{"id":16429,"date":"2026-07-10T13:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/16429\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T13:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:28:08","slug":"warsaw-library-board-appointee-prevails-despite-county-council-criticisms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/16429\/","title":{"rendered":"Warsaw Library board appointee prevails despite county council criticisms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/hicks-for-library.png\" data-caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/hicks-for-library.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"hicks for library\"\/><\/a><br \/>\nBy Dan Spalding<br \/>News Now Warsaw<\/p>\n<p>WARSAW \u2014 Kosciusko County Council sent a few not-so-subtle messages to the Warsaw Community Public Library after the library board earlier sought $17 million for major renovations.<\/p>\n<p>Warsaw City Council rejected the $17 million bond in May, and on Thursday, County Council had a chance to weigh in as it considered reappointing library board member Jennifer Hicks to a third term.<\/p>\n<p>Library leadership has been scrutinized over the renovation plan, which they say is needed to replace outdated mechanicals, while also renovating the buildings handicap access and the main entrance.<\/p>\n<p>Some of those who spoke againthe plan on May 18 criticized the board for not having a maintenance plan in place for aging mechanicals.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-10-072233.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-133315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-10-072233.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"235\"\/><\/a>Warsaw Library Board Member Jennifer Hicks and other library officials\u00a0 attended Thursday\u2019s county council meeting and she was approved for another term. News Now Warsaw photo by Dan Spalding.<\/p>\n<p>County council\u2019s dissatisfaction with the board became apparent a month ago when it delayed a vote in hopes of attracting other applicants (one person showed interest, but then withdrew).<\/p>\n<p>Such appointments are normally drama-free, but county council on Thursday questioned Hicks on, among other things,\u00a0whether she had any experience in renovation projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Moments later, Council applauded the Milford Library board for relying on reserve funds and being prepared for maintenance issues that were approved approval Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>And at the end of the meeting, Council President Tony Ciriello\u00a0reminded everyone that candidates seeking to be appointed by council should provide a resume to council ahead of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, Hicks was reappointed by a 4-3 vote for a four-year term. Those supporting the reappointment were Ciriello, Will Stockdale, Kathy Groninger, and Kimberly Cates.<\/p>\n<p>Councilman Joe Irwin, who opposed the appointment, along with Rachel Rhoades and Dave Wolkins, offered his thoughts to NewsNow Warsaw afterward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter everything that\u2019s went on with the library, we felt that, I felt, that there needed to be a change, you know, and if you listen to what Milford did, that\u2019s exactly the type of change that I was looking for.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As for the resume, Hicks, a schoolteacher who\u2019s been on the library board for eight years, had little to say afterward other she provided a letter of intent to council that included her background.<\/p>\n<p>Library Board Member Tim Keyes invited the public to learn more about library issues by attending its board meetings.<\/p>\n<p>The library board meets next at 4 p.m. Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Dan SpaldingNews Now Warsaw WARSAW \u2014 Kosciusko County Council sent a few not-so-subtle messages to the Warsaw&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10154,10969,6034,10970,10971,10972,10973,10974,10975,10976,10977,45,9916,10978,10979],"class_list":["post-16429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-warsaw","tag-17-million-bond","tag-board-reappointment","tag-criticisms","tag-dave-wolkins","tag-jennifer-hicks","tag-joe-irwin","tag-kathy-groninger","tag-kimberly-cates","tag-kosciusko-county-council","tag-rachel-rhoades","tag-tony-ciriello","tag-warsaw","tag-warsaw-city-council","tag-warsaw-community-public-library-board","tag-will-stockdale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}