{"id":15514,"date":"2025-11-25T21:01:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-library-board-issues-censure-in-escalating-dispute\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:48:11","slug":"dolores-library-board-issues-censure-in-escalating-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-library-board-issues-censure-in-escalating-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores Library Board issues censure in escalating dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A program focused on boosting the literacy of high schools students is being created by a Dolores English teacher and her students. Once launched, the program will be held at the Dolores Public Library. (Journal file photo)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A special meeting of the Dolores Public Library District Board turned heated Tuesday night as members voted to censure one of their own, Hassan Hourmanesh, amid allegations of misconduct including violating Colorado Open Meetings Law.<\/p>\n

Censure is a formal public reprimand of a board member\u2019s actions \u2014 a serious but largely symbolic punishment, as the member retains their seat.<\/p>\n

Censure vote and allegations<\/div>\n

The hourlong meeting, which began at 6 p.m., drew about a dozen members of the public and was marked by raised voices, frequent interruptions and arguments among board members.<\/p>\n

Board President Sandy Jumper led the board through an hourlong meeting filled with raised voices and interruptions from both board members and the roughly dozen public attendees.<\/p>\n

The board voted 4-2 to censure Hourmanesh after Jumper read aloud a resolution accusing him of violating the state\u2019s Open Meetings Law, acting without board authorization and publicly criticizing the board during a Nov. 10 Dolores Town Board meeting.<\/p>\n

The resolution passed with votes from Jumper, Virginia Hernandez, Correen Becher and Tamara Woodbury, who attended by phone. Hourmanesh and Emily Wisner-Meyers voted against the censure. Jeanne Becker was absent.<\/p>\n

Jumper explained that although the issue had been introduced at the previous meeting Nov. 11, no formal action was taken. She said she had since received a memo from Hourmanesh and intended to address two points from it as she read from the resolution.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the resolution states that Hourmanesh breached both the open-meetings statute and the board\u2019s own code of ethics by emailing all fellow board members and at least three public entities, asking state authorities to investigate the library\u2019s director and the board president over \u201cconcealment of records.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution in addition alleged he sent emails to board members and the Colorado Library Consortium, asking the organization to review board training.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s Open Meetings Law, C.R.S. 24-6-402(2)(a-c)<\/a>, requires public notice of actions, recordkeeping and rules for executive sessions.<\/p>\n

According to the resolution, Hourmanesh also \u201cdenigrated\u201d the board during a Nov. 10 Town Board meeting, remarks that were a focal point of the library board\u2019s nearly four-hour meeting the next night on Nov. 11, though no formal action was taken at that time.<\/p>\n

Board member\u2019s defense<\/div>\n

Hourmanesh delivered a lengthy response before the vote, saying he was fulfilling his duty to raise concerns about legal compliance, board transparency and how library staff grievances were being addressed.<\/p>\n

He said he did not want to be silenced by the other board members and that his goal was to serve the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI serve as a fiduciary of this public library district,\u201d he said, invoking a board member\u2019s duty to the public trust. \u201cI have a duty of care to be informed, ask questions and exercise judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that when his concerns weren\u2019t addressed internally, he felt \u201cescalation is an appropriate\u201d external option to protect the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these actions form a consistent pattern,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m doing the work of oversight \u2013 asking whether our practices align with the law \u2026 whether staff complaints are properly handled, whether the director\u2019s file is complete and properly controlled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debate over a staff grievance document<\/div>\n

A discussion emerged over a 2023 staff document concerning employee evaluations, prompting questions about its origin, interpretation and relevance to the board\u2019s handling of staff concerns.<\/p>\n

Board member Woodbury asked where Hourmanesh obtained the document related to staff grievances.<\/p>\n

Hourmanesh said he received it directly from its author, a former employee from 2023, but did not retain a copy out of respect for privacy and suggested board members request it from the director if needed.<\/p>\n

Jumper responded that she had knowledge of the document, saying employees viewed it not as a complaint but as a request to have a witness present during employee evaluations with the director. She said the board had already considered the issue and declined to change the policy.<\/p>\n

Director Sean Gantt told the board he wanted to address the timeline and began to speak about the matter\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

He restated that the document in question was an employee request in 2023 to have a third party present during an evaluation and that it was signed by other staff members only as part of that request, not as a formal complaint or Equal Employment Opportunity filing.<\/p>\n

He said the letter alarmed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure what was going on. I did send it to my supervisor, my board president, to figure out what was going on,\u201d Gantt said. \u201cAs you know, in 2023, this was toward the end, but well within the #MeToo movement.\u201d (The #MeToo movement was a social campaign against sexual harassment and assault, often in the workplace.)<\/p>\n

According to him, the employee had made multiple requests for policy changes that the board ultimately declined. When the board did respond, he said the matter was handled in a formal meeting and evaluations were recorded internally as part of the official process.<\/p>\n

\"Dolores
Dolores Public Library Director Sean Gantt. (Dolores Public Library)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cJust for timeline sake, I want everybody to be on the same page, because I did not know what Hassan was looking for, because he was looking for a complaint,\u201d Gantt said.<\/p>\n

He stated that sending \u201cunverified information\u201d in front of the Town Board or to other agencies \u2013 could undermine his ability to do his job and harm the library\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Wisner-Meyers pushed back, urging Gantt to be \u201cvery careful\u201d about accusing board members.<\/p>\n

Board moves to seek legal counsel<\/div>\n

After the heated discussion and the censure decision, the board turned to next steps to address the dispute.<\/p>\n

In a unanimous vote, the six members present agreed to authorize the board President Jumper to consult and retain an attorney on behalf of the board \u201cas needed.\u201d Hernandez seconded the motion.<\/p>\n

Hourmanesh requested a statement of work before approving expenditures. Jumper said that would occur once she contacted the attorney and the hiring would be within recommendations by the state library board.<\/p>\n

The board agreed that attorney would advise the board on governance and policy questions that have arisen from the conflict. Woodbury said she also wanted legal guidance on whether the director has been defamed.<\/p>\n

This story will be updated as more information becomes available. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

member says reprimand is retaliation for oversight efforts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19697,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514\/revisions\/19697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15514"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}