The Colorado Springs City Council failed to confirm new trustees to the Pikes Peak Library District Board recently amid a host of concerns, including politicization of the group that governs the district’s budget and policies. 

Controversy over the appointees also raised numerous issues last week, such as the district’s masking policies earlier in the pandemic, its social worker, a potential ballot question to ask for tax increase, its hesitation to approve urban renewal projects and management of materials and books. 

Some of the issues raised were a reflection of the tough questions that potential board members were asked to see how they would think through governing the district.

Councilman Wayne Williams said the key questions on subjects like taxes had to be added back into the interview process to gauge how board members would navigate issues. He was on the committee who selected the potential appointees, along with Councilman Randy Helms and County Commissioners Holly Williams and Carrie Geitner. 

The committee selected Aaron Salt, a business owner and recently elected conservative School Board District 20 member, and Erin Bents, a stay-at-home mom, from a pool of about 20 applicants. The committee did not recommend the re-appointment of board President Wayne Vanderschuere, a former Marine and a retired general manager of water for Colorado Springs Utilities, which concerned some city councilmembers. It is uncommon for the council not to reappoint board members, particularly those in leadership positions. 

“I am personally worried that too many people are thinking about their own agendas and not all about the people who need and use and love and have the library as their source of information,” Councilman Richard Skorman said during the meeting. 

The city council voted 5-4 to confirm Salt and Bents to the library board. While a majority was in favor, the appointment failed because two-thirds of the council must approve the appointments. The city attorney’s office was still researching the process for filling the board seats following the failure Tuesday. 

Councilman Wayne Williams said that rejecting the library board members was evidence of politics interfering in the process because in most cases city council members defer to the recommendations of their peers who interviewed the applicants. 

“This is really an unprecedented politicization,” he said.

While a decision about who will fill the two seats on the board of seven has been delayed, the discussion revealed some of the difficult decisions for the board. 

Williams said all the applicants were asked to give their opinions on controversial materials and how to address them with respect to children, an issue that Salt was asked to address during the meeting. 

“There is some material that I think would be objectionable that I would probably look to remove from the juvenile’s sections and the children’s sections,” he said. 

He also proposed an online portal of some kind that would allow parents to select books they did not want their child to check out, he said. 

The library district’s Chief Librarian and CEO John Spears said in an interview that the board is involved in the library’s collection development policy, but trained librarians make decisions about the materials to purchase and where to shelve them. 

The district also allows patrons to challenge the placement of materials. Since the district started keeping records in 1977, it has received 300 challenges and in fewer than 10% of cases the district moved an item, Spears said. 

“I think the processes we have in place have served this community well,” he said. 

Around the country challenges to books in school libraries have been increasing, particularly around contentious issues such as sexuality, gender identity and race, he said. 

Spears did not comment on whether he felt the Pikes Peak board was subject to politicization but he did emphasize the district’s commitment to serving the entire community. 

“We want to make sure that the integrity of the library that is there for everyone is something that is never violated,” he said. 

Potential board members were also asked how they might manage the district’s fiscal needs as the community grows, and whether a tax increase is needed. The candidates the committee selected did not rule out asking the voters for a tax increase, but would look for other solutions first, Williams said. 

Spears said the board has been exploring asking voters for a property tax increase because the last time the district raised taxes was 1986 and it would like to expand and add locations along Powers Boulevard and Marksheffel Road. Once new buildings are added, the district will need an ongoing increase in revenue to operate them, he said. The district’s general fund revenues were expected to bring in $36 million in 2021 to support 13 locations. 

“The issues that we are facing aren’t ones that are going to go away,” he said. 

The district turned down property in Monument for a new location, in part because it would have been financially irresponsible to open a new location in that area while leaving eastern parts of Colorado Springs unserved, he said. 

Williams said he is also undecided about whether the district needs a tax increase but noted the district’s budget has been increasing about $1 million annually. 

The councilman also raised concerns that the library board hadn’t been fully supportive of urban renewal projects, although Spears noted the board has never turned an urban renewal project down. The library board reviews proposed projects because urban renewal areas are allowed to keep tax revenue generated by the new homes or commercial buildings to pay for development costs. 

The tax revenue would not exist if the project is not built.

Spears said the board has been concerned about residential urban renewal projects because they will house many new potential library patrons, but the district will not see an increase in property tax revenue to serve those people. 

The district’s social worker and early pandemic coronavirus mask rules were also questioned closely. When the state lifted its mask mandate, the district followed that policy, Spears said.  

In the beginning of the pandemic, the libraries required masks for patrons 2 years old and older based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those rules loosened over time, and the minimum age for wearing a mask steadily increased, Spears said. 

The library allowed those uncomfortable with masks to visit outside of regular library hours, he said. 

Concerns were also raised about the library duplicating services offered by the Springs Rescue Mission. Spears said the library’s social worker has been helpful training other librarians to work with homeless patrons and de-escalate situations, he told the board. The district provides referrals to the Springs Rescue Mission and collaborates closely with them, he said. 

“A library is about access. We are unable to deny access to anyone, whether they are housed or unhoused,” he said. 

The Colorado Springs City Council failed to appoint new members to the Pikes Peak Library District Board amid a host of issues, including claims the process was getting politicized.  Gazette file photo