Residents urge El Paso County commissioners to scrutinize Pikes Peak Library District board after Rockrimmon Library closure

Several northwest Colorado Springs residents told the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners that the Pikes Peak Library District’s decision to close the Rockrimmon Library in December 2024 left a service gap they are trying to fill.

Skip Hafner, a long‑term resident of northwest Colorado Springs, said the PPLD board “shut down the Rockrimmon Library after 35 years of providing library services to us in the community,” and that residents have formed a nonprofit to try to reestablish services. “We have trustees members that have voted against keeping the Rockrimmon Library open after that 35 years,” Hafner said.

Those remarks were echoed by Veronica Baker, who said the volunteer group that began as Save Rockrimmon Library is now operating as COS Reads, a 501(c)(3). “We are concerned about the hasty and suspicious decision to close our library,” Baker said, and urged county commissioners to scrutinize recent board appointments to the Pikes Peak Library District Board of Trustees. She accused commissioners of tolerating “cronyism” in previous appointments, citing a trustee she identified as Erin Bintz and saying the trustee’s online biography was blank.

Gavin Rainey, a resident of County Commission District 1, criticized Aaron Salt, identified in public comment as president of the Academy School District 20 Board of Education and a member of the PPLD board, saying Salt “misled the public and betrayed their trust” by supporting the Rockrimmon closure. “If you like closing libraries, betraying and misleading the public, then please, by all means, support his reelection,” Rainey told the commissioners.

Catherine Chukas, a Rockrimmon resident and Waldo Canyon evacuee, said PPLD has had “no presence in Rockrimmon” since Jan. 1 and that the nearest bookmobile does not serve the northwest side. Chukas urged the commission to appoint a PPLD trustee who will treat library closures as a last resort and said the group has been speaking with the county and the Colorado Springs City Council.

No formal action was taken by the Board of County Commissioners during the public‑comment period. Several commissioners on the dais, including Commissioner Applegate and Commissioner Wysong, were addressed during public comment and acknowledged speakers but did not make motions or votes on the matter during the meeting.

The speakers asked the commissioners to consider the PPLD board’s recent appointments and to use appointment authority to restore trust and library services for the northwest community. They also said the group will continue to press the issue throughout the year and pursue community funding to reopen services.