As noted in our lead story on the April 8 Special Meeting/Work Session of the Warren County Board of Supervisors: “During the Board Goals discussion, at the 53:20 County video mark, Deputy County Administrator Jane Meadows reached the subject of Samuels Public Library. On the printed accompanying material, the existing public library is listed as “Priority # 11 Project – QS – 11 Goal: Post 2023 Library Debrief and Research”.

Beneath that topic summary are sub-categories of “Scope,” “Progress,” and “Timeline”. References to the board’s decision to create its own appointed WC Library Board “to be the liaison between the Board of Supervisors and Samuels Public Library” and that, that intermediary entity is “established and meeting regularly.” It might be noted that the Samuels Library 501-C3 non-profit Board of Trustees has challenged the WC Library Board’s legal standing to function as designed by the BOS.

It is also noted that the BOS has rejected renewal of the year-to-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the County and Samuels and issued an RFP (Request For Proposals) seeking outside bids to become the County’s future contracted public library provider.

Library employees & Library in Limbo

Regarding the library aspect of her April 8th work session reports, Meadows began with the printed “Timeline” topic of a decision needing to be made “regarding the continued inclusion of the library staff in the county health insurance policy”. Added in her accompanying print handout was the notation: “Need to provide time to the SPL employees to seek services for health insurance”.

Meadows acknowledged that it was the board’s decision as to whether she needed to pursue that conversation with Samuels management on their staff’s continued inclusion on the County health insurance plan. County Administrator Ed Daley added that the Samuels Library staff insurance discussion was, “a separate decision for the board from whatever you do with your RFP. However that comes back, this is a separate item for you to consider.”

Legal concerns

“Is this kosher?” Chairman “Jay” Butler asked of the apparent two-pronged issue of library employee health insurance coverage and a decision on who will be the County’s future public library private-entity partner.

“It’s allowed. That’s not exactly what you’re looking for. We’re not in violation of anything either way,” Daley replied with an apparent reference to the board’s coming RFP decision on acceptance of a library provider proposal moving forward.

Samuels Public Library has pulled back it FY-26 Budget request, covering the initially requested Operational funding increase with its own resources, and offered a new MOA in an effort to mend fences with the County Supervisor majority. Will it be enough? Below, Co. Administrator Ed Daley offered initial assurances the board was not acting beyond its legal rights, at least so far, regarding library employee health insurance options and a pending decision on the future of the existing, highly successful Public/Private Partnership with Samuels Library. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

“That’s what I want to make sure of, was that we’re not in violation of anything,” Butler replied, after which Daley took the conversation down another path: “There is an agreement between the Town and the County that discusses this very item. And it was approved by town council and signed by the mayor and town manager at that time. It was signed by the chair of the board (identified as Archie Fox) and Mr. Stanley,” Daley said, referencing his county administrator predecessor Doug Stanley. It might be recalled that Stanley was singled out by a previous self-described “reform” majority of supervisors as the blamed county staff principal responsible for letting the EDA financial scandal develop into the misdirected millions of dollars mess it became.

As an aside on Stanley’s behalf I will note that during this 2020 period when he was being given the option to resign or be fired by that recently elected supervisors majority, he told this reporter that his one official responsibility as County Administrator related the then Town-County EDA was to prepare a monthly summary of Board of Supervisor business initiatives that might impact EDA business operations or finances to present to the EDA Board of Directors, mostly appointed by the BOS by that time, at the EDA board’s monthly meeting.

In a sign of the early COVID times, a July 2020 file photo of two masked men. To center left is current Co. Administrator, then FR-WC EDA Chairman Ed Daley offering his predecessor Doug Stanley a good-luck shake as Stanley prepares to go behind Closed Meeting doors with the county board of superviors seeking his resignation.

