The Oconee County Library Board of Trustees will look very different when it meets again in January at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park.
Mark Campbell, who has been on the Board for two five-year terms and served as Board Chair for the last two years, will not be at the table in the front of the room.
Nor will Athens Regional Library System Executive Director Valerie Bell, who has been in that position for 10 years.
Campbell’s term is expiring at the end of the year, and Library Board members are allowed to serve only two terms.
Bell is retiring at the end of the year.
Both changes were announced at the Library Board meeting at the Bogart Library last month.
The Library Board consists of 12 members, with eight of them appointed by the Oconee County Board of Commissioners. Watkinsville and Bogart each appoint a member. Two are appointed by the Oconee County Board of Education.
At the Board of Commissioners meeting last week, Board Chair John Daniell repeated the invitation to the public to apply for five openings for Commission-appointed members on the Library Board.
The deadline for application is noon on Nov. 8, and Daniell said the Board of Commissioners will make its appointment at its meeting on Dec. 3.
Board Meeting
The Oct. 14 meeting of the Library Board was a routine one.
No citizens spoke during the public comment opportunity at the front of the meeting, and the Board did not have any have any requests for reconsideration of library materials to discuss.
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| Campbell And Bell With Books 10/14/2024 |
Much of the meeting was devoted to reports by Oconee County Branch Manager James Mitchell and Bogart Branch Manager Donna Butler on past and upcoming programs at the two libraries.
These reports were followed by Bell’s Regional Services Report.
Bell said she had finalized her report to the state for 2023. It reported that 464,544 people “walked through” the doors of the 11 branches of the system and that 70,006 people attended library programs across the system.
Bell ended her report by announcing that the book Familiaris by David Wroblewski is being donated to the Oconee County Library on behalf of the Library Board to honor Campbell.
Campbell followed immediately by saying that the Library Board was donating two books to honor Bell.
Campbell said the Watkinsville Branch will receive Guide Me Home by Attica Locke and the Bogart Branch will receive Take Care Of Them Like My Own by Ala Stanford.
Each of the books bears a sticker inside the cover listing the honoree.
Other Action
Campbell, who chairs the Regional Library Board as well, said a search is underway for Bell’s replacement.
Bell came to the Athens Regional Library System from the Ocean County Library in Toms River, N.J., where she served in a number of capacities over a 28-year career.
Campbell told the Board that the request for proposals for art for the new library at Wire Park is ready to go out and that it will be possible to have some art outside the Library itself.
Campbell said he hoped to have a report on the review on responses to the request ready for the Jan. 13 meeting of the Board.
Election Of Officers
The Board elected Rubielen Norris, currently serving as vice-chair, to replace Campbell as chair.
The Board selected Daphne Norton as vice-chair and re-elected Fred Lutz as recording secretary.
The terms for Lutz, Norton, Campbell, and Angela Moss-Hill all expire at the end of this year, so Lutz and Norton will be able to serve in those positions only if they are re-appointed.
Laura French resigned from the Board due to personal and professional commitments between the July and October Board meetings. Her term expires at the end of 2026.
The Board of Commissioners will be making appointments in December for those five positions as well as for a citizen representative to the MACORTS Policy Committee, two appointments to the Board of Health, and two appointments to the Farmland Preservation Ranking Committee.
Norris’s term on the Library Board expires at the end of 2025, as does that of Amanda Marable. The term of Rachel Watson expires at the end of 2026.
Laura Moore, Watkinsville, and Deann Craft, Bogart, serve as specified by appointment by those two cities.
Mike Eddy and Matthew Stephens were appointed by the School Board.
Video
The video below is of the entire meeting of the Library Board on Oct. 14.
Bell began her comments to the Board at 28:20 in the video.
The exchange of books honoring Bell and Campbell is at 33:23 in the video.
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