JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
The termination of former library director Kellye Hogan of the Beene Pearson Public Library’s has been upheld by members of the Marion County Library Board.
During a public hearing regarding Hogan’s termination in South Pittsburg, there was much debate from both sides, with the Library Board’s attorney Eric Burnette reading aloud an explanation to the Board’s reasoning for the termination. Meanwhile, Hogan’s attorney, Sam Hudson, expressed concerns regarding the termination, as he pointed out how and why Hogan was wrongfully terminated from her position as library director.
Attorney Burnette, reading from a statement provide by former Library Board Executive Director Sandra Crabtree, shared several key points as to why the Board terminated Hogan from her position. According to Crabtree’s statement, on several occasions Hogan did not properly evaluate library inventory, giving varying reasons and excuses as to why she was unable to fulfill the task throughout December of 2024 to April of 2025. This ultimately left Crabtree and Assistant Library Director Tammy Parker to begin work on the inventory themselves. Additionally, it was stated that Hogan ordered t-shirts deemed inappropriate for library ware. She was also accused of participating in library training with members of Stones River Regional Library, several months prior to a scheduled Zoom meeting she was to attend for training alongside Cathy Black of Whitwell’s Orena Humphreys Public Library. The meeting in which Hogan was supposed to attend for training was for the purpose of trainning on use of the OverDrive program, a program which operates different book and library related apps such as Libby and TeachingBooks.
Attorney Hudson testified against Crabtree’s statements, as he stated Crabtree’s claims of Hogan not addressing Beene Pearson Library’s inventory isn’t a terminable offense. He further detailed how no concerns or content regarding Hogan’s actions were ever featured in any of the Library Board’s minutes from last year, with Crabtree’s written statement being described as a documented list of disagreeable interactions with Hogan. Regarding the Zoom meeting, he also expressed how Hogan through given policies and statues had the right to speak with the regional directors of Stones River Regional Library prior to the meeting as library director.
“The gist of her problem with Mrs. Hogan talking to the regional director is about budgeting,” stated Hudson.
He further quoted how through his review of the case, no overall authority was properly given for Hogan’s termination. Hudson’s reason as to why was from Hogan’s letter of termination, sent to her by Chairman of the Board Henry Lodge, which contradicts Crabtree’s open statement of her being the one who terminated Hogan. He also added that the Board’s past minutes specified no mention of authorization for Lodge to send Hogan the letter of termination, including no authorization from Crabtree through her time as Executive Director.
Board member June Grimes defended the Board’s decision to terminate Hogan, as she stated how because of the library’s inventory or collections not properly being inspected, the Board felt action was required to ensure the Board’s expenses and inventory were properly examined. She also commented on salary reduction, where she stated the decision for Hogan’s salary reduction was made due to the Board being low in revenue, forcing the Board to make the decision to cut back in pay for all librarians working under the Library Board.
“We would have to done some sort of agreement or change with the Secretary of the State because there was no funding. There was a lot of things we couldn’t have done in that respect,” said Grimes.
Kellye Hogan’s termination from the library director position was ultimately upheld by all members of the Library Board, despite much discussion and community support for her reinstatement at Beene Pearson Library having been conducted in recent memory.
Disclaimer: In last week’s story about the Beene Pearson Library being pulled from the Library Board, it was explained how both Mayor Shawn Henson and Vice Mayor Matt Stone voted against the library separating itself from the Library Board. This was incorrect as both voted to abstain their decisions on the matter and not against it overall. We apologize for the inconvenience.
