Former Christian County Public Library Board of Trustees President Allyson Tuckness says she knew she wouldn’t be in the position much longer, but she was still surprised by the timing. “Since there is only about three more meetings until our next election,” she explained, “I was a little taken aback.”
The Board elects officers every December. The only election on the agenda last month was filling a vacant vice-president position, but Tuesday, August 27, at the regular meeting of the Library’s Board, the newest trustee John Garrity read a prepared statement and introduced a motion to reorganize and elect an entire slate of officers. The board removed Tuckness from the role of president and elected trustee Echo Alexzander.
Tuckness has served as a trustee since 2022. Her term ends in 2026. She says she’s not sure if she’ll stick it out, and when asked if she thinks she would be appointed to the board today if she applied, she replied simply, “no.”
The process has changed since Tuckness was appointed. Per the Christian County Library policy manual, the Christian County Library’s Board of Trustees shall make “recommendations for appointment and re-appointment of members to the Library Board.”
Per state statute though, the power simply rests with the county commission, and starting last summer, the Christian County Commission has overseen the entire process themselves. In June of last year, the Board of Trustees voted down a hypothetical book content rating system. In July 2023, the commission appointed now Board President Alexzander and Board Vice President Diana Brazeale. They appointed trustee John Garrity this July. In reporting at the time of the change in procedure and since, Presiding Christian County Commissioner Lynn Morris has said the commission stepped in due to community feedback.
Since 2022, there have been tensions between the library district and members of their community — tensions that are obvious during public comment periods at board meetings.
Many speakers have been coming monthly for almost two years. Among other criticisms and requests, speakers have largely called for policies to rate and sequester materials and for the labeling and/or removal of LGBTQ+ material that they have described as anti-Christian, pornographic and indoctrinating. They’ve often directly criticized Tuckness and the Library’s Executive Director, Renee Brumett, and at times the meeting has come to a halt due to outbursts and back-and-forth between attendees and trustees.
Speakers have at times used their speaking time to lead the room in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Their perspective has been reflected in several online blogs focused on conservative Christian perspectives on news and culture in the region, namely a Blogspot site called “Right to Win Ozarks” and a Substack titled “Hick Christian.”
Gretchen Garrity, wife of new trustee John Garrity, is a contributor to these online sites and has spoken regularly at meetings.
Voices in the minority at board meetings have pushed back against these perspectives and spoken in support of what they at times describe as the freedom to read. U-Turn in Education, a group organized against book banning in the Nixa School District, has taken an interest with an online petition.
The library district itself says statistics show the community uses and supports the library. “Our community feedback,” explained Nicholas Holladay, Director of Community Engagement for the Christian County Library, “shows that our circulation numbers have gone up each month, our door counts are going up, attendance to events goes up, computer usage goes up. Providing materials, providing events; providing services has not been severely impacted by what is going on at the board meetings.”
Holladay said in the week following the reshuffle in leadership they did hear from users worried books were being removed from the library. He clarified several motions the board made at the meeting. He said they made public notes from a closed meeting the board had previously had with legal advisors concerning labeling material, and they asked Library Executive Director Renee Brumett to return to their next meeting with two things to help them consider a labeling procedure.
He explained that the board asked for “options for stickers that say LGBTQ and a list of subject headings that Library of Congress has under the broader (subject) LGBTQ.”
The board’s next meeting is Tuesday, September 24.
For her part, Tuckness says she wouldn’t have done anything differently. “My community has been behind me,” Tuckness said, “and I’ve had a lot of support from a lot of people in the county, in the community, so for that reason I choose to believe that this is not the majority. And I am trying to hold on to that and hope that that becomes clearer.”
Board of Trustees President Alexzander declined a request for an interview for this story. Trustees Brazeale and Garrity had not responded to requests at time of publication.