LANCASTER, Pa. — Editors note: The attached video is from April 9.
The Lancaster County Commissioners voted Wednesday to not renew the board seats for two Lancaster County Library System board members following the canceled Drag Queen Story Hour at the public library last month.
The commissioners voted 2-1 to decline the appointments of current board members Cody Diehl and Alexandra Godfrey. Godfrey is the only librarian currently on the board.
The two incumbents had been recommended to return by the library's executive director. Republican Commissioners Ray D'Agostino and Joshua Parsons voted in favor of the new appointments and Democratic Commissioner Alice Yoder voted against.
The commissioners also voted to appoint Theia Hoffstetter, Andrew Welk and Tess Wallace to the board.
Wallace had previously run for the Manheim School Board on the Republican ticket. Welk is a real estate agent in Lancaster. Hoffstetter is listed as a member of the Lancaster County Republican Party.
The new appointments follow the recent blowback from Republican leaders against the library for the scheduled Drag Queen Story Hour, which was to be held March 23 at the public library in the city of Lancaster. The event was canceled following a bomb threat against the library on that day.
Since the bomb threat, East Hempfield Township withheld more than $26,000 in funding to its own branch of the public library, and the Mountville Borough Council voted to do the same.
A GoFundMe has raised $36,000 for the library since the controversy began.