Autauga-Prattville Public Library Board members resign over county appointment

Three members of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library Board of Trustees resigned Monday, an episode that represents an escalation in the battle over content in the library.

Chair Susan Poteat, Vice Chair Wayne Lambert and Pam Fredrick resigned almost a week after the Autauga County Commission voted to appoint Douglas Darr as one of the trustees after the initial candidate, Tony Moore, withdrew himself from consideration.

“The actions of the last county commission meeting toward the library made me feel uncomfortable,” Lambert said in an interview Tuesday. “That is why I resigned.”

The resignations were first reported by Alabama Political Reporter.

Lambert criticized the commission for making an appointment to the library board without consulting members of the current board, who were preparing to recommend candidates to fill the vacancies.

“They were not happy with how that was handled,” said Andrew Foster, director for the Autauga-Prattville Public Library. “Each of them took the holiday weekend to consider that choice before making their decision.”

There had been a standing courtesy between members of the library board and the two public offices responsible for the appointing people to be trustees, the Prattville city council and the commission, allowing current library board members to submit their recommendations for approval for the two governing bodies, according to Foster.

Darr’s eventual appointment deviated from that process.

Foster said the library board had ongoing conversations with both the city and the county about how the appointment process would proceed.

“We are assured by both the city and the county in a meeting in August that they would wait for the recommendation of the library board and work off of that,” Foster said. “With what happened last Tuesday, they went back on that assurance that they had given us.”

Messages were left with members of the Autauga County Commission on Tuesday. Commissioner John Thrailkill declined to comment on the process or the resignations.

Foster said the library board was vetting potential candidates for upcoming vacancies on the board for months. A meeting was scheduled for December to officially select candidates to recommend to the city and county to select for the board.

“As this came out, the only reason the library even knew about the vote for candidate, was because the day of I had happened to check the agenda at about lunch time, and saw that it was on there unexpectedly,” Foster said.

Tension has been plaguing the community for months after a parent complained in July that a library book contained  inclusive pronouns. Other parents who found books in the children’s section they deemed inappropriate organized as Clean Up Prattville, which became Clean Up Alabama.

An opposition group formed, Read Freely Prattville, which then became Read Freely Alabama.

“I do believe that this was their plan all along,” said Angie Hayden, spokesperson and board member for Read Freely Alabama. “I think that from the very beginning, Clean Up Alabama has had designs on stacking the board in their favor because what they want has been so unpopular, and it does not have widespread community support.”

A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with Clean Up Alabama.

Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama Public Library Service Director Nancy Pack exchanging correspondence about the policies related to ensuring children do not have access to specific library materials that parents of Clean Up Alabama deem as inappropriate.

Ivey has called on APLS to change its administrative rules, even withdrawing its association with the American Library Association.

At the local level, Clean Up Alabama, through its grassroots efforts, has petitioned for changes with how the library conducts business. In September, the city council voted down a service contract that would have discouraged those younger than 18 years old from reading materials within the young adult section. It would have also codified terms defined as sexually explicit, banning people younger than 18 years old from checking out specific books.

Among them are “The Kite Runner” and “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” The contract would have also allowed the council to pull library funding at any time for whatever reason.

In September, in response to the controversy, the library established a policy prohibiting children younger than 12 years old into the library without being accompanied by a parent.

Hayden Tuesday called for the appointment to the board to be withdrawn With the resignations, there have been efforts in the community to have the commission walk back the appointment.

“We, Read Freely Alabama, feel that it would go a long way towards restoring the community’s trust if the county commission would rescind this rushed, and inappropriate appointment, and revisit the established method for appointment with transparency and consideration for the board members that were currently serving,” Hayden said.

The chance of that is unclear. When asked about rescinding the appointment, Thrailkill said “no.”

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, an independent nonprofit website covering politics and policy in state capitals around the nation. 

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Prattville library board members resign over county appointment