§ 65-4-103. Governing boards - Membership - Tenure - Qualifications - Compensation.

A.  The Board of Trustees of a library system containing two or more counties, herein defined as a multicounty library system, shall consist of at least five (5) members.  There shall be at least one member from each county appointed by the board of county commissioners.  Additional members shall be appointed for each city within the system with a public library located in the city, with these appointments to be made by the governing body of the city.  Should the board serving a multicounty unit result in fewer than five members, additional board members shall be appointed on a proportional basis agreed upon by the county governments involved.

B.  Any member serving on a system board as of the effective date of this act shall continue to serve until the end of the current term for which they were appointed.  Thereafter, appointments shall be made as provided for in subsection A of this section.

C.  Initial appointments shall be distributed among one-, two- and three-year terms, with one-third (1/3) of the appointments to be made for one (1) year, one-third (1/3) to be made for two (2) years and one-third (1/3) for three (3) years.  Subsequent appointments shall be for three-year terms, except in the case of an appointment to fill a vacancy in the membership of the system board, which appointment shall be for the remainder of the unexpired term of the member where death, resignation or removal has created the vacancy.  A partial term of not more than eighteen (18) months served immediately prior to a full three-year term shall not be counted as a full term.  No person shall serve more than two full successive terms.  Provided that a person who previously served for two (2) successive terms or less may be reappointed if two (2) years has expired since the person’s last service on the board.  All tenure of initial and future appointees shall expire on June 30 of the designated year.  A member of a system board once qualified can thereafter be removed by the appointive authority during his term of office only for misconduct or neglect of duty.

D.  Appointments to the system board shall be made on the basis of ability, a sound understanding of the total responsibilities and objectives of public libraries and an active interest in the attainment of these comprehensive goals.  Appointive members shall be qualified electors and bona fide residents of the counties from which they are appointed.  No member of the system board shall in any way be connected with the business of publishing or selling books, periodicals or other forms of library materials nor with the business of manufacturing or selling library supplies or equipment.

E.  All system board members shall serve thereon without compensation except actual and necessary travel expenses as authorized by the State Travel Reimbursement Act.  Individual memberships for systems board members in state, regional, and national library associations and expenses incurred in attending conferences of these associations, board meetings and other library and library-related meetings may be paid from library funds upon proper authorization of the board.

Added by Laws 1967, c. 45, § 4-103, emerg. eff. April 6, 1967.  Amended by Laws 1976, c. 45, § 1, emerg. eff. April 9, 1976; Laws 1992, c. 322, § 9, eff. July 1, 1992; Laws 1996, c. 20, § 1, emerg. eff. April 3, 1996; Laws 2013, c. 140, § 1, emerg. eff. April 24, 2013.