Vocal Citizen Turnout Greets Council Move to Expanding Library Board
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
It’s been a long while since Anderson County Council Chambers were packed with citizens, but on Tuesday night there were few open seats, as council prepared to vote on a proposal to expand the Anderson County Library Board from seven to nine seats.
Currently each council member can appoint one member to the board. The new proposal would add two at-large seats. At an early meeting, some council members expressed concerns that because the library appointments were four-year terms, while council served two-year terms, it created the possibility that a council member might not be able to appoint a board member to the library if it is not within their term of office.
Council is also concerned that while they appoint library board members, they cannot remove them from the positions due to state law. If approved on third reading, applications will be available for those interested in the positions. If approved on third reading, council will set in place a system to stagger the terms of future board members.
Councilman Glenn Davis, who challenged fellow council members at the Feb. 6 meeting, expressed concern about the move. Davis was the lone vote against the measure, which passed second reading 6-1.
“What is to stop an expanded board from banning books?” Davis asked “We need to ask: ‘Down the road, where are we going? What do we want to show the world?’”
Davis said it’s not about pornography being available to eight and nine year olds.
“We have eight and nine year-olds not being able to read, and that is the issue we should be concerned about,” said Davis.
Citizens on both sides of the issue spoke for close to an hour expressing concerns of support on the issue. While it was impossible to gauge how many in the crowd favored or opposed the expanded board, despite many of the group favoring the change wearing hand-written “Yes” name-tag stickers, the number of speakers pro/con was close to even.
Anderson Resident Eleanor Walters, who volunteers at Hope Missions of the Upstate and used part of her time to extolled the merits of the ministry, challenged council on the reasoning of the proposed change of the library board.
“If there was a logical, consistent reason for the change, I might normally favor more members, but there’s not,” said Walters, who said she had attended library board meetings. “If more members are needed for representation, add at-large members to council first.”
“This seems more like an attempt at restricting access to books,” said Walters.
S.C. Rep. Thomas Beach, R-Anderson, Dist. 10, said he was at the meeting on behalf of the Anderson County Legislative Delegation to express support for expansion of the library board to nine members.
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 “forced to reprogram their children” from ideas in some of the books that are only supported by a “tiny minority,”
Stewart, and others, said books in the library, especially the chidren’s sections should “reflect community standards.”
Kevin Hardy of Anderson, accused the library of not representing the community, calling on council to “appoint two conservative board members.”
But Genevieve Brown, who said she 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.”
Also on Tuesday night, council approved, on first reading, up to $1.25 million in bonds for improvements to the Home Park Water District, where upgrades and repairs are needed.
Council also honored Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Pamela Christopher on her appointment as the new chairman of the South Carolina Department of Transportation Committee. Christopher, who joined the commission in 2020 and was named vice chairman last year, becomes the first woman to serve as chair for the SCDOT Commission.
Council also feted Tri-County Technical College on the celebration of the school’s 10th anniversary of the Technical Career Pathways Program.
Third reading included information on a series of new investments and jobs coming to Anderson County as part of expansions and new industry.
County Council Vice Chairman Brett Sanders recapped the meeting with the Anderson Observer.