Garfield County Board of County Commissioners on Monday unanimously voted to appoint Tony Hershey as the new Glenwood Springs representative for the Garfield County Libraries Board of Trustees. 

“I was looking for a diversity of opinion, number two I was looking for a robust discussion and number three, I didn’t want group think on that board,” Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said during the regular meeting on Monday, explaining what he wanted to see in a trustee member. 

Jankovsky thinks that Hershey, who is an attorney and former Glenwood Springs city councilor, will “have a strong opinion and will voice his opinion. I think that we’ve seen that in where he stood when he was at the city council,” he said.

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“He’s a lawyer. He has promised to mediate and compromise as a fresh perspective and he wanted to work together with the other board members, and also I heard him state that he would make sure that there is a good discussion for all board members,” he added.

The application for the Glenwood Springs trustee position was reopened after a split vote between Jankovsky and Mike Samson on Dec. 16. Jankovsky’s first choice was former trustee Susan Use, while Samson recommended Jacqui Edelmann.

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Hershey and three other candidates, including Use, completed another interview in front of members of the Garfield County libraries board and the board of commissioners on Feb. 27. The libraries board recommended Use for reappointment, with Hershey as their second choice. 

On Monday, all three commissioners — Jankovsky, Samson and newly elected commissioner Perry Will — voted in favor of Hershey, who had also applied during the first round of applications.

“I’m certainly excited and I’m very honored that the county commissioners unanimously chose to pick me,” Hershey told the Post Independent on Monday. “It’s quite an honor with such great competition for that spot. So I appreciate it.”

During the meeting, Jankovsky explained why Use was no longer his top choice for the trustee position.

“I really respect Susan, I respect the amount of time she’s put into the library board, and I understand about having consistency in your board members,” Jankovsky said. “But the one thing that concerned me was both times (Use) stated in (her) interviews that it was against the law (for the) library board to move books around in the library and I’ve read this resolution… I was trying to find out where that was in the bill, it’s not there.”

During the second round of interviews on Feb. 27, Jankovsky repeated a question he asked every trustee interviewee in December: “Federal law, Colorado law and the Garfield County Library District’s bylaws require the library to protect children from material on the internet that is harmful to their beneficial development. Do you believe there should be the same reasonable policies to children’s access to books that are designated for mature audiences only?”

“There are a lot of different families in this community, and some of them are more liberal and some of them are more conservative, and if you’re giving their children, a place to go, a place to learn, just like school or anywhere else, you have to ensure that you respect what they feel is appropriate, what their beliefs are and what they want their kids to see,” Hershey said in response to Jankovsky’s question on Feb. 27. 

“If I was a 14 year old boy growing up in Aspen and I had a laptop, I don’t know that I’d really go to the library if I was looking for pornography,” he added. “But that’s on the parents at home, so we have to have the same respect for that desire at the library to ensure that children are protected.”

Use expressed support for a children’s library card, stating that “The library law does confine us with moving books and taking care of books and stuff, I know you know that. But yes, I think that children should be protected from materials.”

In May, Colorado passed Senate Bill 24-216 which establishes standards public libraries must include when creating policies regarding the management of library resources. 

The bill states that “It is important that public libraries’ policies for the acquisition, retention, display, reconsideration, and use of library resources and for the use of public library facilities comply with standards that identify the priorities and mission of public libraries.” 

The bill later lists said standards. Standards include “the public has the right to access a range of social, political, aesthetic, moral, and other ideas and experiences through a public library,” and “a public library shall not proscribe or prohibit the circulation or procurement of a library resource because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval of the library resource,” amongst several others. The bill can be read in its entirety at leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-216.

“There’s been a lot of turmoil here…our libraries are such a great asset and I really think it’s important that we address some of these issues that have come up recently,” Hershey told the Post Independent. “I’m looking forward to working with the rest of the board and the director to ensure that we have the best libraries in the state because it is such an important resource for this community…from Carbondale to Parachute.”