The recently established Coalition for an Inclusive Daviess County has requested that County Commissioner Janie Marksberry be removed as Fiscal Court’s liaison to the library. The coalition sent a letter to the other members of Fiscal Court on Monday, primarily focusing on their issues with Marksberry but also mentioning the Daviess County Citizens for Decency (DCC4D) group. Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen and newly re-appointed DCC4D chair Jerry Chapman spoke with Owensboro Times regarding portions of the coalition’s letter.
The coalition first announced its formation on January 22, but at that time it was an unnamed group.
A release at the time said the group was formed “to discuss ongoing concerns regarding the Daviess County Citizens for Decency’s continued negative actions toward the Daviess County Public Library Board and staff. The group is non-partisan and will focus on strategies to support the best interests of the community including marginalized groups.”
The coalition announced its name on February 2nd and again said in a release their “current concern is the negative impact recent actions” by DCC4D had on the library and its board.
Members of the coalition have since shown up at library board and Fiscal Court meetings to express support for DCPL, most notably the actions taken since last year’s “audit” by DCC4D.
On Monday morning, Cheryl Brown, a spokesperson for the coalition, shared with OT a copy of a letter the organization sent to Charlie Castlen, Commissioners Larry Conder and Chris Castlen, and County Attorney John Burlew.
The letter said Marksberry “continues to misrepresent facts” and included a list of specific reasons the coalition was requesting Marksberry be removed as the liaison of Fiscal Court to the library.
The coalition did not send the letter to Marksberry, at least as of late Monday morning when OT reached out to her for comment. Marksberry and Brown both confirmed that the coalition has not met with the commissioner about the listed concerns.
Monday afternoon, Marksberry provided the following statement via text message: “Since I wasn’t ‘included’ by the ‘inclusion’ group, I have no comment.”
The coalition’s letter started by referencing a February 22 post on the “Janie Marksberry Daviess County Commissioner” Facebook page. The post includes a video clip from an Owensboro Times live stream of the DCPL board meeting on February 21, along with the text “Here the librarian admits that she did not spend $35,000, previously stated in media stories. It was actually $5,000. AND the LIBRARY removes books. Transparency matters.”
The coalition’s letter then reads, in part:
“Although the Coalition for an Inclusive Daviess County would agree, transparency matters, the information posted on her official Daviess County Commissioner Facebook page is inaccurate and an attempt to discredit the character of the library director by a public official. Commissioner Marksberry also continues to misrepresent facts to the media. A Messenger-Inquirer article dated February 24th continued to misrepresent comments made by Director Waller and Board Chair Susan Montalvo-Gesser. ”
The Facebook page in question is not an official County Commissioner page; Marksberry may post information related to her duties as a public official but she operates the page as an individual citizen.
That is one of the few portions of the letter about which Charlie Castlen commented.
“The page is hers and hers alone. She repurposed her campaign Facebook page … after she won her election. It is not operated through the Daviess County government portal like the Sheriff, the Clerk, the Fiscal Court, the jail, etc. She and she alone is responsible for her posts,” he said.
The $35,000 figure is in reference to a February 6 news article wherein Library Director Erin Waller estimated the personnel and material costs related to actions taken since DCC4D’s “audit” of nearly 250 books in August 2023. At the time of the article, it was unclear if that figure included overtime hours or referred to regular pay.
Fiscal Court had a meeting that same evening, February 6, and Marksberry used her allotted time for remarks to question the figure.
“While the $35,000 reported in the paper may seem like a lot of money, it represents a tiny fraction of the library’s nearly $6 million budget, and in my view is a small price to pay as a first step to improve accountability to the taxpayers,” she said during the meeting, adding that she wanted to know if the figure included overtime pay. “The library is a taxing authority, so it’s natural that taxpayers want to see transparency and accountability over how the library operates. I feel the library has operated with very little oversight or accountability to the public over the years, and the time has come for that to change.”
Marksberry then asked Waller directly for clarification during the February 21 library board meeting (as can be seen around the 8:30 mark of our stream).
Waller said it was not overtime pay, and said the majority of the estimate was regular-time staff pay. When Marksberry questioned what duties the employees were pulled away from, Waller said “the regular library duties such as ordering material, getting ready for different new projects, programming, a variety of things.”
Waller said out-of-pocket expenses — such as the cost of printing and mailing material — were about $5,000, which came from the supplies portion of the DCPL budget.
Charlie Castlen defended Marksberry’s position on how much the library spent on actions related to the audit.
