The outcome of a joint appointment process for the Pikes Peak Library District board now rests with El Paso County and Colorado Springs, but accounts differ on the vote needed to confirm nominees. Of 32 people who applied for three open seats, officials recommended board president Aaron Salt for another term and newcomer Cindy Schaefer for a partial term. The meeting also exposed disagreements over candidates connected to critics of the district’s Rockrimmon branch closure.
The Gazette reported that Salt was recommended for a second five-year term and Schaefer for a partial one-year term. The paper said both recommendations require approval by a majority vote of the El Paso County Commissioners and Colorado Springs City Council. The city’s Joint Appointment Committee page describes a different process: a two-thirds majority of the legislative bodies, or automatic ratification if no action is taken within 60 days. The discrepancy remains unresolved.
The city and county officials met Thursday, November 5, at Centennial Hall to consider the applications, the Gazette reported. The Joint Appointment Committee includes County Commissioners Carrie Geitner and Lauren Nelson and City Councilmembers Nancy Henjum and Ken Casey. It evaluates candidates and recommends appointments to the county and city governing bodies.
Candidates Linked to Rockrimmon Critics Were Rejected
The Gazette reported that county officials rejected other nominees suggested by Henjum and Casey, citing in particular their connections to “activist” groups that criticized the library district’s decision to close the Rockrimmon branch. The Pikes Peak Library District says it decided not to renew the lease for the Rockrimmon Library space, according to the district.
One applicant the commissioners did not interview was Alan Goins, a retired city employee and property manager for Christ the King Lutheran Church, which houses the Reading at the Rock Library, established in 2025. The Gazette reported that Henjum cited Goins’ experience as a facilities and financial planning manager for Colorado Springs Utilities.
Pelka Describes Interview Focus
The Gazette reported that county commissioners interviewed Joe Pelka, a former Rockrimmon patron and advocate for replacing the branch with the nonprofit COS Reads. Pelka said he and Schaefer appeared to be the only applicants interviewed by commissioners. He said his interview lasted more than an hour and focused largely on library finances and whether he would represent the preferences of the officials who appointed him.
Pelka described the interview as civil but said he was surprised by its focus, given his previous comments about the closure at county commission meetings. He told the Gazette he would examine library operations broadly and look for potential savings, rather than focus only on Rockrimmon. Pikes Peak Library District says the COS Library established by COS Reads is completely independent of the district.
Henjum and Geitner Disagree Over Candidate Criteria
Henjum argued that selections were being driven by political and value-system preferences rather than qualifications, the Gazette reported. She objected to the recommendations of Salt and Schaefer and said she was frustrated that county commissioners did not interview the city’s leading candidates.
Geitner countered that Henjum was disregarding the library district’s preferences for new trustees. She said she opposed appointing someone adversarial who could disrupt the board’s work. The Gazette reported that the committee had received a letter urging it to prioritize candidates with governing-board service, leadership experience, and familiarity with public-agency budgets and transparency.
Schaefer’s background also figured in the discussion. She serves on the Tri Lakes School Ministries board, an organization that allows public school students to attend Bible education classes during the school day, and previously served on the Colorado Military Academy board. Casey said he was unwilling to give Schaefer a longer appointment, so she was recommended for the partial one-year term rather than a full five-year seat. County commissioners said another application round would be needed to fill the remaining five-year term.
Other Contested PPLD Confirmations
The recommendations follow other disputed PPLD appointments. In fall 2024, Colorado Springs City Council voted 6-3 to approve Kaname “Kenny” Kuniyuki after previously rejecting him, although El Paso County commissioners had unanimously approved him in May, the Gazette reported. Kuniyuki was one of 51 applicants for a single seat that fall; committee members interviewed roughly a dozen.
The Rockrimmon closure remained contentious in December 2024, when the PPLD board voted 5-2 to uphold its decision not to renew the branch’s lease, according to CPR News.
What the Appointment Record Shows
An El Paso County application says the PPLD board has seven members serving five-year terms, and that a vacancy is filled for the remainder of the unexpired term. Those rules describe board structure and term length but do not resolve the conflicting accounts of the confirmation threshold noted above. For an earlier appointment, City of Colorado Springs Legistar records show that a motion to appoint Erin Bents to the PPLD board failed 5-4 on November 23, 2021. The record concerns a separate appointment proceeding.
Under rules published by the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, the county and City Council jointly appoint library district trustees. Trustees oversee library budgets, adopt policy, set direction, and hire and supervise the director. How Salt’s and Schaefer’s recommendations will be finalized—whether by the majority threshold cited by the Gazette or the two-thirds threshold described on the city’s Joint Appointment Committee page—remains unresolved as the governing bodies prepare to consider them.
