CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Questions surrounding appointments made to the city of Corpus Christi's library board were raised by community members during public comment at Tuesday's city council meeting.
Corpus Christi City Council was tasked with filling five seats on the library board, which is made up of nine members and acts as an advisory body to city leaders on all things concerning library services.
According to the League of Woman Voters, one of the new members is an active proponent in the "book banning" movement. The appointments sparked an outcry by community members who fear it could lead to books being pulled from city public libraries.
Three of the seats filled Tuesday belonged to people who were already serving on the board and hoped to be reappointed. Generally, an incumbent is re-appointed, but council chose not to do so, and instead, replaced all three of members in what was seen by some as a shocking move.
The members call this a radical departure compared to how this process has gone in the past.
Julie Rogers, who served on the library board, was stunned by council's selection of the new members.
"What just happened, it was five names that were orchestrated or planned ahead of time," she said.
She said the three board members seeking reappointments were highly qualified, but were instead passed up.
"I didn't see anything glaring, their attendance was fine, their credentials were impeccable, as a matter of fact," she said.
Two of the people removed were to be the board's chair and vice-chair. Pooja Bindingnavele, who filed for reappointment, was not selected and spoke out during Tuesday's meeting.
"From what I've discerned, people came to city council with books from the library that they believed were inappropriate," she said. "Many city council members, instead of doing their due diligence, were swayed by this propaganda."
Members from the League of Women Voters asked council members who voted for the new board members to reconsider.
Council chose not to.
Members also claimed one of the new appointees is said to be prominent in the "book banning" movement.
"Moving forward with this slate of nominees imply there is an agenda at work, the existence of an agenda was confirmed when it was decided a nominee who refused to state her educational background and listed no prior community activity was deemed superior to three current board members," said Tim Dowling, director of media communications with the League of Women Voters Corpus Christi Area.
Others who spoke praised council members and voiced their concerns about books children have access to.
"I will not step foot in a library that takes its direction from Washington D.C. who appear to be grooming children in openly promoting pornography," said resident Gail Anderson.
"I understand the latest slate of candidates that were appointed appear to be supporting of banning books in our public libraries, and that saddens me. Our country is built on individual freedom and that includes freedom for adults to chose what they read," said Vickie Natale who was seeking to be re-appointed but was ousted by council.
"We don't want to ban any books, but we want books in age-appropriate settings," said another resident Robin Cox, "I wouldn't want them to go, my five-year-old, to have access to Fifty Shades of Grey."
City council members weighed in following public comments on the 'book banning' allegations.
"I don't think anyone is supportive of any book banning, and all the other things that are talked about, it's in the interest of many of us to see who has guidelines in place as to who has access to what content," said council member Dan Suckley.
3 NEWS reached out to city manager Peter Zanoni who said the process that city council has in place to appoint advisory boards and commissions was followed in this case, but that the library board does not have the power to ban books.
"The library board is an advisory board, they are not a policy setting body, they don't direct staff, they don't direct city council they don't direct city manager, they merely advise library staff and how they run their business," he said.
Zanoni also said the city follows the best practices laid out by the State Library Commission and Archives and if someone has an issue with a specific book they can go to the city's website to file a complaint.
"It's been almost 20 years, 2003 is the last time, the one and only time in 20 years that our library director has been in that position that someone has challenged a book," he said.
This is a developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as we get them.