The county commission made two more changes to the Library Board at a called meeting last week.

Commissioners said the seat held by Angela Lewis, who was appointed to replace Larry Condon, had expired. Since there were eight members, and state law only calls for seven, they left it open. John Pippenger said when he was put on the Board, his understanding was that the Library Board had been told they could add an elected official to the seven regular members.

In addition, they appointed Tiffany Boring to replace another seat that had apparently expired. The commission left it up to the Board to decide which seat should have been replaced.

Attorney Jim Logan, who is representing the commission on the library lawsuit, advised that it appears the Board has not been properly constituted. He had gone through the minutes of the Board and the County Commission and said it appears that the proper rotations of Board members has not been followed. According to the records, there are five seats that will expire next year, when there should only be two or three in any year. Thus, he said, there is still at least one seat, and possibly two, that should have been appointed before now. He said this has apparently been going on for a long time.

Logan said there is no question in his mind that there is at least one additional vacancy, probably two, to bring it into compliance. “It’s clear that the present constitution is illegal,” he said. Bishop said they can’t figure it out from the minutes. There were five coming up in 2009 (Angela Lewis, David Beckler, Jenny Rogers, Ann Rymer, Ann Dunn) , he said, and there can only be three. He said it was obvious that the Condon/Lewis seat has expired so that means there is one vacancy to be filled now. Logan said he thought it should be two.

With the Lewis seat up, Bishop said, that brings the Board back to seven. Brooks said they need to appoint one person and suggested Boring. Daniel Deal made the motion to appoint Boring, with the seat to expire in 2010. The Board will be asked to decide which position is to expire.

Pippenger commented that he has been asked why this has suddenly become an issue and pointed out the library lawsuit has brought it to the commission’s attention. The Library Board joined the Friends of the Library in a lawsuit against the county commission for reneging on a decision to fund operations of new libraries.

Bishop said with a lawsuit the attorney has to look at standing and Logan discovered that the Board was not constituted right. Logan said the first thing an attorney does is look at whether a person has the right to sue. Brooks asked what would happen if there was a Board member who voted on the lawsuit who was expired. Logan said that could be an issue. “I think there will have to be a vote by a property constituted Board,” he said, adding one of his responses to the lawsuit is that the Board does not have the right to bring suit anyway.

At its regular meeting last month, the commission turned down the Board’s recommendation for two seats that were expiring. The Library Board recommended that Harriett Frye and Nesbitt Dalton continue their service, but the commission replaced them with Arnold Hambright and John (Nick) Hembree. Wanda Cheek was appointed to replace John Pippenger as commission representative.