Be that as it may some four to five years ago, on April 8, 2025, current but soon-to-be-retired-again (at his own initiative) County Administrator Ed Daley continued the work session library discussion with his Deputy Administrator Meadows: “We can’t find, and Caitlin and Zach have both looked through all of our records, and there’s no records at all of the board ever approving that agreement.”

Asked by Supervisor Vicky Cook about the time frame of the referenced Town-County agreement, Daley estimated 2013.

Supervisor Jamieson, thus far a driving force with Cook in the replace-Samuels board majority appearing to include Chairman Butler and John Stanmeyer, then asked County Attorney Jason Ham if he’d looked at related statutes on legality.

The board of supervisors sought much legal reassurance from Co. Administrator Ed Daley and Co. Attorney Jason Ham, at staff table to right, regarding library staff health insurance options and its eventual choice of a private-sector partner to run the community’s public library moving forward. Majority public perception is a supervisor majority will needlessly end a long-running and hugley successful partnership with the Samuels Library Board of Trustees and its 2024 Va. Library of the Year.

“There’s no law that I can find that specifically authorizes the County to do this with respect to health insurance,” Ham, began, adding, “My understanding is that the County doesn’t pay for it, that Samuels does.

“I can also tell you from running this past my colleagues that it’s commonly done and it happens quite often. It’s really, I think, a matter between the insurance company and the volunteers,” Ham continued, “They can sell insurance to whoever they want to and the County doesn’t pay for it,” Ham observed of the health insurance option under discussion indicating Samuels and/or their employees covering their health insurance costs.

“And the agreement between the Town and County, it said by its own terms it wasn’t effective until the Town and County had blessed it. So, I don’t think the former chairman and county administrator did anything wrong by signing it,” County Attorney Ham told the supervisors, adding, “And when I saw that language in there, I raised my hand to say, ‘Hey, let’s make sure this actually passed.’ And, of course, it didn’t. So, it’s not an agreement,” Ham concluded of the signed document’s apparent never voted-on status, adding, “So, the board can allow this or not. It’s up to the board entirely. And it’s my understanding it won’t cost the County any money, but it’s up to you guys what you want to do.”

On the no cost to the County comment of legal counsel, Supervisor Cook countered that the County insurance rates could be driven higher if library employees being maintained or added to the County’s health insurance coverage filed claims. Cook also clarified that Ham’s use of the word “volunteers” was misleading as it would be paid employees being added if the agreement was pursued, not non-paid volunteer workers.

Meadows commented on some follow-up done with the insurance carrier. “I think there’s something in the code I can send you,” she said to County Attorney Ham, “allowing library employees, since they’re providing a public service, to be on the Local Choice since it is basically a state-administered plan. So, it is legal as long as they’re library employees,” Meadows said with a reassuring nod — but reassuring to who?

Twists & Regional Aspects

At this point, Chairman Butler injected what he termed “a little bit of a twist” in the issue. That twist from Butler’s perspective was his perception that “most county libraries are run by the County or by the municipality, not by a private contractor,” to which County Administrator Daley replied, “Correct, or a regional entity, sir, example like the Handley Library system. All three libraries are run by this joint board appointed by Winchester, Frederick, and Clarke. They are technically not city or county employees; they are employees of the library.”

Concerning the signed, if never finally approved Town-County agreement on library employee health insurance coverage, it might be noted that, that dual municipality involvement, as we recall along with some other regional material provision arrangements, are part of the Samuels Library Board of Trustees legal challenge of the supervisors creation of its WC Library Board as an overseer/intermediary of Samuels Library finances and operations.

Samuels Library’s Board of Trustees is compromising financially with the county supervisors in seeking common ground to move forward in a positive direction to the benefit of the entire community, as opposed to any special interest group that currently seems to have the supervisor majority’s ear.

It might be noted here that it has repeatedly been acknowledged in past years that one reason the County maintains its contracted, private-sector library provider, other than Samuels excellence at doing its job and providing a variety of citizen-beneficial programs in addition to reading materials, as illustrated most recently by its designation as Virginia’s “Library of the year 2024”, is that it saves considerable money as opposed to running the operation as a County-owned entity staffed entirely by County employees with their variety of benefits programs.

