Board of Directors

CALS is an independent, tax-supported Public Corporation created by an agreement among the public entities of Pulaski and Perry counties and the cities of Little Rock, Jacksonville, Sherwood, and Maumelle to provide public library services to their constituents.

CALS is not a department or agency of the state, nor of the cities or counties in which it operates library services. The participating communities cede their library authority to a single Board of Directors, whose thirteen members are appointed by their individual governmental bodies.

1. All meetings of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Board or Committees of the Board are open to the public. Because space may be limited for seating, citizens interested in attending the meeting are encouraged to contact the Administrative Assistant and Director of Operations so that sufficient seating may be provided.
2. While Board meetings and Committee meetings are open to the public for attendance, the purpose of these meetings is to allow the Board and Committees to transact the normal business of the institution. For this reason, statements are limited as described herein. Separate public hearings will provide citizens the right to be heard.
3. If citizens wish to speak at a Board or Committee meeting, they may submit to the Board President a request to speak at the next Board meeting by emailing the request to board@cals.org or by sending the request in writing to 100 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR 72201.
4. To submit a request to speak, a citizen must be a resident of the CALS service area. To be allowed to speak at the next meeting, a request should be received by CALS by 12pm Central on the day before the next Board or Committee meeting. Requests that are not received by the deadline for the upcoming meeting will be considered for the next Board meeting.
5. Public comment will occur early in the meeting (see the agenda) and is limited to three minutes per speaker and may be shortened depending on the number of speakers.
6. At the President or Committee chair’s discretion, the Board or Committee may respond to the statements of a speaker at a meeting. The general practice, however, will be to not respond to statements of a citizen at the time they are made.
7. In order to provide an opportunity for all patrons to make statements to the Board, patrons shall sign in on cards provided by the Board and include their name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, group affiliation (as applicable), and description of the subject matter that they will address on the card. Patrons shall also provide the Board either with a copy of their statement or a short written description of the topic they will address in advance of the meeting.
8. All citizens providing input must adhere to the CALS Code of Conduct at all times during the Board meeting.