Cross_cutting

34:50 A decade of my career has been spent here serving Southwest Washington at Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. So don't take it lightly when I say I love the communities here in Southwest Washington. I'm also a union member, I represent AFSCME Local 307L, the librarian serving everyone across Southwest Washington. And I'm also a concerned citizen who is concerned about the conduct of the FRL Libraries Board. So you're probably aware of the library board setting aside the strategic plan, which cost our library district $400,000 because there's a disagreement of language. Because they voted their concerns, public came out in force to talk about why they supported the strategic plan as written. Our trustees sat there for two months, listened to hours of overwhelmingly supportive public comment.

35:46 And then voted on their own third option that did not have review by the public, that did not allow public comment. And you maybe weren't in that library board meeting, but I was there. And you cannot imagine my heartbreaking as a librarian watching our public leave a library board meeting disheartened, betrayed. The trust in our library board has been broken. Do you know how many libraries there are in Clark County? There are nine. And of those nine, seven of them have really active friends groups. And if you don't know who the friends groups are, they are our most engaged, our volunteer run. They raise funds for the library just because they love the library. Of those friends groups, six of them voted no confidence in our library board. These are our people who do nothing but things for the library. And they do not speak up about things because they trust the library to do its work.

36:45 This is a canary in the coal mine to demonstrate the broken trust in the library board. Now I'm bringing this to all of you because you have two candidates coming up, a Skamania County candidate and a City of Vancouver candidate. And I know that in the past it's just been a yep, we trust in these people. But we need you to build a better board to serve Southwest Washington, where everyone can see themselves in the library, where people know they are heard. Where I can do my work as a librarian. I'm very excited to start your Clark County bookmobile this year. But I need to know that this county is actually going to pay attention to what our library board is doing and take accountability for the board members they appoint. Thank you. >> Great, thank you very much. Maria Koch. >> Hello, my name is Marla Koch.

37:43 I'm a resident and enthusiastic library user. I am also here to speak on behalf of the libraries. I heard about some rumblings in the library board meetings, so I started attending in December. And I listened for three board meetings in a row as the community came out strongly in favor of adopting the five year plan as written. At the end of all that comment, the board voted against it. I was disappointed because I was for it. But I was outraged because they voted against what the community was saying they wanted. Now maybe the whole community isn't represented there, but it was hundreds of people. So I think that's fairly representative. I know you had a special hearing about this, a workshop on April 11th. And at the end of it you concluded that nothing was done that would justify removal of your library board members. I would just like to throw this out there.

38:40 The word ethics was in dispute. They wanted the word ethics removed from the five year plan. And they wanted to redefine intellectual freedom to open the door for censorship. The library board's rules of ethics say that they will maintain independent judgment without regard to personal benefits, special interests, or influence of partisan political groups. I feel like the word ethics is charged because of partisan politics. So perhaps taking issue with a word that in and of itself has a definition, has no charge to it, might be related to partisan politics. They are to avoid situations in which personal interests might be served. I don't want to guess at their personal agenda, but to vote against the community might be serving some personal interests. And they should be prepared to support the efforts of library staff in resisting censorship. They were working actively to allow censorship.

39:40 Another thing I'm concerned about is you have two people coming before. They were introduced last night at the library board meeting. I did a public records request on the Skamania County candidate they're gonna put before you. His name is Richard Mahar. I'm looking at the letter that he sent to promote himself. And he said, I am committed to representing the taxpayers in the district, including the nearly 50% of Skamania voters who did not support the most recent library levy. He is planning to be a champion for people who aren't in support of libraries. He said there are many ways people seek out literacy, education, and freedom. Libraries are one way, but not the only way. I know there are opposing views, but I would hope our library board are champions for libraries. The community needs them to be champions for libraries.

40:37 So this will probably come up as a consent agenda item soon. I hope you'll take a serious look at that candidate. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Please forgive me if I say this last name incorrectly. Brad Laspy. >> That's really good, thank you. >> Thank you. >> We'll get this up here. I'll bend over. Good evening, council, I appreciate your time tonight. My name's Brad Laspy. I'm the co-chair of the Haysville Parade of Bands. And the resolution concerning non-county sponsored community events happened because of us, so I thought I'd give you a little bit of background. I've been doing it since '87. Costs go up every year just like it does for everything in the world, and we struggle to raise enough money to do the parade every year. We'd got an email from Public Works that stated they wouldn't be able to support

41:36 the parade this year, and it was considered a private event. Our big issue, I think, is that we think it's a community event. This year we have 27 bands, we have 3,500 people in the parade. We have 15 to 20,000 people that watch the parade if the weather's decent, as we know. Kids get candy, they do chalk in the middle of the streets. It's free to families. All of our volunteers are not compensated. I appreciate county staffs working on this. We got to the point, quite honestly, where we looked up what it would cost us if we could find anybody to do it, to provide the services that Public Works provide. And it was not feasible financially or logistically. There was no way we were gonna be able to do it. So we were thinking about canceling the parade for the first time in 60 years. We decided to throw a Hail Mary.

42:34 We contacted Counselor Belcott, who represents most of our district, as our District 2 rep. She was able to meet with county staff, the county manager, and give us a reprieve for this year. And now the resolution is in front of you that would take care of it for five years. It puts a limit on it. If it's a little bit over the limit, we can probably raise the funds for that. But it does put a limit on it. We do consider it a community event, and we would appreciate you if you would approve this resolution. Thank you. >> Thank you. Carmen De Leon. >> Yeah, I'm Carmen De Leon, I go by Mellow. So it's my understanding it's open public comment. I don't have to stay on agenda items. Okay, because to me, it may not seem like a big deal to some people until it is. And to me, it is a big deal.

43:32 And it is when I look at New York that I used to love to go to, I wouldn't step foot there anymore. They're having Sharia law, prayer three times a day at Madison Square Garden, and it sickens me. Cuz if I was to do that, people would come up to me, oh, you're pushing your agenda on me. Well, you know what? We need to look at behind that, it says in God we trust. In the White House, they're reading the Bible from start to finish right now. There's a reason. Now I know it's not perfect. I know you lose half in the translation. But how many lives have been saved because it says do not kill? Because it has given people some guidance. I know it's not perfect because it came from humans. I don't think it's perfect. But I know that Sharia law sure the hell ain't perfect. Because if you're worshiping somebody who likes some less children, we gotta have something in our, what's it called? They say it's racist not to let them into the country. I say it's protection.

44:31 And when our president says not to let certain people into the country because