After less than three months in his position, Floyd Council announced his resignation as executive director of the Carnegie Public Library of Clarksdale and Coahoma County Monday morning.
Council issued a statement announcing his resignation to the community on social media, thanking the community for allowing him to serve the Clarksdale Carnegie Library.
A career librarian with an impressive resume that includes St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville and Dallas, the resignation came as a shock but not a surprise for a community that saw JoAnn Blue resign abruptly after seven years with the library in September.
Council said on Tuesday he believes board chair Shelia Winters is the problem.
“I would consider coming back (as executive director) only if she is leaving,” Council said. “For what that woman has done has influenced my health so bad.”
Council said some issues may prompt litigation, he would not comment on what they might be.
“What I can tell you is for many years the library system has been under a strong hold for board leadership,” Council said. “What I want to say is there are some members of the board who are very active or very passionate, at least one is intent upon destroying the library system. More than 30 days ago, I filed a grievance against Shelia Winters on behalf of myself and my staff. Still no answer. For more than 30 days, I have not even had a meeting with Shelia Winters.”
Council said the complaints will continue.
“I wanted to be perfectly clear,” Council said. “I am planning to file a state ethics complaint against Ms. Winters and the library board and I’m planning to file an EEOC case on discrimination based on hostile work environment and other areas.”
Council said problems started before he took his position in January. He said no background check or anything was in place so his starting date was delayed one week to Jan. 11.
“From day one, she (Winters) started a pattern of inappropriate behavior in trying to get me to strong arm my staff,” Council said. “When I refused to do it, she started turning the table on me.”
Council said Winters attempted to control things to the point where she did not allow him to talk to any other board member for 45 days.
“I brought my dreams and my passions home to Clarksdale for the young kids who would never have an opportunity other than to see the library,” Council said.
He said he was working on local, state and national partnerships with the library.
Not every board member was a problem Council said.
“There are some very good trustees on this board, but they are not getting any support from county supervisors to get unqualified trustees off this board,” Council said.
He also enjoyed the position itself.
“I loved my staff and we loved each other,” Council said.
Library board attorney Ted Connell said he was aware of Council’s resignation as of Tuesday morning, but he did not have any other information at that time.
Attempts were made to reach out to each of the board members to find out the reason for the resignation, if there were any concerns and the next step for the library. No board members would speak on the record. Winters again deferred comments to Connell.
Janet Coursin, an independent consultant who was contracted to be the bookkeeper when Sarah Ruskey was executive director of the library, offered her views on her personal experience at the library. Coursin resigned in late 2019.
Coursin believes Winters has not handled her post on the board correctly.
Following Ruskey’s resignation, JoAnn Blue was promoted from reference librarian to director. Coursin said she was asked to stay on and train Blue. Blue served as reference librarian from November 2013 to April 2018. She was interim director from April 2018 to July 1, 2018. Blue then served as director until September 23, 2020.
Coursin said Blue approached her to handle some requests from the board.
Coursin did not believe those requests were typical.
“Then, I started attending the board meetings and observing the behaviors and activities of the board, specifically some people and how they dialogued with JoAnn and her position,” Coursin said.
Coursin said she attended more than 90 percent of meetings during that time and watched the board methodically turn Blue’s career into what Coursin called “hamburger meat.”
Specifically, Coursin said she was asked to remove the balance sheet from public financial statements. Coursin acknowledged she has not met Council personally, but she has attended board meetings on Zoom since he became director in January.
“He quit because, as I am setting the stage, Ms. Winters, the current board chair, has a very strong misunderstanding of the role of the board and the position of the board chair,” Coursin said. “She has grossly overstepped her role into day-to-day operations in management. Then she has framed the past director and the current director as insubordinate and subject to personnel review because they challenged her inappropriate extension of authority into day-to-day operations.”
As Coursin began to attend board meetings after her resignation, she said she discovered they were not open to the public. She began to gather notes to submit a complaint to the Mississippi Ethics Commission.
“The board did receive a complaint by me that they were not hosting legal public meetings and the State Ethics (Commission) found in favor of my complaint,” Coursin said.
Coursin said when Connell notified the board of the complaint, some board members were not aware.
Coursin said she sent another complaint to the State Ethics Commission about the board not complying with public meetings. She said, an hour after filing he complaint, she received some of the documentation she requested. She is waiting for the findings of the complaint. That will determine if a third complaint is going to the State Attorney General.
Coursin mentioned other concerns about not following procedure at the March board meeting. She said Winters wanted someone she knew from her job at Delta State University to conduct the library audit, but Council disagreed.
“She hijacked a public meeting with a non-agenda item to show that this person that she wanted the board to vote on to do the audit (was qualified),” Coursin said.
Coursin said during the meeting Winters called the individual who had audited foreign countries and Delta State University, but never a library.
Coursin said Winters bypassed the appropriate procedure, which is to vote on whether or not the library needs an auditor, then request for audit proposals and delegate the task to the director.
“The board members have not had individual voice for a long time,” Coursin said.
Blue’s only comment was to explain her duties.
“The executive director carries out those policies and interprets the policies in the day-to-day operations guided by the policies,” Blue said.
Council said the board paid Blue to go away in a settlement so she would not file any claims about certain behaviors.
Winters was repeatedly sought for comment by Clarksdale Press Register reporters, but did not respond to questions texted to her Tuesday. She referred questions to Attorney Connell.
CITY AND COUNTY LIBRARY BOARD APPOINTEES
At Large (Mayor Chuck Espy) – Jacqueline Tyler.
Ward 1 (Bo Plunk) – Jennifer Joyner.
Ward 2 (Ken Murphey) – Board member resigned.
Ward 3 (Willie Turner) – Joyce Hill.
Ward 4 (Ed Seals) – Rita Hanfor.
The City of Clarksdale levies a tax for the Library that raises approximately $238,000.
Dist. 1 Supervisor (Paul Pearson) - Nancy Foley.
Dist. 2 Supervisor (Pat Davis) - Dena Upchurch.
Dist. 3 Supervisor (Derrell Washington) LaFiesta Roland.
Dist. 4 Supervisor (Johnny Newson) - Shelia Winters.
Dist. 5 Supervisor (Roosevelt Lee) - Kristen Graves.
Coahoma County levies a 2 mill tax for the Library that raises approximately $360,000.
-30-
