By Brennan Kaufmann | Denver Gazette
Nearly five months after the term expired for the Pikes Peak Library District’s former Board of Trustees director, city and county officials will meet to discuss who to appoint to the open seat.
The library liaisons for the Colorado Springs City Council and the El Paso County Commissioners are in charge of narrowing down the list of applicants and recommending who to appoint to the entire body. Lynette Crow-Iverson and Nancy Henjum oversee the process on the city side, while Carrie Geitner and Holly Williams serve on the county side.
The four officials of the Joint Appointment Committee will meet May 19 at Colorado Springs City Hall to review the final list of applicants for the library and recommend the next board member. The appointment will need to be confirmed by the city council and commissioners before they begin serving.
Dora Gonzales’ term as a board member and board director expired at the end of December. The library district bylaws say that if a board position is not filled when a trustee’s term expires, they remain on the board until a successor is chosen, leaving Gonzales in place for the last five months.
The future makeup of the library board is facing heightened scrutiny after the Board of Trustees voted last fall not to renew the lease for Rockrimmon Library, which closed the branch. Board members cited the financial limits for capital projects and a recommendation in the district’s facilities master plan to move away from rented library spaces.
The decision was immediately met with backlash from residents who said the board did not look at any alternatives before letting Rockrimmon close. A group of City Council members sent a letter asking the board to reconsider the decision and retain the library for another year.
The library district first posted the application for the board seat in September and reposted it in November. Between the two rounds, 51 people applied to join the board.