Library Board votes to start 45-day public comment period on revised materials acquisition policy before legal review

(Lander, WY) – The Fremont County Library Board voted to put its revised materials acquisition policy out for public comment this week, before receiving a legal assessment from the Fremont County Attorney’s Office.

The 3-2 vote came during a special meeting that Board Chair Kristen McClelland convened Tuesday, explaining that the matter is “time sensitive” because two library board members’ seats are up for reappointment this year, and she wants to make sure they can vote on the final policy before their service potentially ends in July.

“This policy has been mulled over for as long as I’ve been on the board, and this board was the first board to come together and figure something out – and it passed unanimously,” McClelland said. “I would like this board to see it through.”

Legal concerns

Board member Perry Cook – whose seat is one of the two coming up for reappointment this year – disagreed that the situation was urgent enough to merit a special meeting.

She also took issue with the idea of going “against normal protocol” by putting the policy revision out for public comment before receiving a legal review – especially given that “there are issues in this policy that are (of) concern.”

Fremont County Commissioner Mike Jones referred to some of those issues during last Tuesday’s Commission meeting, noting that portions of the proposed policy revision are “very similar or identical to” a bill that the Wyoming Legislature failed to pass this year due in part to potential legal challenges.

Based on those concerns, Jones said a legal assessment of the proposed policy revision “is going to be important – because if this board is putting us at risk (and) exposing us to a potential lawsuit or litigation, we need to know.”

The materials acquisition policy was sent to the Fremont County Attorney’s Office on April 2, McClelland said this week.

Normally, she noted, the attorney’s office returns its legal assessments to the library board within seven to 10 days, but at this point, more than 40 days have passed without a response.

‘Egregious’

Board Member Marta Mossburg called the amount of time that has passed since the policy was sent to the county attorney’s office “egregious.”

“The county attorney holding (this policy) for over 40 days so that it can’t be considered by the current board is outrageous,” she said. “We’re supposed to be a governing board. Mr. Maxon is de facto denying the board that right by his silence.”

On Monday, Maxon said he hasn’t been able to complete the legal review yet because it’s not the highest-priority item on his to-do list, which currently includes more than 45 tasks.

During last week’s library board meeting, Board Member Julie Lefevre suggested that the longer timeframe may be due to the presence of legal concerns, too – so while she understood the “impulse” to try to pass the policy revision before July, given “how hard we’ve worked on it,” she also felt it would be “unwise” to begin the 45-day public comment period before hearing back from the county attorney’s office.

“(It) looks bad and feels bad to the community, that we’re not following protocol,” she said. “I just think we shouldn’t rush this through, and we should be willing to trust whoever’s on the board next to see what we’ve worked out and see (that), if it passes legal muster, then it should be a good policy.”

Cook agreed with Lefevre that the “optics” of this week’s special meeting were “terrible.”

“It looks like we’re trying to do something in secret,” Cook said. “It looks like you have a political agenda (because) you want to push things through … with this current board, and you don’t trust the next board. You don’t trust the county commissioners as to who they’re going to appoint, and maybe your agenda won’t be completed.”

Cook and Lefevre voted against initiating the 45-day public comment period this week, while McClelland, Mossburg, and Board Member Karen Wetzel voted “yes.”