After a contentious discussion, the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) has once again decided to punt a decision on restoring state funding for the Fairhope Public Library over alleged violations of state codes.

Since March, the library has had state funding revoked by the APLS, with APLS Chairman John Wahl continuing to say during Thursday's meeting that the library "refused" to listen to the concerns of parents.

Fairhope's library was the first in Alabama to lose state funding over alleged violations of APLS code, though Wahl said during Thursday's meeting that eight other libraries this year did not meet the state's standards, with Fairhope being the only one based on their sexually explicit content guidelines.

After state funding was lost, the Fairhope Public Library's board reviewed 17 books that were challenged. Seven of the books were relocated to adult sections while the rest were kept in teen sections. Randal Wright, chairman of the board of trustees for the Fairhope Public Library, previously told the APLS that none of the challenged books are available to anyone younger than a teenager and that the library has, since the new policy, created a tiered system for library cards, with parents having to approve their children's library card and choose whether to give them all-access or restricted.

After a public comment period where many speakers voiced their displeasure with the APLS, the board members went to their board room to discuss the agenda.

Wahl said that despite working "very, very hard to review the material," he has not personally finished reading all of the challenged material. He said he was "committed" to reading the books himself after the Fairhope library director said during a board of trustees meeting last month that she doubts that the board will actually read the challenged material.

"I have all of these books — some of them are audiobooks — so I can listen to them as I drive back really late at night from meetings all around the state, but I have not finished them to be honest," Wahl said.

Wahl then asked the board about delaying a vote on the matter to give him the chance to finish reading all of the books before they make a final decision. Things got heated when board member Ron Snider, who has supported the Fairhope library, asked Wahl, "Are you becoming the censor-in-chief of Alabama that you're reading these books?"

"The fact that the Fairhope Library chairman made a challenge for me to read all the books, I'm accepting her request and I'm going to read all the books," Wahl said. "That is not censorship. That's trying to work with the other party."

"We've heard what Fairhope has done," Snider replied. "We've heard from them. I think they have more people with masters degrees than this agency does. They reviewed those books. They told us how their board [had] two board members read two books each. They reported to us how some of those books they did move, some they thought were appropriate."

Snider also said that the APLS owes the Fairhope Public Library an apology over $20,000 of state funding that Fairhope lost being dispersed to other libraries instead. A deadline of June 30 to become compliant was not made clear with the Fairhope library, which thought that a decision would be made in September.

Wahl said the June 30 deadline had already been emailed as early as year ago after the deadline of that year to library directors across the state, letting them know if they would not have funding due to noncompliance.

"I understand it was months prior and it was in an email where maybe they missed it, but it was not that they had never been communicated the information," Wahl said. "The information was communicated, and this is not something new in this process. APLS grant funding is always quarterly and always has that June 30 deadline."

APLS board member Kasandra Stevens questioned the board's review process for libraries in the future.

"I think nobody on this board wants funds withheld," Stevens said. "If this book is reviewed by any library and is determined it's sexually explicit, is there a standard policy where it's implemented statewide, and how are we going to so that we're not doing this every meeting? Nobody wants to do this."

APLS board member Amy Minton, who is running as a Republican for the District 10 state senate seat in next year's midterms, said she thinks they are complying with the state's obscenity rules but not their rules on sexually explicit material, citing the book "Doing It! Let's Talk About Sex" that the Fairhope library kept in its teen section as a book that is sexually explicit.

Wahl said he will report back to the board after he reads the books. The board ultimately voted to delay a vote on state funding toward the Fairhope Public Library, with Snider and Angelia Stokes voting no, Minton and Debbie Windsor voting yes, while Stevens and Jerria Martin abstained. Wahl was the tie-breaking yes vote to delay their decision.

Wahl also said that the decision to delay their vote on funding won't affect the Fairhope library's 2026 fiscal year until a deadline of June 30, 2026, which is when Fairhope would have to be in compliance with state code in order to receive full funding for the fiscal year.

NEW CODE CHANGE RESTRICTS TRANS MATERIALS

After deciding to delay a decision on the Fairhope library's funding, the APLS passed a code change that would restrict materials featuring transgender themes and material from minors.

The code change, introduced by Minton, states that "any material that promotes, encourages or depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology or the concept of more than two biological genders shall be considered inappropriate for children and youth." A notable omission in the new draft of the code change is that the word "positive" was removed from the initial proposal.

"We want parents to make the decision about what their children are being exposed to," Wahl said about the code change. "It should be consistent across the board and not just require movement of positive depictions, but of all depictions."

After APLS approval, the code change now heads to the state legislature for approval, which may make changes. Wahl said the code probably won't be officially changed until the spring of 2026.

Also during the meeting, the board named Kelyn Ralya as the permanent executive director after having served in the role on an interim basis. They also voted to create a new chief of staff position, with Minton saying the new role would "work with our libraries so that there's continuity across the state with policy implementation."

Following the meeting, Clean Up Alabama, which has fought with libraries within the state over materials in sections for minors, praised the code change as a victory for parents and families.

"Taken together, these policies create stronger standards for how public libraries in Alabama select materials intended for minors," the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Williams, leader of the Baldwin County chapter for Read Freely Alabama, said the APLS "has been so incredibly disrespectful to the people of Fairhope, their library and its board," saying that the vast majority of parents and residents in Fairhope have supported the library and their decision making on certain materials.

"'Listen to parents' and 'protect the children' are hollow cries from the grasping political opportunists in the APLS board," Williams said. "It is clear John Wahl is using children as a shield to advance his own political career, and quite frankly it disgusts me. Fairhope doesn't need his censorship money."

The next APLS executive meeting is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2026.