Community continues to dispute TRL Board of Trustees president’s ‘desired outcomes’
Published 1:30 am Friday, June 26, 2026
Timberland Regional Library (TRL) Board President Brian Mittge listened to nearly three hours of public comment Wednesday, June 24, from his fellow board members and constituents opposing his vision for the regional library district.
Mittge, who represents Lewis County on the Board of Trustees, has faced public scrutiny over the last week after a list of his “desired outcomes” for TRL that he brought to an informal meeting with TRL Interim Executive Director Andrea Heisel on Friday, June 12, became public.
Mittge lamented Wednesday that the list was publicized, saying he had privately left the document with Heisel for her to “consider” after their conversation.
“My earnest good faith effort to have adult conversations with other adults on important topics for children has now become a very public discussion,” Mittge said to a packed meeting room at the Ocean Park Timberland Library ahead of the board’s regular June 24 meeting.
How the list went from Heisel’s desk to a wall in the TRL Administrative Service Center for other library employees to see is unclear.
But once other employees saw it, they “were terrified,” according to Patron Coalition for Local Libraries President Kylie McQuarrie.
McQuarrie leaked photos of the list to news outlets and a Reddit forum on Monday, June 15, at the request of librarians who sent the photos to her.
“This is the first time so many librarians contacted me, begging me to make the public aware of this,” McQuarrie said during public comment on Wednesday, asking Mittge “to think about why librarians would react the way that they did” to the document.
The contents of the document are below:
Desired outcomes:
No sexuality for kids. Materials about sex, sexual & gender orientation moved from children & youth sections to adult section.
No sexuality in children’s activities.
Make libraries places of unity, not division. A neutral place that taxpayers can be proud to support, that parents can be excited to visit.
Make libraries safe places of respite, not hotbeds of activism. Nonpartisan and neutral. Earn back people’s trust.
Open and geared toward safety for families, not activists and homeless.
No rainbow and activist displays. Monthly celebrations aren’t uniting, they are dividing. Be beige, not rainbow.
No dividing kids from parents, no suggesting they hide things from them.
Libraries aren’t places to teach about sexuality and librarians aren’t therapists.
Just get back to being a library. You’re alienating people. They’re saying no.
The controversy comes against the backdrop of a $3.8 million budget shortfall that has led to layoffs, the resignation of former Executive Director Cheryl Heywood, and the departure of two senior employees who spoke disparagingly about board members and patrons in messages that later became public.
The TRL Board of Trustees, TRL administrators, staff and patrons generally agree that TRL needs to pass a levy lid lift by the end of 2027 to stabilize TRL’s budget and prevent further layoffs.
Patrons and the Board of Trustees also agree that TRL has work to do to regain the public’s trust, which has frayed in recent months as information about TRL’s operations leading up to the January budget shortfall announcement came to light.
Mittge said his list of “desired outcomes” reflect the actions that he believes TRL needs to take to rebuild the public’s trust ahead of a levy lid lift proposal.
He said Wednesday that he thought he and Heisel “had a good conversation” about his vision for TRL — specifically his desire to move some books in the children’s section to higher shelves in order to give parents more control over what their children see, and to do away with mandated celebrations in TRL altogether in favor of letting individual libraries choose what to celebrate each month.
“If TRL’s push for radical inclusivity ends up pushing people away, maybe it’s time to return more toward the center, and that’s all I’m asking for,” Mittge said.
Mittge said he left the June 12 meeting with Heisel by asking to continue the conversation in a few weeks.
According to Mittge, Heisel said she wanted to think about what Mittge said and was unwilling to commit to anything they discussed.
Heisel issued a statement June 16 opposing the goals outlined in the document.
“TRL upholds the values of equitable access and intellectual freedom for all and will continue to protect your right to read,” she stated.
Her stance was quickly supported by Timberland library workers union AFSCME Council 2 Local 3758-B, among others.
Two of Mittge’s fellow trustees, Dustin Loup of Grays Harbor County and Mary Beth Harrington of Thurston County, also stand in firm opposition to Mittge’s “desired outcomes.”
Loup issued a statement to the media June 16 opposing the goals stated in the document, and reiterated his opposition Wednesday.
“I believe public libraries are for everyone, every family, every individual in all of our five counties, and I will continue to stand by that,” Loup said.
While he declined to go through the list by bullet point, he stressed that one glaring problem he had with the document was the conflation of LGBT+ identities with “sexualizing children.”
“That is absolutely not what’s happening, and I find it to be disingenuous, harmful, and downright dangerous,” Loup said.
While the board has a process for suggested policy changes and typically looks for “operational alignment and common ground,” Harrington said, “I see no path forward for a compromise on these particular points.”
