Message clear after first hearing: Keep the Grant County Library

Published 3:00 pm Friday, July 25, 2025

Packed house expresses strong support for library

JOHN DAY — Seating was at a premium Tuesday, July 22, at Trowbridge Pavilion in John Day as almost 200 current and former educators, child care providers, library volunteers, students and community members spent two hours giving testimony in support of keeping the Grant County Library open.

The Grant County Court is working to reconcile a $1.5 million budget shortfall during the upcoming fiscal year and identified the library as an entity it could cut off.

The county has no requirement to fund a public library, but the public hearing was the first of two Oregon Law requires prior to defunding a public library. Common themes among those giving testimony were the community lost too much following the closure of Gleason Pool and closing the library would hurt potential growth and negatively affect early learning in the county.

The Save our Library Committee hastily formed in the wake of the county voicing intentions to possibly defund the library. The committee has been brainstorming ways to save the library since its first meeting on June 18.

The hearing saw right around 30 community members give passionate testimony in support of keeping the library’s doors open.

Future of community at stake

Morgan Cole is a Grant Union student who moved here six years ago and was an avid reader at the time. He said the librarians knew him by name and  often suggested books for him to read.

Cole emphasized the hearing is really about the future of the community, which he said is at stake.

Prairie City student Ian Zink also spoke passionately in support of keeping the library open. Zink emphasized the library is essential for educating the community’s youngest residents.

Jessi Brunson is a former member of the Grant School Board and has two school-aged children. She pointed to the library’s support of Battle of the Books and identified it as a critical resource.

“There is so little in this community for kids to do,” she said.

Brunson asked, if the library goes, what’s next?

Stephanie Thompson is the creator of the save the library petition that has more than 700 signatures. She asked the county court to give time to those working to save the library.

Thompson asked the court to consider the long-term consequences of closing the library.

“We should be working to create a better future for our children,” she said.

Anna Field is a math teacher at Grant Union Jr./Sr. High School and used the plot of her favorite book about packhorse librarians during the Great Depression in making her case for keeping the library open. The closure of libraries during the Great Depression compelled women to deliver books to children on horseback no matter the weather or conditions.

Field said she’d thought about how she’d workaround the library closing before realizing she’d ultimately be doing many of the same things the library does now.

“Find a way,” she said. “Find a way to keep it open.”

Kitman Kienzle is the curator of the Grant County Museum and read an old Blue Mountain Eagle article highlighting the efforts of the John Day Civics Club in establishing and keeping the Grant County Library open throughout its history.

“We’ve kept the library open through thick and thin for nearly 100 years,” she said.

Many of those who spoke challenged the court to find a way to fund the library open.

Chantel DesJardin asked the court to defer the next hearing and work with the community due to widespread support for the library.

Funding issue

Grant County Budget Committee members Charlene Morris and Kathy Smith gave testimony saying they support the library but funding is the real issue.

Smith suggested either a five-year tax levee or special district as strategies for keeping the library open. Morris again called on the Library Foundation to help financially support the library.

Morris said the county should partially fund the library but again pointed to its budget issues.

“The county is headed toward bankruptcy,” she said. “That is not an inflammatory statement. That is the truth.”

Commissioners react

All three county commissioners made statements thanking those in attendance and pledging to work with the community to find a solution.

Grant County Commissioner Mitch Wilson told attendees to either call him or go to his shop, Wilson’s Welding if they’d like to talk about the library. Grant County Judge Jim Hamsher thanked those in attendance and pledged to work with the community on the issue.

“Together, we’ll find a solution,” he said.

Grant County Commissioner John Rowell expressed a desire to keep the library but pointed to potential budget woes in the future.

“By 2026-27 — it doesn’t look good,” he said.