library critics during last year’s library content battle self-identifying as Catholic, coupled with what some library supporters have publicly cited as Jamieson and his wife’s seeming joint support of some of that 2023 “Clean Up Samuels” LGBTQ book removal effort, could scrutiny of Jamieson’s ties, not to mainstream Catholicism but to a more radical aspect of the faith present here in Warren County, be justified?

During Saturday’s meeting, a Trustee quoted from one unnamed supporter’s comment submitted to the library, wondering if this year’s new County Library Board initiative might have roots in last year’s library control battle:

“The hostile takeover of library operations by a religious minority within the Warren County government would be a sad day for the citizens of Front Royal and surrounding communities. The Library is currently the most vibrant and active community hub only because of its inclusivity towards all members of the county regardless of race, gender, or religious affiliation,” the trustee said in closing the supporter’s quote.

As some library patrons/supporters have expressed, might some supervisors’ effort to gain control of library operations this year, allegedly based on financial concerns, actually mask a shared socio-political-religious perspective with last year’s “Clean Up Samuels” proponents?

Stay tuned, sports fans – and get the popcorn, LOTS of it, ready for your livestream viewing of Tuesday evening’s Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting.

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