Library Board to meet today
Finances on agenda; Nelson advocates planning to speak
The Union County Public Library System’s Board will meet today, more than two months after the meeting was originally scheduled.
Michael O’Connell, executive director of the UCPLS, said Monday that the 2023 budget for the system, a new volunteer policy and statistics on last year’s loans are on the meeting agenda.
“There’s some stuff from last year to go over,” he said.
The Board also set aside time at the end of the meeting for comments from the floor, O’Connell said. Joy Stewart says she plans to speak.
“Citing public interest, the library is allotting three minutes for individuals signed-in in chronological order,” Stewart said in a written statement Monday afternoon.
Since November, Stewart has been gathering petition signatures and impact statements from others in the community who want former children’s librarian Karla Nelson reinstated. Nelson was fired in November, the same month local residents voted against a proposed millage increase for the UCPLS.
Explanations for why Nelson was terminated have varied; Nelson said she believes it was due to a dispute with another employee, while O’Connell pointed to budgetary constraints.
Stewart said on Monday that the petition calling for Nelson’s reinstatement has garnered over 1,000 signatures. It will be shared with Board members at today’s meeting, along with impact statements about Nelson’s work with the UCPLS.
Stewart shared an impact statement she wrote, which reads, in part, “Ms. Karla’s literacy work is unparalleled. She has done such amazing work throughout the library over the years. She transformed the children’s section and grew the program into what it is today… She is the reason my daughter reads as well as she does. She provides great insight and support for parents to help us identify literacy needs in our children early.”
The statement concludes with a plea to reinstate Nelson to her position as Barton Library’s children’s librarian.
The Library Board was scheduled to meet almost three months ago, on Dec. 6. The meeting was cancelled due to “threatening and harassing communications … targeting library Board members and employees,” according to the UCPLS.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the harassment, said Capt. Jeff Stinson, chief investigator.
O’Connell said the comments had largely stopped by the time the announcement
of the new meeting date was announced, but has since started back up.
“We decided to go ahead with the meeting. Nothing came up for over a month until last Friday after we posted the meeting, and it’s restarted again,” O’Connell said, describing the harassment as “a lot of emails sent to our public officials with lies about my conduct.”
Since losing the millage vote last year, the UCPLS has been in a precarious financial position, one topic of discussion planned for today’s meeting. O’Connell said that in addition to the stagnant millage rate, the library system is also awaiting 2022 funding from the City of El Dorado.
“I’ve barely got two months of payroll left in the bank; that’s why we haven’t hired anyone. We’ve been on a spending freeze since Thanksgiving. I don’t know when we’re going to get the money from the city,” he said. “We were spending based upon us winning the millage and we didn’t, and we’ve spent extra to try to get interest up… We need to figure out ways to make it work and we’re trying, trying to minimize the impact on services.”
Stewart encouraged families to consider allowing their children who have been impacted by Nelson’s work write and present impact statements at today’s meeting as well.
“This is also a teachable moment for respectful and peaceful dissent in local government for youth looking to enter the civil service field in the future,” she said.
Those advocating for Nelson’s reinstatement have three pillars to their argument: “Nelson’s far reaching impact,” “her invaluable contributions to the library” and “the significant void left in her absence,” Stewart said.
“Our main goal for tomorrow is to attest to Ms. Nelson’s significant impact on record, notwithstanding the outcome. The advocacy group now has over 150 members who are amicably working together to make their voices heard collectively,” Stewart added. “The ongoing planning process requires us to take multiple factors of this evolving issue into consideration as factual information becomes available. Therefore, transparency from the board will greatly assist in guiding our continued planning efforts.”
Today’s meeting of the library board will be held at 4 p.m. at the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about the UCPLS, visit ucpls.org. More information about the advocacy for Nelson can be found on the Ms. Karla Nelson Advocacy Group page on Facebook.