CUMBERLAND — Two seats on the Allegany County Library System Board of Trustees remain vacant.
Board members Sue Rudd and Artie Travis don’t plan to renew their terms.
“Per state law, the library makes a recommendation to the commissioners,” Allegany County Administrator Jason Bennett said in early June. “The commissioners are to … take action on them.”
At that time, the library system suggested Rosa Garcia and Meghan Murphy fill the vacancies.
However, the commissioners indicated the seven-member library board should include representatives from the Westernport and Georges Creek branches, and rejected the two proposed appointments.
The county library system has branches in Frostburg, LaVale, Westernport, Lonaconing, South Cumberland and on Washington Street in Cumberland.
“There should be one (board member) from every region … and then one at-large member,” Commissioner Bill Atkinson said at that time.
On Thursday, the commissioners received from the library system the same two names.
Trish Morgan, president of Save the Westernport Library, asked commissioners to again reject the suggestions.
“I’m not here to say anything bad about those two people, I’m sure that they’re well qualified,” she said.
“However, county commissioners said one must be from Westernport and one must be from the Georges Creek Library area,” Morgan said and added of the two suggested names, “one person is from Cumberland and one person is from Frostburg.”
Representation on the library system board from Westernport and Georges Creek “is about fairness and equality,” she said.
The two towns want “a say about our own libraries,” Morgan said.
Lonaconing Mayor Jack Coburn said he agreed with Morgan.
“With the two board members leaving now, it only makes logic, sense, why wouldn’t you want a representative each place a library sits?” he said.
“We vote, we pay taxes,” Coburn said of Westernport and Lonaconing residents. “But there is absolutely no one on that (library) board from that part of the county.”
Vicky Brenneman said the county needs “representation from every area” on the library board.
“Please help us get somebody on the board who will make some good decisions,” she said.
The commissioners rejected the library system’s suggested board appointments and asked for submission of additional names to represent all towns where branches are located.