Randolph County Commissioners could be voting on new bylaws for the recently dissolved public library board of trustees in the coming weeks.
Back in December, the commissioners dismissed all of the trustees after they voted to keep a book about a transgender boy in the children’s section of the library.
The commission also scrapped the bylaws that governed the trustees, leaving a totally blank slate.
There was no action on the matter at this month’s meeting. But Commissioner Hope Haywood says board members have been talking individually with the county attorney to share what they'd like to see in the new bylaws.
She's looking to incorporate term limits, which weren’t in place before. Haywood says multiple trustees had served for more than 10 years.
“We are hoping to get something in place and maybe have something as early as our February meeting to bring out and to vote on," Haywood says.
The decision to dismiss the entire library board drew criticism from many Randolph residents and even made it into the national spotlight. During the public comment portion of the commission's January meeting, one resident, Virginia Wall, called for the trustees to be "reinstated immediately."
"They were fired as a group," Wall said. "What is it exactly that the next board is going to be asked to do in similar situations?"
Haywood says commissioners will begin the process of appointing members to the board once the new bylaws are approved. But she doubts that previous trustees will rejoin the board.
"That would depend on a commissioner appointing them," she said. "I do think I would be surprised if anybody that was on it was willing to serve again after the way they were publicly treated."
Haywood added that she and her colleagues have no plans to serve as trustees themselves.
