Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Prattville City Council voted to postpone the appointments of two members to the Autauga-Prattville Library Board at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Douglas Darr and Donnie Bethel were both on the council’s agenda for Darr’s reappointment and Bethel’s appointment to the board.
Councilman Marcus Jackson spoke up before each respective resolution was voted on and made a motion to postpone the appointments. Jackson stated that he had received numerous emails from concerned citizens and constituents regarding the appointments.
Each resolution concerning the appointments passed to hold over the vote until the next city council meeting on Dec. 17th.
“I’ve received several emails and texts this afternoon concerning agenda item four and six. For the sake of a little bit more time, clarity and understanding on a couple things, I’m going to ask if we could possibly table this to the next meeting,” Jackson said.
This comes after almost a year of ongoing litigations surrounding the Autauga-Prattville Public Library and back and forth with multiple opposing groups surrounding the library’s policies. These include book placements, hiring and firing of library staff, volunteer processes and more. The opposing groups, Read Freely Alabama and Clean Up Alabama have been publicly speaking on the topic since last year.
Jackie Nix, a supporter of Read Freely stated in public comment that Darr has been active on the board in both events that have led to litigation and that Bethel’s wife has been known to speak publicly on behalf of Clean Up Alabama.
“A vote yes means you agree with the mismanagement of our taxpayer dollars. A vote yes means you agree with the denial of constitutional rights to citizens in this city. A vote yes means you agree to turning our public library into a political football. Today you get to choose whether you keep your hands clean in this matter or if you want to roll in the political mud with the Autauga County Commissioners. Please choose wisely,” Nix said.
At the end of the meeting, several public commenters thanked the City Council for their diligence and support of the public library and for being steadfast in protecting children.
Darr serves as the current secretary for the Prattville-Autauga Library Board in a one-year rotating position. His current one-year term expired last month on the 30th.
If appointed, Bethel takes the city’s vacancy on the board, due to the resignation of Christine Sellers in February of this year. If appointed, Bethel’s term will be through November of 2025, according to the resolution read at Tuesday evening’s Council meeting.
The two city appointments on the agenda come after the Autauga County Commission’s reappointment of the current Chairman of the Board, Ray Boles, who was reappointed at the last Autauga County Commission Meeting in November.
However, according to the Autauga- Prattville Public Library website, the board is comprised of seven members in total. Three members are appointed by the City of Prattville, meaning the Prattville City Council, and three members are appointed by the Autauga County Commission. The seventh member serves in a one-year capacity and the appointment of the seventh member rotates from the City of Prattville to the Autauga County Commission.
The resolutions read in at the Prattville City Council state a one-year term for each appointment. However, the website states that the appointment of board members outside of the rotating seventh member should be serving four-year terms.
Having both County and City appointments is due to the fact the library building is both owned by the City of Prattville and Autauga County.
There are no Library Board meetings scheduled for 2025 so far. However, the Autauga- Prattville Public Library website states that, starting in 2024, the board will be meeting quarterly on the first Thursday of February, May, August and November at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted on the website.
