The Overton County Commission postponed action Monday night on appointing two new members to the local library board.
Commissioners outlined a revised process that the county’s Library Committee, made up of county commissioners, will review applicants and make recommendations. County Attorney Lillie Ann Sells said, according to statute, the Library Committee has the final say on recommendations.
“That is the county that appoints the members of the library board because the county gives money to the library board,” Sells said. “You can make all the recommendations you want to, but it’s up to the committee to make a recommendation to the county commission.”
Library Board Chairman Jerry Schetterer said historically, the county commission has approved the library board’s recommendations. Schetterer said he is concerned about how the county is seeking recommendations from the library committee.
“The last meeting was tabled, come back for a vote today, and it seems like the county attorney is basically saying that we are just going to go past that [and] ignore the recommendation of the library board.”
Debate between Schetterer and the commissioners centered around whether recent discussions among committee members qualified as a public meeting. Schetterer said, according to meeting minutes, the Library Committee met on April 7, in which he claimed met without a public notice. Schetterer said he planned to raise the issue with the state comptroller.
“I think there is something seriously wrong, and I think there has been an open meetings violation,” Schetterer said.
Several commissioners said the county did not violate any open meeting laws, as the committee did not vote on anything, and business was conducted during a public work session.
Despite the disagreement, Commissioner Darwin Clark said that previously submitted applications for the board positions will still be considered, and additional applicants could potentially be accepted. According to the county’s website, the library committee is made up of Cindy Robbins, Darwin Clark, Donna Savage, Gail McCowan, and Patrick McCurdy.
The county will prepare for the library committee’s upcoming meeting on April 29 at the County Services Building, starting at 4:30 pm. Sells said the goal is to have recommendations for the county commission to approve in May.
In other business, the commission approved that Quinnedy Lane and Goatview Road be used for emergency purposes only.
The commission approved to surplus a 1999 Chevrolet GC2 and a 2019 Ford F35 Ambulance. The ambulance bed will be removed and given back to the ambulance service.
The commission approved for Joel Poston to replace Mike Gilpatrick on the 911 Board.
The commission awarded an estimated $35,980 bid to replace a section of the grandstand roof at the county fairgrounds. Clark said the contractor said the project should be complete before fair season rolls around.