LIVINGSTON PARISH - Jonathan Rhett Davis was elected library board president last week after four board members, including the president and vice president, resigned at the end of the board's last regular meeting due to a vote not to renew the contract with the library system's current director.
That vote came on the heels of an executive session to discuss the matter, a vote which several board members expressed as 'unexpected.'
Davis spoke with the News about recent board decisions including the non-renewal of former library director Michelle Parish's contract and his proposal to remove the requirement that the library director hold a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree.
Davis has political experience serving on the Walker City Council, service on the Republican State Central Committee, and work as a legislative assistant for former Representative, now State Senator, Valerie Hodges. He served as a delegate for Ted Cruz in 2016 and Donald Trump in the recent election cycle.
"I like to tell people I have the heart of a servant," Davis said, explaining his motivation for public service in an interview with the News. "It's one of the best things that I get from my grandmother." When approached about joining the library board during a period of controversy, he said he "thought it would be great to jump on board and try to be a voice of reason."
After the board voted not to renew Parrish's contract and four members of the board resigned, Davis was elected as the new president by the remaining board members. Davis immediately called a special meeting, scheduled for three days later, to change the hiring policy from requiring the library director to hold an MLIS degree to requiring any master's degree. Davis said his proposal to remove this requirement came after speaking with his former high school chemistry teacher, who told him state requirements only require a master's degree, not specifically in library science.
"I thought that would be an easy step forward," Davis explained. "I thought it would open up the pool to candidates that I believe are qualified, such as principals or former principals and educators."
According to Davis, scheduling issues, not urgency, drove the timing of the special meeting to consider this change. "We were not going to be able to have a quorum at one point over the next three to four weeks, all of the existing board members were going to be on vacation," he said.
However, after the special meeting was scheduled, Davis decided it was best to table the agenda item on removing the MLIS requirement to allow more time for discussion and public input.
"I know a lot of people have disagreed with me on that, and that is one of the biggest reasons why we delayed the vote, because it came up real fast," Davis said regarding his motion to table. "I wanted everybody to have a decent amount of time to actually come and give real public comment.
"We want to make sure that everybody has enough time to gather their thoughts, their arguments, you know, send us messages on Facebook, comment, do whatever they want to over the next month, so that we have all the public input in order to make the best decision moving forward."
After Davis made a motion, the board approved tabling the item.
When asked about the decision not to renew Michelle Parish's contract, Davis said he "thought the best move forward was to make sure that in the future, we have a director that can work with the whole board instead of half of the board."
He said this decision was part of a broader approach, referencing comments made during earlier meetings.
"I really listened to Ricky Goff speak whenever he said that this was a good time to wipe the slate clean," Davis explained. "I really feel like that sentiment carried on to everybody, not just the board members.
"So I thought that decision really did wipe the entire length clean. It allowed us to start fresh, start anew."
Davis said he's satisfied with current library operations.
"I believe the library needs to be doing exactly what it's doing right now," he began. "We are providing public information, access to computers and technology being a source for people to come in and read books."
The board plans to conduct an open application process for the director position. Davis said while he has received recommendations for candidates, no one has been pre-selected.
