Warren County supervisors vote not to renew Samuels Public Library funding agreement after governance dispute

Warren County supervisors voted March 4 to not renew the county’s funding agreement with Samuels Library Inc., after a series of public comments and a presentation by the newly formed Warren County Library Board that said the library’s trustees altered incorporation language in a way that could allow library assets to be distributed outside the county.

The vote followed a presentation from Eric Belk, chair of the Warren County Library Board, who said a December special meeting of Samuels’ trustees had changed the library’s dissolution clause and that the meeting and notice did not meet Virginia open-meetings and nonprofit-notice requirements. "These actions have trampled any number of Virginia laws in the process," Belk said during his presentation. The board then moved to provide notice of nonrenewal to Samuels Library Inc.

Belk told supervisors the trustees’ December change replaces language that, historically, required assets be distributed to Warren County for library purposes with broader language allowing distribution to any 501(c)(3) educational or charitable organization. He said that, under the change, assets donated for a public library in Warren County could be…