Lawrence County Public Library Gets “Clean Audit” Former Employees File Grievances

By Roberta Cantrell
BSN Editor

The Lawrence County Board Public Library of Trustees held their monthly meeting Monday, November 10 in what is now still considered public meetings but are no longer live online as they used to be.

During the meeting the Board accepted the directors report and minutes from the last meeting.

Three new employees were named as Shawna Hughes, Jacob Wells and Ryan Skaggs.

Also, during the meeting Anthony Workman (auditor) came back with a report that he explained to the board and giving his opinion that it was a “clean audit” that is comparable to the past two years.

However, not everything was clean according to two former employees as they filed grievances against LCPL Director Deanna Farris accusing her of making a “distrustful environment” at the library.

A statement to The Big Sandy News from former employees Andrea Meloche and Stephanie Queen regarding the grievances sent to the board reads:

“While we won’t be sending you our grievances verbatim at this time, we will say that the main concern we wanted to voice was about the distrustful environment that the current director has been fostering over the last year. There were multiple incidences when Deanna told us of accusations co-workers had made about our work performance separately and together, and things she told us that other employees had said about us. We later found out that her statements to us were false, and in fact no one had complained.

Though manipulative, we have been informed by the board that her actions are not technically in violation of any existing library policy and for our grievances to be taken into higher consideration we would have needed to file them before resigning.”

A statement signed by Board Chair Lindsay Smith that was prepared as an official response stated that “The Lawrence County Public Library Board of Trustees acknowledges receipt and careful review of the grievances filed on Oct. 31, concerning the conduct and practices of Library Director Deanna Farris. The board initiated an impartial review of the matters presented. This review included an examination of the relevant library policies and personal files.

Our primary finding is based on the established policies of the Lawrence County Public Library. The Board determined that the actions and decisions of the director outlined in the grievances did not constitute a violation of any current, established library board policy, administrative regulation, or legal requirement.

Given that the board’s review found no evidence of the policy violation by the director, and in light of the fact that the grievants voluntarily resigned from the library, the board determines that it has no actionable basis to pursue further disciplinary, remedial, or corrective measures related to these specific complaints. The matter of these grievances is therefore considered concluded and closed by the Library Board of Trustees.”

During further discussion in the meeting, Smith did explain that had both Meloche and Queen not voluntarily resigned before filing grievances and through chain of command, that more might have been done but they filed those as members of the community and not library employees which took it out of their hands.

However, Meloche fired back saying there was retaliation from Farris and they, along with other employees feared more and that was why she resigned.

Queen’s husband, who was also present agreed with Meloche saying his wife resigned for that reason as well.

Again, Smith said “there’s nothing at this point we can do.

Also, during the meeting Farris announced that policies for employees were long past being updated and for employees currently working at the library she suggested to the board that since full time employees get two personal days that part-time should get one day and that part time should get paid holidays same as full time and the for same for weather closings. I believe it’s only fair,” said Farris.

The next board meeting will be at noon, Monday, Dec. 8, at the library.