Public raises library-content and student-protection concerns as supervisors approve several salary items

Dozens of residents spoke during the meeting’s public-comment period and during the board’s consideration of human-resources items to press the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to take action over books they said expose minors to sexually explicit material.

Speakers repeatedly cited Arizona statutes that define minors and prohibit furnishing harmful material to them and urged the board to withhold or tie approval of salary increases to enforcement or removal of contested materials. Several public speakers named the county superintendent and county attorney and asked whether county officials had acted; one called for criminal accountability. Those claims and requests prompted repeated clarifying responses from elected officials at the dais.

County Manager Jen Pekorski told the board the county has removed certain juvenile-oriented sex-health titles from children’s sections and relocated them to adult collections while the county evaluates further measures. “We have removed all juvenile … health books from the children's section of the library, and they are now in the adult section of the library,” Pekorski said. She added the county is expanding a parental-control pilot and exploring opt-in software and an ‘unattended minors’ policy.

County Attorney Tom Liddy responded to public statements about enforcement and said some public claims did not match his office’s interpretation; during public comments he said assertions attributing specific criminal conduct to named officials were inaccurate and that content-related criminal allegations require evidence of criminal acts involving children. Vice Chair Kate Brophy McGee and other supervisors reiterated that school boards and local library governance have primary control over materials used in classrooms and collections and that county authority is limited in those areas.

Despite the controversy and extended public comment, the board voted unanimously to approve items 105 through 114, which included settlements and chief-deputy salary requests for elected offices, and then moved forward with routine approvals across several other agenda blocks. Vice Chair Brophy McGee moved approval of items 105 through 114; the motion passed without recorded opposition.

After the vote the board and county manager reiterated that staff would continue to pursue procedural and policy options, brief the public on pilot outcomes and expand parental-control efforts across the library system.

The public-comment record and the board’s statements reflect continuing disagreement among residents, library users and officials about the scope of county authority and appropriate remedies. Speakers asked the county to document removal lists and timelines; county management said some steps have already been taken and more work is underway.