News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Commissioner Brenda Fournier looks over some documents during the Alpena County Personnel meeting on Tuesday.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Personnel Committee has narrowed the finalists for an appointment to the Alpena County Library Board down to four.

The candidates for the appointment are Sarah Fritz, Carol Boboltz, Mary Jo Saylor, and Jennifer Graham.

The committee was expected to conduct interviews of the candidates at Tuesday’s meeting, but they will now happen at a meeting on March 17 at 11 a.m. A vote on the appointment recommendation will likely happen also during that meeting.

The appointment recommendation needs to be approved by the full board of commissioners at an upcoming meeting.

The most recent opening on the library board came after Quintin Meek announced he was resigning because he is relocating.

For the last year, the library board has been in flux.

Several prior board members have stepped down or been replaced after a debate sparked over some books in the children’s and teens’ sections at the library that some people say are sexually graphic.

The commissioners asked the library board to consider moving the books into a more age-appropriate section of the library or have them placed behind the counter for an adult to check them out with their children, but the library board resisted the move, citing freedom of speech.

As the furor over the books grew, the board of commissioners threatened to replace the entire library board in one swoop but backed off of that position and instead decided to interview, review, and appoint through attrition.

Today, the books remain in the children’s and teens’ section, but the library has instituted a new filing system that it says will make it less likely a child will stumble across the books.

The commissioners said last year that they wanted to have a library board made up of people with different ideas, backgrounds, and political ideologies.

The last two appointments the commissioners made were in December when Traci Collins and Julie Byrnes were added. Both women supported the idea that the books in the children and teen sections be moved because they believed they were too sexually graphic for minors.

The appointments raised eyebrows and made some wonder if the county commissioners were trying to stack the board with conservative-minded people.

The commissioner’s choice this time around gives them a chance to be true to their word in creating a diversified board.

Library Board President Justin Budd said whoever is appointed, no matter what their opinion is on the children’s books issue, will be welcome and the entire board will work as a team.

“The Board welcomes the new appointee the Commissioners have selected and look forward to working together,” Budd said. “We will do our collective best to bring them up to speed on the operations of the Alpena Library and the issues we are currently deliberating over. It is an honor to be selected as a member of the Alpena County Library Board and as trustees we will do our utmost to serve in our appointed positions to the very best of our abilities.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.