Libraries are so, so much more than books.

She and Deb Jung both.

We’ve already established that the county auditor does have the right to conduct a financial audit per section 213. In fact, HCLS provides a financial report to the county (and state) each year. This is consistent with a legal entity that must show accountability for the funds it receives.

A financial audit does not involve conducting what amounts to a stake-out. (Which was done before the county solicitor or council gave him permission to investigate.) Nor does it involve interrogations of employees. It involves reviewing financial records.

The original complaint had allegations that amounted to financial, ethical, and HCLS policy violations. The county auditor only had the statutory right to conduct an audit based on the financial aspect of the complaint. It is solely within the purview of the Board of Trustees to investigate ethical and policy violations, as they are the ones who set the policies to begin with. The CEO reports to them.

That’s the core issue here: the county auditor did not stay in his lane, so the HCLS Board of Trustees asserted their authority. As well they should have.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I suspect the political win is the likely story.

Both of the articles that have been written on this topic (here and here) indicate the library system referred to itself as a state agency.

Beyond that, I've provided multiple sources of evidence in this thread.

-I've shown the legal code that establishes the state library board and agency as the governing and directing bodies over all public libraries in Maryland, and sets forth the powers and duties for local library Boards of Trustees (such as that in Howard County).

-I've shown the website for the Maryland State Library Agency, which states as one of its duties to provide oversight of all Maryland public libraries.

-I've shown the legal code for Howard County that has absolutely no regulation, code, policy, or procedure regarding HCLS (but does for other county departments such as DHCD).

-I've shown the County Auditor's fiscal report that indicates HCLS being a separate legal entity and thus subject only to fiscal auditing of the funds it receives from the County.

If an entity's existence is implemented by State statute, if the powers and duties of its governing body (the Board of Trustees) are established, authorized, and delegated by the State, and if the county government has no legal authority or statutory oversight over it beyond the right to audit the funding provided, then that makes it a state agency.

Additionally, page 42 of the Howard County Auditor's 2022 Comprehensive Financial Report indicates HCLS (as well as HCPSS and two other organizations) being a separate legal entity from the County. They are included in the report only due to their receipt of funding from the County.

This is also why you'll find nothing in the Howard County code governing the HCLS and its operations.

https://cc.howardcountymd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=n3VwAQoZUnY%3d&tabid=132&portalid=0

Md. Code, Educ. § 23-401:

(a) The governing body of each county may establish, and appropriate an amount to support, a county public library system free from political influence.

(b) Each county public library system shall be governed by a board of trustees. However, a charter county may:

(1) Establish a county library agency and grant it some or all of the powers of a board of trustees; or

(2) Have a board of library trustees, provide for the board's selection, and determine its powers.

Howard County is a charter county. Thus, by having chosen to have a board of trustees, HCLS is not a county library agency.

https://casetext.com/statute/code-of-maryland/article-education/division-iv-other-education-provisions/title-23-libraries/subtitle-4-county-public-libraries/section-23-401-authorized

That’s exactly what that means.

Here’s how you know: the policies and operations of both HCPSS and HCLS are not governed by or under the purview of the Howard County Council or County Executive, but rather, they are each governed by their own oversight boards, each of which is under the purview of (and reports to) their respective state agencies (the MSDE and MSLA, respectively).

The HCLS Board of Trustees is the governing body of the HCLS. They set and enforce the policies governing the operation of the library. They investigated the situation and found that this was within policy and not without precedent.

Respectfully, why is that not good enough?

A key piece of information here is this: AKA was not just some “outside organization” having an event in a meeting room at the library because they needed a place to do it. Rather, AKA launched an exhibit in the Equity Resource Center the week of the event. This was considered a partnership event as a result, and the event was held in the Equity Resource Center.

The library can (and does) close early for its own events, as you noted.

They are under the purview of the Maryland State Library Agency. https://casetext.com/statute/code-of-maryland/article-education/division-iv-other-education-provisions/title-23-libraries/subtitle-1-state-library-agencies/section-23-106-powers-and-duties-of-state-library-agency

>> BUT what is missing from the HCLS's report is any mention of the 4-hour early closing. (I read kinda fast, maybe I missed it.) My guess is this is actually a policy loophole, there's probably no policy that actually prohibits this. But it's so strange, I can't imagine the library agreeing to do that for other events.

That is covered in the HCLS report.

The HCLS IS a state agency. This is not ambiguous.

The county has the right to conduct financial audits due to provision of funds to the library. (The statutory wording is “examination or audit of the accounts.”) That’s it. The Board of Trustees would be responsible for determining if misuse of facilities occurred.

Staking out an event intended to celebrate a Black civic organization’s exhibit at the library, because some racist asshole assumed the Black CEO was a member having a private party, is not what a financial audit looks like.

@phil_g The Library Board of Trustees is the governing body to whom the HCLS CEO and staff report. This report is from them, not the CEO. They weren’t investigating themselves; they were investigating the employee(s) for whom they are responsible for overseeing.

Regarding the HCLS’ reluctance to cooperate: the CEO cooperated fully with the Auditor’s initial questions, though by statute she wasn’t obligated or required to. Then he took it further with the weird stake-out and subsequent interrogations instead of handing this over to the Board of Trustees. Given that the HCLS is a state agency and not subject to the county auditor, if I’d been facing such aggressive tactics from someone with no jurisdiction over me, I’d tell them to pound sand, too.

Ugh. I hate to hear this.

Please contact the Fair Housing Action Center of Maryland; they can help you work through this and understand your rights as a tenant. https://www.fairhousingmd.org/housing-inquiry-form/

Agreed. Good luck!!!!!!

I got confirmation that you can reach out to the Fair Housing Advocacy Center of Maryland for help. https://www.fairhousingmd.org/housing-inquiry-form/

I’ll do some asking around and see if I can get some info for you. That sounds like bullshit.