MONTGOMERY — Members of the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee passed legislation creating a removal process for local library board members.
The bill by State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) has been introduced in previous sessions. It would allow city councils and county commissions to remove members of library boards they oversee by a two-thirds vote.
Under existing law, county and municipal library boards are appointed by the respective county or municipal governing body. The bill would provide that library board members serve at the pleasure of their respective appointing authority and may be removed by a two-thirds vote of that authority.
"This simply provides in my mind a middle of the road way to solve some of these library issues that we've had where each individual municipality or each individual county commission is in control of their library board and not us where we're not dealing with the library issues here in Montgomery we're letting Jefferson County do what's good for Jefferson County, Birmingham do what's good for Birmingham, Auburn do what's good for Auburn, Prattville do what's good for Prattville, and Orange Beach do what's good for Orange Beach. That's the basis of the legislation," Elliott said during the committee meeting.
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