{"id":228941,"date":"2025-05-07T14:33:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T14:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/rescheduled-apls-meeting-raises-concerns-about-public-participation-representation\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T14:33:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T14:33:33","slug":"rescheduled-apls-meeting-raises-concerns-about-public-participation-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941","title":{"rendered":"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Numerous people looking to sign up for public comment at the upcoming Alabama Public Library Service meeting were surprised Monday to have their requests denied.<\/p>\n<p>Traditionally, the deadline to sign up for public comment has been 5 p.m. on the Monday ahead of the Thursday meeting. But several people reported being told the deadline for this particular meeting was Friday, despite the APLS code allowing sign-ups up to two days before the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of this information was publicly available and caught many of us by surprise, since the official APLS administrative code says the deadline to submit a request to speak is two working days before the meeting,\u2019 of which May 5th would apply,\u201d said Krysti Shallenberger with Read Freely Alabama.<\/p>\n<p>APLS chairman John Wahl told APR Tuesday that there was some misunderstanding about the situation and that the limitation on public comments had to do with time constraints.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting, Wahl said, was rescheduled to May 8 from May 15 because he wanted board members to have the opportunity to meet with lawmakers on \u201cSine Die,\u201d the last day of the legislative session. With that in mind, Wahl said the meeting would need to be time-limited to ensure board members had time to meet with lawmakers, and that all speakers who didn\u2019t have a chance to speak at this meeting would have been \u201crolled over\u201d to the next.<\/p>\n<p>The Legislature has since moved Sine Die up one day, to today, and Wahl said that the meeting will no longer face those time constraint issues and that everyone who attempted to sign up on Monday should be allowed to speak.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns were also raised about the rescheduling of the meeting itself, as members Ron Snider and Angela Stokes were apparently not consulted in the change of date.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cNeither I nor Angela Stokes were asked about changing the date of the meeting,\u201d Snider told Wahl and director Kelyn Ralya in an email. \u201cIn the future, if there is to be a change, I would ask all board members be consulted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Snider said he had particularly wanted to be at this meeting as the ongoing situation with the Fairhope Public Library continues. Snider voted against pausing funding to the library and continues to believe APLS should not be getting involved in where particular books are shelved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe the choice of books in local library should be made by local librarians and local boards,\u201d Snider said. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what is happening in Fairhope. I believe APLS should respect such local decisions. It\u2019s not our role to become a board of censors for Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wahl said he doesn\u2019t expect any action to be taken one way or the other regarding Fairhope at Thursday\u2019s meeting, telling APR the board wants to let Fairhope complete its review process before deciding how to move forward. No decisions have been made yet as to whether the library\u2019s decision to keep two challenged books\u2014\u201dGrown\u201d and \u201cSold\u201d\u2014violate state code and would therefore result in the library\u2019s funding remaining suspended.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Numerous people looking to sign up for public comment at the upcoming Alabama Public Library Service meeting were surprised Monday to have their requests denied. Traditionally, the deadline to sign up for public comment has been 5 p.m. on the Monday ahead of the Thursday meeting. But several people reported being told the deadline for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[62076,26202,18166,11184,62200,18526,22223,5294,16585,7345,85420],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-228941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-alabama-public-library-service","tag-apls","tag-book-bans","tag-concerns","tag-library-challenges","tag-meeting","tag-participation","tag-public","tag-raises","tag-representation","tag-rescheduled"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Numerous people looking to sign up for public comment at the upcoming Alabama Public Library Service meeting were surprised Monday to have their requests denied. Traditionally, the deadline to sign up for public comment has been 5 p.m. on the Monday ahead of the Thursday meeting. But several people reported being told the deadline for [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-07T14:33:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-07T14:33:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\"},\"wordCount\":524,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alabama Public Library Service\",\"APLS\",\"Book bans\",\"concerns\",\"library challenges\",\"Meeting\",\"participation\",\"Public\",\"raises\",\"representation\",\"Rescheduled\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alabama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\",\"name\":\"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-07T14:33:33+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Numerous people looking to sign up for public comment at the upcoming Alabama Public Library Service meeting were surprised Monday to have their requests denied. Traditionally, the deadline to sign up for public comment has been 5 p.m. on the Monday ahead of the Thursday meeting. But several people reported being told the deadline for [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-05-07T14:33:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation","datePublished":"2025-05-07T14:33:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941"},"wordCount":524,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg","keywords":["Alabama Public Library Service","APLS","Book bans","concerns","library challenges","Meeting","participation","Public","raises","representation","Rescheduled"],"articleSection":["Alabama"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941","name":"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-07T14:33:33+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Censorship-Library-1_.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=228941#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rescheduled APLS meeting raises concerns about public participation, representation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=228941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/228942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=228941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=228941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=228941"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=228941"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=228941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}