Also of note is the length of the Public/Private Partnership between Samuels Public Library and Warren County dating directly by name to the 1950s, and indirectly to 1799 when the Warren County contracted library provider was licensed as the second public library provider in Virginia.

But back to Chairman Butler’s “little bit of a twist” observation on public library provision statewide, he observed, “I bring that up because I want to make sure that whatever we do, we’re kosher in doing it, so we’re not breaking any laws or any ordinances or anything like that.” Butler then gave County Attorney Ham a nod for his “due diligence” in researching the matter, adding, “Well, there’s nothing that says that we can do it, but there’s nothing that says we can’t do it.”

At that point, Supervisor Cook worried that the board might be opening too broad a door on health care coverage to contracted entity employees. “For that matter, what about the other service companies? Are we, you know, going to open up the door for them, as well?” Cook asked. Meadows responded, explaining limitations on the coverge being discussed.

“So actually in speaking to the insurance company, if we do switch providers, so someone else is providing library services for the county, if we choose to, we would be able to basically offer them the same to enroll in the Local Choice,” Meadows told the board.

Cheryl Cullers, near left, has thus far been the lone county supervisor to support Samuels Library’s continued role as operator of the community’s public library. The thus far unanswered question from her colleagues is why. Below, Deputy Co. Administrator Jane Meadows took the lead in presenting library employee health care options to the supervisors, despite not yet knowing what private-sector entity those employees will work for.

“But what if the Humane Society came to us?” Cook asked, to which Meadows added, “It specifically has to be a library provider. They’re very specific about it,” Meadows said of provider Local Choice. “It is in the Virginia State Code because Local Choice is the Virginia State employee plan,” which appeared to offer some comfort to the board as they ponder bringing in a new library service provider once the RFPs have been received and reviewed, and the new County Library Board weighs in on the options presented to the County.

RFPs & Winks

As previously reported, despite their rejection of the “unsolicited” library proposal of Library Systems & Services (LS&S), there is nothing preventing that company from re-submitting its proposal as part of the County’s Request for multiple library proposals to choose from. As readers may recall, that original LS&S proposal includes what some Public Commenters, prominently “Save Samuels” President Samantha Good on April 1st, interpreted as several “wink, wink” overtures to the supervisor majority. “Sounds like you guys already have somebody in mind. It sounds really suspicious,” Good told the supervisors regarding the wording of the LS&S “unsolicited proposal” and the time sequence of the County’s RFP process.

A large majority of citizen Public Comments speakers that have appeared before the supervisors in recent months have expressed a belief the current examination of Samuels Library operations presented as budget-focused is really a veiled continuation of the 2023 “Clean Up Samuels” effort to dictate what reading material will be available to county citizens in the future, specifically initially targeting LGBTQ materials. Though many wonder if once successful on that front, what censorship of public reading material will be the next target of the supervisors majority and the apparent minority of county citizens who have their ear.

Those perceived LS&S overtures in its “unsolicited” library operational proposal from its Vice President of Business Development Mark Kunin addressed to WC Library Board Chairman Eric Belk, cited by Samantha Good above, include these passages:

“The County Library Board and Board of Supervisors will retain full policy and budgetary oversight” and “We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with the County in realizing its vision for the library.”

As previously reported, despite the overwhelming majority of citizen support for Samuels Library that has publicly addressed the supervisors over the past two years, the four-person board majority of Jamieson, Cook, Butler, and Stanmeyer seem deaf to that publicly expressed will of their constituents. Some supervisors seem to have implied there is a “silent majority” of anti-Samuels constituents reaching out to them privately.

Maybe Supervisor Cullers should request a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of those alleged public-meeting, camera-shy citizens for verification.

Click here to watch the Warren County Board of Supervisors Meeting of April 8, 2025.