Published: 8:45 AM, 08/18/2009

Last updated: 11:44 AM, 11/23/2009

By: Scott Nicholson

More than a month after former Watauga County head librarian John Blake said he was forced to resign, the county library board met to seek answers.

The board members met Tuesday afternoon at the Agricultural Conference Center in Boone to discuss the matter but got few answers during the meeting. 

A group calling itself "Concerned Library Supporters" presented a statement to the local library board saying they had "high praise" for Blake.

The group claimed the board had not followed bylaws and asked the board to acknowledge a failure and "to commit to the rigorous implementation of their currently existing bylaws and personnel policies in the future."

The bylaws grant the regional director the authority to make recommendations on personnel decisions but gives final authority to the local board in each county.

George Bard spoke for the group, referring to the "unfortunate termination" of Blake, saying the group consisted of library volunteers, former board members, Friends of the Library, and fund-raising supporters. Bard said Blake had made many contributions in his five years of service, earning the "the respect of many members of this community."

Bard said the major concern was maintaining good hiring practices and keeping the process "fair, open and legal." Bard called for a rigorous interpretation of the bylaws, citing a bylaws section that gives the local board responsibility for budgets and personnel matters within the county system.

Bard said Louise Humphrey, director of the three-county Appalachian Regional Library system, terminated Blake even though he was an employee of the Appalachian Regional Board and not of the director. "The director was wrong for assuming the hiring and firing when the bylaws are clear that the authority lies with the board," Bard said.

Jodi Stewart, a Wilkes County attorney representing the regional library board, said the regional board takes a position that Blake resigned and was not terminated. She said the local board was only an advisory board but the local board does not make final decisions.

Shelby Lane, who heads the library's endowment fund, said Blake's resignation was a forced resignation "that was a fancy name for 'firing.'" She said the local board had always presented candidates and they had always been approved by the regional board.

"We know our librarian better than anyone else does," Lane said, adding that some contact with the local board should be expected before a dismissal. "Even if it's legal, it's not the moral and right thing to do."

Stewart said the regional board had not asked for Blake's resignation and had not voted on the action.

Local board member George Holloway said he had 60 years of experience with libraries and it was always the board that made decisions, not the director. Holloway said the local board served at the pleasure of the county commissioners.

Local board member Joseph Bathanti said he had no idea why Blake was fired and said he was thunderstruck by the action. Bathanti said he saw nothing inflammatory in Blake's actions leading up to the resignation.

Humphrey had no comment and said Blake's situation was a personnel matter protected by confidentiality laws. Local board director Jean Czermak also said she couldn't comment.

Lane said whether it was a firing or a resignation, it cast the library systems in a poor light. "There are lot of people saying 'Why are we part of the regional library system? What do we get out of it? Why don't we leave it ?'"
Lane said the local board members "feel like they've been hit with a hammer," and said the action "did nothing to improve the regional library system or the Watauga County Library system."

Lane said she wanted to focus on the future and in following bylaws in the hiring procedure for a new county librarian. "We believe John Blake was a fantastic librarian," she said.

Czermak said a search committee would be formed to hire a new county librarian, with only board members serving on the committee. Some questioned whether Blake's position was actually vacant if he had been forced to leave in violation of bylaws.

Bathanti said the personnel action "turned his stomach" and as a member of the board, he felt like an accomplice to an action he knew nothing about. "I didn't have a directive," he said. "I had no idea what he (Blake) did."

Czermak said she was present when Humphrey allegedly asked Blake to resign but would not say whether he had been forced to resign. "To every story, there are always two sides," Czermak said.

Several people in attendance said the county should consider leaving the regional library system. Czermak said, "You'd only be hurting yourself."

The local board met in closed session to discuss personnel issues, with Stewart saying she was representing both the local board and the regional board. No action emerged from the closed session.

Scott Nicholson may be reached at nicholson@wataugademocrat.com.

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