Rifle resident Myrna Fletchall is the newest member of the Garfield County Library District Board.

The Garfield County Commissioners in conjunction with the Library District Board selected a new library trustee during a regular meeting held Monday, May 6.

The Library District Board gave the commissioners the names of three candidates they would like to be considered for the position: Hanna Arauza, Kirsten Clancy, and Fletchall. After briefly deliberating, the commissioners appointed Myrna Fletchall as the new trustee.

The PI reached out to Fletchall to ask about being appointed to the library board.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to serve,” she said. “I am truly excited and committed to contributing my best efforts to the board.”

A native of Chihuahua, Mexico, Fletchall hopes to bring new ideas to the board.

“I hope to bring a fresh perspective based in my experience as an immigrant and now a proud American citizen. I am looking forward to collaborating with the board to achieve shared goals,” she said. “I came to the U.S. in 2005 as an undocumented immigrant with two little boys. I became a U.S. Citizen in May of 2022. Both of my sons are graduates from Rifle High School. My oldest son Brandon Fletchall is a junior at the Naval Academy, my youngest son Toto Fletchall was the running back for the Rifle football team that won the state championship in 2021. GO BEARS!!! I am the owner of The Billing Doc, Ltd. a Revenue Cycle Management company that I founded in 2019. I am married and currently live with my husband and two lovely doodles, Sunny and Luna. I love spending time outdoors, hiking, paddleboarding, riding our Harley and working out at the Grand Valley Rec center.”

Last Tuesday, the commissioners and Library District Chairwoman Adrian Rippy-Sheehy interviewed eligible candidates for the library district trustee vacancy during a special public meeting.

Commissioner John Martin said everyone was pleased with the applicants. Commissioners received 17 applications, but narrowed it to 10 who lived within Rifle’s zip codes. 

“We had nine out of 10 people arrive. All of them very good candidates, one by Zoom,” Martin said. ” … I was very impressed with each and every one of you. The different layers of concern, involvement, and direction was great. Truly a diverse group of applicants.”

Commissioner Mike Samson said he echoed Martin’s sentiment.

“Many times when you have volunteer boards like that you have none, perhaps or one person maybe two that apply for positions. And that’s always a tough position to be in as commissioners when you don’t have anybody or very little interest or whatever the case may be,” Samson said. 

Samson then made a motion to appoint Fletchall to library trustee and was seconded by Commissioner Tom Jankovsky.

“I was happy to see the library board’s, their recommendations because two out of three of my recommendations matched theirs,” Jankovsky said. “I think that was positive. When I listened to the interviews, you know a couple of things that stuck out to me is how well you work if you’re in a minority or a majority position with a committee or board and Myrna seemed to fit that.”

Jankovsky added that Fletchall’s financial background and being able to work with budgets was an important deciding factor.

After the appointment was made, Rippy-Sheehy asked if she could make a few comments.

“I just have a couple of statements I’d like to make. And this has nothing to do with the selection of the candidate,” she said. “I just want to make a public statement that when I was asked to sit up there, the only reason I sat up there was because the library had no voice. And I appreciate at least being able to be up there and ask questions and so forth.”

Rippy-Sheehy further added she did not agree with the way the proceedings took place.

“I do not agree, we do not agree with you taking over the appointment of the trustees,” she said. 

She added that if the library board did not approve of a particular candidate, they would have gone out for more applicants.

“So, I just want that to go on the record that it’s just not right,” she said. “You guys, I think, are making this very political. Libraries have been one of the last bastions of democracy where we do have first right amendments and we, we’re not siding either way. So, I’m just very, very disappointed in the process.”

Martin responded he was one of the only commissioners who did appointments before the district was even formed.

“And I helped form the district as well. I’ve sat in many-a-meeting, and I could see the diverse opinions prior to and after the district was formed,” he said. “We also run into the same problem with many other boards, only one person or no people. We have to advertise several times. We like to have a large cross-section; not always do we get those. This time we chose to do that.

Martin added that “the agreement and the appointment is by the board of county commissioners, not by the library board. That’s the way it is.”

Rippy-Sheehy responded that “…it hasn’t been that way for 18 years and I would just question why it’s changed, and I believe that it is political.”

Samson asked if he could ask a question to Rippy Sheehy.

“Because I think your comments make it very confusing to the electorate. And I will tell you this is not political,” Samson said. “This is what we three think is best for the County of Garfield.”

Rippy-Sheehy responded that they both have different thoughts as Samson continued.

“We, the three commissioners, have the authority to appoint,” Samson said. “Now did we change the way and way that was done? Yes. But I think the electorate thinks; why did they just take over and now they’re appointing? That’s not the case. The case is we; we appoint them. No?”

Rippy-Sheehy responded by saying no, that the language is ambiguous and that their attorneys have been speaking to the county attorneys so “hopefully we can come to an intergovernmental agreement.”

Jankovsky said he wanted to make one more statement.

“Since I have been a commissioner for 16 years, it is this board that has appointed every member that sits as a trustee. It is not you. You bring a recommendation to us; we accept it or we don’t accept it. We appoint the trustees, you don’t,” he said. “I don’t want to attack you personally but some of your comments make it very misleading to the electorate out there. Because people come up to me and say, why is now the board of county commissioners appointing the trustees on the board? And I say we always have as long as I’ve been there, are the ones that do that, not the library board.”

The PI reached out to the county commission for clarification on the process of appointing trustee members and they explained in an email that “generally, the Library Board had made recommendations to the commissioners for these appointments. The commissioners would approve the recommendations and make the appointments.” 

Resolution 06-111 establishes the terms of office for the trustees of the Garfield County Library District, the email read. The resolution adopted on Sept. 5, 2006, established the library district and states: “Subsequent appointments to the Board of Trustees and the terms of the Board of Trustees shall be undertaken by the Board of County Commissioners or specified in the By Laws of the Garfield County Public Library District as appropriate and as required by 24-90-108, C.R.S., as amended.”

The email added, “The 2016 Inter Governmental Agreement was supposed to include the mechanism for appointment of library trustees; however, that specific requirement was not included. For this reason, the BOCC has engaged with the Library District’s attorney to enter into an IGA that is clear about the mechanism for appointments.”In addition, “Resolution 24-12 specifically provides the history and the changes that were made. Ultimately, the BOCC has always made the appointments or accepted the recommendation of the Library Board for the appointment. They have decided this important issue required them to take a more hands-on approach. There was only one applicant for this position in September of 2023. There were nine candidates that were interviewed last Tuesday.”