Council Reviewing Applications for Added Library Board Seats
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Just over a week after the application deadline passed, Anderson County Council is in the process of choosing two additional at-large members for the County Library Board.
Council received the 43 applications for the at-large positions after Tuesday’s meeting. The overwhelming majority of applicants earned post-secondary degrees including one M.D., eight Ph.D.s, 12 master’s degrees, 15 four-year degrees, five two-year degrees and two with no degreed education beyond high school diplomas.
Twenty-seven applicants are women and 16 men. The current seven-member library board, with one representative chosen by the council person of each district, is all women.
Some council members have suggested they would like to see more diversity on the board.
County Council Dist. 1 had the most applicants with 20, followed by Districts 2, 4, and 5 with five applicants, Dist. 6 with four applicants and Districts 3 and 7 with two applicants.
“This is an important decision,” said County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn. “Council will evaluate the applications and narrow it down to the ones they deem best, and then we’ll get together and choose from the final selections from those lists.”
“We want to do this pretty quick, but more importantly, we want to do it right,” said Dunn.
Dunn also said the council would practice transparency in the selection process.
The applicants for the Anderson County Library board’s two at-large seats are:
From Anderson
Addison Barton
Jay Blankenship
Annie Boyd
Lois Ann Buckman
Andrew Cannon
Maria W. Cushman
Laary Cushman
Dwight J. DeCarlo
Rhett A. Donaldson
Dr. Andrea Draisen
Jake Grove
Albert M. Howard
Jennifa Hunter
Philip Randy Jones
Teresa Jones
Jimmy R. Johnson
Mark Joczik
Mary Y. Kay
Elizabeth Kellner
Ellen King
Timothy A. Masters
Susan E. Melvin
Arthur Dewey Parr III
Betsy “Jenny” Presgraves
Mary Pickens
John Pinkerton
Marshall Price
Diann Sims
Kathryn Smith
Lindsay G. Smith
Kerry Swanson
Jennifer Triplett
Molly A. Watson
From Belton
Jennifer Huber
Frances Russell
Deborah Otto Sunderman
From Easley
Steven D. Morgan
Sarabeth Stone
From Iva
Krista Gray
From Pendleton
Richard Kevin Hardy
Suzanne Morse
From Piedmont
Tamara Cox
From West Pelzer
Kelly S. McCuen
Council gave final approval of the expansion March 5 by a 6-1 vote (Dist. 2 Councilman Glenn Davis opposed the move) after a series of council meetings with heated exchanges between citizens.
“We should not politicize the library board,” said Davis at the meeting. “We have an awesome library, an awesome staff.”
The library board is currently chosen by sitting council members with one member from each district to serve four-year terms. County council members are elected to two-year terms, and at least one council member suggested this was the reason he favored two at-large members be added.
Councilman Jimmy Davis said frustration over the current governance structure of the board was among the reasons for adding the two new members.
“The library board is the only board we can appoint someone to but we can’t remove,” said Davis. “I don’t know why that is. If we appoint them, we should be the one to remove them.”
Some council members at that meeting also suggested the two extra members would provide better representation countywide.
Council began taking applications a week after the vote, with a deadline for applications of April 24.
The application, found here, includes questions about employment history, ownership of property in the county, ownership of a library card, work/civic/volunteer service, and reasons for interest in the board.
The latter includes listing goals for serving in the position, and the following question:
“How would you approach a decision on a matter before the Board of Trustees which involves strong feelings by the citizens in favor of and in opposition to a matter before the Library Board of Trustees?”
It also asks applicants if they are willing to commit to reading any book which has been challenged as to its inclusion or placement in the library.
At the core of the issue for some citizens is the content of books located in the children’s library, which requires adult supervision from those under the age of 12. Over the past 18 months, 10 of the more than 30,000 books included in the children’s library have been challenged.
Genevieve Brown, who grew up in Anderson where the only books her schools got were hand-me-downs from the white schools, defended the current library and board.
“The board we have is doing a wonderful job,” said Brown, “And we have an excellent library. When people come to Anderson, one of the first places I take them is to the library.”
Some citizens at the public comment portion of the council meetings suggested the content of the children’s library should reflect a more biblical worldview.
At the March 11 council meeting, Janet Stewart of Anderson said she was concerned about “unwholesome books” in the children section and suggested it was part of “social engineering schemes.” Stewart said she worries about potential dangerous outcomes and added she does not want it to become a situation where parents are “forced to reprogram their children” from ideas in some of the books that are only supported by a “tiny minority.”
This was also reflected in some of the applications which included suggestions they would seek to use such principles to guide their decisions if chosen to serve on the board, which could raise other questions since religion cannot be used directly or indirectly as a litmus test for selecting those to serve on public boards.