“While $35,000 was spent, I would argue that the $5,000 was the real cost because $5,000 is what were new expenses to the library,” he said. “The other was just salaries that were paid, and they would have paid those people those salaries whether they were reviewing books or not.”
The coalition’s letter also took issue with the portion of Marksberry’s Facebook post that said “AND the library removes books.”
In the video clip, Marksberry asked the general question of if the library has removed books in the last 5 years. Waller said yes but didn’t have an exact figure, adding that books are typically only removed if they are damaged or if newer editions are available.
Marksberry’s clip ends there, but as can be seen at the 18-minute mark of the OT live stream, Waller later answered a question from a concerned citizen and said no books have been removed in the last 5 years due to content.
Two of the other main points in the coalition’s letter referenced both Marksberry and DCC4D.
The letter reads, in part:
“Commissioner Marksberry continues to minimize her cooperation with the DCC4D and yet states they are not trying to ban books they just want them moved to the adult section. The books were audited by professionals and deemed appropriate for the young adult section. The Coalition for an Inclusive Daviess County recognizes the attempt to censor books written specifically for young adults dealing with sensitive and yes, sometimes controversial topics. This is the reason the restricted access process was put in place.”
DCC4D members, including board chair Jerry Chapman, have remained adamant — in social media posts, media interviews, and statements during DCPL and Fiscal Court meetings — that their group is not trying to ban books.
Chapman is a co-founder of the organization and was the chairperson throughout last year. A new chair was named earlier this month, but Chapman said during a phone interview Monday he now holds the position again. He declined to comment on the change, instead focusing on the coalition’s letter.
“The books that we want moved from the teen section to the adult section are pornographic,” he said. “… DCC4D represents the Christian parents in this county, in this community. So sure, she’s cooperating with us in that sense. I actually haven’t spoken to Janie in maybe 3 weeks, a month, something like that. (I think) she holds the same values that the vast majority of parents in this community hold. So sure. If that’s cooperating, she’s cooperating.
The “restricted access process” refers to the DCPL board decision in September 2023 to approve an optional library card level that restricts juveniles from checking out any material not in the juvenile section.
The coalition’s letter also said, in part:
“The disharmony in the community falls on the shoulders of the DCC4D, Janie Marksberry, and those that have enabled them. The library addressed their concerns appropriately and professionally. This issue would be closed had it not been for the continued efforts to control and discredit the Library Board and the Library Director.”
Charlie Castlen took issue with that claim.
“I would just say, very directly, the Constitution is what enabled Daviess County Citizens for Decency, because to my knowledge all they’ve done is spoken to publicly elected officials who have been appointed to boards by publicly elected officials,” he said. “From my perspective, all they have done is share their concerns. (People have a right) to say, ‘we’re uncomfortable with where we’re going on this.’ It doesn’t matter what the ‘this’ is. Doesn’t matter whether it’s higher taxes or … (the operating hours of) pickleball courts. It’s no different other than one has a lot of emotion attached to it.”
Chapman said the coalition had it backward.
“There would be no disharmony if there weren’t people trying to push pornography on children,” he said. “We’re defending the values that this community has held for generations, and we will continue to defend them. The fact is, we are all defending the values that this community has held for generations. So if there is any divisiveness, it’s coming from their side, not us.”
The coalition’s letter ends as follows:
“We believe the citizens of Daviess County deserve trustworthy and transparent government leadership. Information provided by elected officials should be factual and not based on bias and disdain.
Therefore, the Coalition for an Inclusive Daviess County is requesting removal of Commissioner Marksberry as the liaison of Fiscal Court to the library and replaced with a commissioner better able to partner with our community and support the library mission and goals.”
Charlie Castlen told Owensboro Times plainly: “That is not my intent.”
Chris Castlen and Larry Conder had no direct comments on the letter, while Burlew said the issue is not something he’s involved in from his position as County Attorney.
Conder noted that liaisons are appointed by the judge-executive. He also stressed they are not actually on the boards they are appointed to and therefore have no vote. He said they are simply there to “observe and report back.”
Chris Castlen similarly noted it’s up to the judge-executive to appoint liaisons.
“If a change is made for any of us commissioners in our liaison positions, it will likely be because the judge has assessed our roles for the different boards and decided it’s in the best interest of the public,” he said via text message Monday night. “I’d be good with a change for any of my liaison positions, to help get a stronger understanding of everything Fiscal Court has involvement with.”
