Library trustees face scrutiny as supervisors address staff resignations; board appoints Benjie Morris as trustee

Supervisors at an Amelia County Board of Supervisors meeting spent more than an hour on the James L. Hamner Public Library after board members and residents described repeated staff turnover and service disruptions.

The discussion began when Supervisor (speaker 2) summarized emails the board had received, including a resignation notice from a former library employee who said she was leaving "due to intolerable working conditions" and cited "the lack of transparency, honesty, and accountability from the James L. Hamner Public Library Board of Trustees." The supervisor read portions of the letter aloud to the board.

The exchange escalated into a debate over whether trustees had been responsive to staff and citizens. Joy Wersham, who identified herself in the meeting as the current chair of the library board, said she had stepped in temporarily to keep operations running and defended trustees’ efforts to stabilize services. "Once I started even in the position of Board Chair ... everything is directed through me," Wersham said, urging a cooperative approach while acknowledging issues needed to be addressed.

Benjie Morris, who was introduced and then spoke at the meeting, acknowledged the library has seen unusually high leadership turnover in recent years and said the board is "cleaning up" the problems. "In the last few years, we've gone through 4 directors and 3 interims ... We've gone through 7 people in the last few years," Morris said, describing a plan to investigate and address the causes of turnover.

Several supervisors and members of the public called for stronger oversight and for appointing new trustees where committees were not functioning. Supervisor (speaker 2) urged changes rather than simply reappointing the same members, saying he wanted more time to interview incumbents and ask how they would act differently if reappointed.

After debate, Supervisor (speaker 5) moved to nominate Benjie Morris as an at-large member of the library board of trustees. The board approved the nomination with one abstention. The board then reappointed Gail Garrity (District 1) and Tom Hagee (District 2) to the library trustees; other vacancies on county boards were later filled.

The board also discussed the procedural limits of its authority over the library board. A staff member (speaker 9) reminded the board that, under state law, the governing body can appoint trustees and provide funding but otherwise has limited control over the library board’s internal operations.

The board did not take additional formal personnel action at the meeting but instructed staff and trustees to continue reviewing the situation and to document steps taken to address staffing, service interruptions, and communications with community groups. The discussion closed with supervisors urging trustees and staff to coordinate on follow-up actions and to report back.

The board approved Benjie Morris’s appointment and reappointed two trustees; next steps reported at the meeting include internal investigation and follow-up reporting to the board.