She added that she is “fundamentally opposed” to the items outlined in the document and will not support any policy shifts that move TRL in that direction.
“The public library exists to serve the entire community without exception,” Harrington said.
Mittge’s fellow Lewis County trustee, Hal Blanton, expressed loose support on Wednesday for Mittge’s statements.
“We do have to speak for people that aren’t here and speaking up,” Blanton said, adding, “they have money in the game, too, and I think that we need to be able to listen to them.”
Blanton helped Mittge draft the list of “desired outcomes” based on conversations with some Lewis County constituents who no longer use TRL services, and was part of the June 12 meeting with Heisel, according to Mittge.
Regarding the controversy around the list of “desired outcomes,” Blanton said, “Gosh, I just didn’t even want to deal with it.”
Trustee Toni Gwin of Pacific County did not comment on the document Wednesday, instead encouraging the public and her seatmates to redirect their focus to passing a levy lid lift.
“We all come from very different backgrounds and very different thoughts and processes, but when we sit down as a board and we talk, we fight things out, we go forward,” Gwin said. “Do not let this dilute you, so that you forget what is important is next year, I do not want to be in a position where I am voting to close libraries. Because I will cry.”
Mittge, for his part, said that he would not support TRL’s library lid lift until the library district takes steps toward realizing his vision.
“I can only vote to move it out to the public ballot when I can look my neighbors in the eye and say ‘you should increase your taxes and invest more in this organization,’” Mittge said. “This is a serious issue to ask people to raise their taxes, and when people are forced to pay for things they believe are actively counter to their values, they are definitely not going to support a levy lid lift.”
Mittge has gained the support of the Lewis County Republican Party and Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope, who said he will strongly oppose a TRL levy lid lift proposal until Mittge’s vision is realized.
Mittge and Blanton additionally spoke to the Lewis County Conservative Coalition about this topic on June 22. The Lewis County Republican Party issued a call to its constituents the afternoon of June 24 asking them to give public comment that evening supporting the “common-sense library policies” proposed in the “desired outcomes” document.
Despite that call to action, the only person who came to Mittge’s defense during nearly three hours of public comment was former Centralia City Councilor Leah Sisemore.
Dozens of other public comments, including current Centralia City Council Member Ray Chapman-Wilson and Friends of the Centralia Timberland Library President Hallie Ralls, denounced Mittge’s vision for TRL and asked him to resign if he could not support the library’s mission and the upcoming levy lid lift.
“Appreciation for your volunteer work and everything that you’ve done for the libraries that’s been positive thus far, but it’s time to move forward,” Ralls said.
Chapman-Wilson referenced a video taken at Bethel Church, which Swope and Mittge both attend, from 2023, in which Swope reportedly states that he appointed Mittge and Blanton to the TRL Board of Trustees in part to combat “invisible enemies in books and libraries.”
Around that same time, Swope strongly supported a proposed book rating system for TRL which aimed to classify LGBTQ+ material and anatomy books, among other content, as inappropriate for children. The proposal was a topic of intense debate at the county level between July and October 2023.
That book rating system never went into effect as the Lewis County Board of Commissioners lacks the jurisdiction to impose it on TRL.
Thanking Mittge and Blanton Wednesday for their service thus far to TRL, Chapman-Wilson said, “when you accepted this appointment, you implicitly agreed to serve Timberland Regional Library, not Lewis County, not your church, and not your beliefs. And as such, you are required to support a levy lid lift to see this library through. You’re required to support this library’s success — this whole system’s success — not just your success.”
Most public commenters expressed concerns Wednesday that the “desired outcomes” document and Mittge’s statements defending it promote views that are harmful to those who are LGBTQ+, of a race other than white or of a religion other than Christianity.
Some cited data from recent TRL surveys showing high satisfaction amongst TRL patrons, with staff availability and library hours — not the points in the “desired outcomes” document — being patrons’ chief concerns.
Many used their three minutes of allotted time to share stories about their lives, how viewpoints like Mittge’s have personally harmed them, and how libraries like TRL helped them heal and find belonging. Loup thanked those speakers, and all who gave public comments, for their bravery.
“I’d like to thank everybody for their comments, but especially those who showed up despite fear and trauma. I’m sorry that you had to bear that burden, but thank you for doing it, because not everybody can,” Loup said.
In addition to the verbal public comments, the TRL Board of Trustees received 106 additional written comments ahead of the meeting.
The common themes of those comments were the “desired outcomes” document, intellectual freedom, censorship and the levy lid lift, according to TRL Public Information Officer Chris Chrzan.
The “desired outcomes” document has not formally been brought to the TRL Board of Trustees for consideration and, as of June 24, there were no proposals before the board to begin implementing the controversial bullet points as new policy.
