I thought my sister loved me, but then she threw down a gauntlet (perhaps not purposefully) about National Blog Posting Month, which is celebrated every November. It has often been celebrated on this blog and will be for the rest of the month.
Yesterday was election day and I was actually on the ballot! It was pretty fun to vote for myself and the campaign I ran with my friend Angela (who won!!) created a community conversation about the library that will be good in the long run. Also good in the long run? The incumbent lost! The library needed him to move on and the voters made it happen.
Unfortunately, Del Norte County wasn't ready for TWO Angelas on the library board and I came in third, by fewer than 100 votes. With only two available seats, it means I won't be adding the library board to my to do list. Our larger goal of bringing change to the library board was achieved, though, and that's the most important outcome.
Thanks for all the support and watch for improvements in our library coming soon!
Three years after I was legally able to vote, the Del Norte Library Board of Trustees appeared on the ballot for our local election.
They have not appeared since and I just turned 45. It's been a long time.
But this year, the Board of Trustees will be on the ballot again because I am running for one of the two available seats! I am just a few signatures away from having my nominating papers completed and I've already filed my initial papers. I am running with my friend Angela (one of many awesome Angelas in our community).
Why are we running? We started attending the monthly Board meetings back in September because of a restrictive new borrowing policy and kept going because of what we saw in the first few meetings. Now our local newspaper is covering the issues we have been witnessing, so you can read all about it.
The first article was about an unrestricted fund balance that the Board of Trustees denied actually existed from November until June, when the county auditor came to their meeting and told them that it did, indeed, exist.
Angela and I wrote a letter to the editor in response, announcing our intention to run for the Board of Trustees in November.
Last week, the Board of Trustees called a special meeting to discuss the first Triplicate article. Many people showed up, including the Triplicate reporter who wrote the first article. He has now filed two follow-up stories. The first appeared on Tuesday and was about the meeting generally. Today's is specifically about the Board's avoidance of elections and their recent appointment process to fill a vacant seat on the Board. The article itself isn't online yet (should be up either tomorrow or Saturday morning), but you can see a picture of the front page with the prominent headline on the Triplicate's home page.
All the stories have been front page, above the fold. The July meeting of the Board of Trustees is on Thursday the 24th at 9am at the library. If you are local, please consider attending the meeting. The Board will be finalizing their budget for this fiscal year and discussing the fate of the $346,000 surplus.
(Those of you who know me AND can do math will notice that a quote was attributed to me in today's article that should have been attributed to the "other" Angela. She was, indeed, just 8 when a Board of Trustees position last appeared on the ballot. I was legal to drink that year, so a little bit older.)
