BREAKING: Humpty Dumpty Sat on the Wall…..
Tag: Hancock Library Executive Director Courtney Thomas
Hancock County Omnibus: Library Executive Director lacks required credentials, Local Tourism Agency must receive dedicated millage
That post title is a mouthful folks. So while we continue to dig out after taking a long weekend to see the eclipse here are a few documents of interest. First up is from Slabbed’s Twitter timeline:
Slabbed has confirmed with #SMTTT. Hancock Library Director did not finish Library Science Masters. Info on Clearinghouse 100% accurate.
— Slabbed New Media (@SlabbedNewMedia) August 21, 2017
Lana Noonan was kind enough to nab via Public Records Request the Tuition Assistance Grant Agreement between Ms. Thomas and the Mississippi Library Commission for everyone to see. As Lana aptly put it seeing the documents is so much better than gossip:
Interesting and important is that Ms. Thomas only drew $4,600 of the $10,000 total grant. From the Transparency Mississippi Website:
Are the Hancock Sups undermining the Library system? If not then who is?
The Hancock Library dog and pony show crossed into the Twilight Zone at the Waveland City Council meeting with Executive Director Courtney Thomas giving legal opinions. Even better her ‘professional opinions’ differed from Waveland’s City Attorney. It reminded me of a Twitter exchange between Piers Morgan and Ben Shapiro earlier this week where Morgan and Shapiro compared law school credentials.
At the Waveland meeting, Mayor Smith shut down Ms. Thomas when she began trashing the County Sups but it was then we really began to wonder what Thomas was hiding behind these outbursts. One email with links solved the mystery.
Since Ms. Thomas has been fond of quoting the Mississippi Code how about we join in and quote section 39-3-17(2): Continue reading “Are the Hancock Sups undermining the Library system? If not then who is?”
Analysis | Definitive Account: “Supervisors finalize their end of new HCLS library agreement”
Dwayne Bremer was at Hancock Board of Sups meeting, which was dominated by Hancock County Library system Executive Director Courtney Thomas raising a ruckus over the proposed new inter-local agreement because it gives the County, the system’s largest financial contributor by far, a majority of the new Library Board seats. Ms. Thomas currently has a “handpicked board” per Ward 6 Bay St Louis Councilman Josh Desalvo at Tuesday’s Council meeting. That pretty much sums up the crux of the controversy with speculation running rampant that the reason Executive Director Thomas is acting out so is because she fears for her job. Meantime the clock is ticking per Dwayne’s story:
A few months ago, supervisors voted to opt out of the current agreement, saying — among other things — that the current agreement is out-dated and unfair to the county.
If a new deal is not reached by Sept. 30, the county would no longer provide funding for the library system.
The original inter-local agreement that created the library system is about 25 years old and does not include the city of Diamondhead and its library.
This gets me to Tuesday’s Council meeting. At an earlier Supervisor meeting both Councilmen Reed and Seal asked the Sups to reconsider opting out of the current library inter-local but that request to kick the can never stood a chance. The issue of Library over staffing has put a strain on the relationship between the last 2 Boards of Sups and the current library Board. It has popped in and out of the news cycle for the last three years including Thomas closing the Diamondhead branch for a brief time before the last election, an act that from outward appearances was designed to show the Sups who was Boss and that gets me to this snippet on who contributes what to the current inter-local: Continue reading “Analysis | Definitive Account: “Supervisors finalize their end of new HCLS library agreement””