The Garfield County Libraries Board of Trustees reappointed the current Carbondale and Glenwood Springs representatives during a public meeting on Thursday. 

The Garfield County Public Library District is governed by a board of seven trustees, one from each of the six municipalities, Parachute, Rifle, Silt, New Castle, Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, and one member at large.

The terms of current trustees Jocelyn Durrance, Carbondale, and Susan Use, Glenwood Springs, were set to expire on Dec. 31. Both were reappointed for another five-year term by the board of trustees on Thursday after presenting letters of intent. Durrance, who was absent, sent her letter to Garfield County Board of Trustees President Adrian Rippy-Sheehy to read on her behalf. 

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“Good people can disagree with each other, but I am proud of the ability of our board to thoughtfully consider other viewpoints and to hold to our fundamental mission and purpose to serve everyone in our community,” Durrance’s letter read. “I’ve enjoyed my first term and eagerly look forward to fulfilling the second one.”

The board of county commissioners is advertising for three spots on the Garfield County Libraries Board of Trustees: one for Carbondale, one for Glenwood Springs and one for New Castle, to replace representative Crystal Mariscal, who resigned from the board effective Nov. 8. 

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Commissioners on Monday discussed plans to interview candidates for all three spots on Dec. 5 and appoint new trustees on Dec. 9, before any newly elected commissioner takes office on Jan.1. The announcement advertising three trustee positions was sent out Tuesday, according to Garfield County Chief Communications Officer Renelle Lott. 

Residents can apply by sending a letter of interest to Garfield County Manager Fred Jarman until Nov. 27, according to the advertisement. Applicants will receive a packet with more information.

During Thursday’s meeting, Rippy-Sheehy referred to the Garfield County Board of Trustees Bylaws, which states that “any new member of the board shall be presented to the Garfield County Commissioners to affirm an appointment.”

“We’re just going with our bylaws. The county commissioners need to follow our bylaws for new members,” Rippy-Sheehy said. “…So this says only new members need to go before the county. So they’ve misunderstood that.”

The Garfield County Board of Commissioners and Libraries Board of Trustees disagree on how the current appointee process works.

Since 2008, the BOCC had previously allowed the libraries board to nominate new candidates for a board vacancy before presenting them to commissioners for final approval.

The appointee process was changed earlier this year after a small group of community members began a petition calling for restricted access to graphic novels for adult readers in the Garfield County libraries in 2023. 

On March 18, commissioners approved resolution 24-12, which states that “Whenever a vacancy on the board of trustees occurs, due to the expiration of a term of office or otherwise, the board of county commissioners, acting as a committee, shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy. Said appointment must ratified by two-thirds majority vote of the commissioners.”

This appointment process was used to select the newest trustee, Myrna Fletchall, Rifle, on May 6. Commissioners had rejected Hanna Arauza, the board’s recommended Rifle appointee, in November 2023. 

The Garfield County Public Library District Board of Trustees and county commissioners will meet Nov. 21 to discuss an intergovernmental agreement clearly detailing the trustee appointment, and removal, process. 

“We had sent them the proposed IGA on March 18 of 2024. It took them until about August to get back to us asking for a meeting,” Beattie said during the BOCC meeting on Monday. 

Jamie LaRue, executive director of Garfield County Public Library District, told the Post Independent on Tuesday that the library replied to the proposed IGA in April. 

Beattie stated Monday that the IGA will not take effect until after January and will not impact the trustee appointment process in December.

“The reason I mentioned the dating and the timing is that this IGA has been out there for quite some time,” she said. “So it’s not on the county, it’s not on our lack of communication with them.”