October 2025

Also at the October meeting, library advocates used public comment time before the adoption of meeting minutes to refute points made by board Vice President Allan Moore in his presentation at the September meeting. As the comments were not recorded in the official meeting minutes, we are preserving them here for public access:

Mr. Moore said in his remarks: I think the violence that we’ve witnessed in our nation over the last few weeks is staggering.

Response: Let the record reflect that Mr. Moore then went on to mention three recent killings that fit into the Right’s storyline: an assassin with possibly leftist ideologies, and alleged murderers who grappled with mental illness and were in the US illegally. But what he neglected to mention was: the Democratic MN state legislators killed and targeted by a man who identified as an evangelical Christian and harbored far-right beliefs, police officer David Rose who was killed in the CDC shooting by a COVID conspirator, and police officer (and Bangladeshi immigrant) Didarul Islam who was senselessly killed in a mass shooting in mid-town Manhattan in July.

Neither Allan Moore nor any other board member in the past four years has held a moment of silence for anyone else – not for Melissa Hortman and her husband, not for David Rose, not for Didarul Islam, not even for any of the victims of school shootings. The only general moment of silence was called for by James Thomas on September 11, 2023 in memory of 9/11 victims.

Mr. Moore also mentioned Charlie Kirk in his remarks, who Mr. Moore claimed engaged in factual debate on important political life and spiritual issues and was martyred by an assassin’s bullet for inviting others into conversation.

Response: Let the record reflect that Mr. Moore neglected to clarify that “Factual debate” is a matter of opinion. Let the record reflect that Kirk pushed many falsehoods and conspiracy theories, a few of those being: the Great Replacement Theory, which pushes the belief that non-white immigrants are being used to replace white citizens, He questioned the qualifications of Black pilots, he spoke out against the Civil Rights Act, a landmark piece of legislation, and
he said prominent Black women like Michelle Obama and Ketanji Brown Jackson did not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously.

Charlie Kirk may have invited people into conversation, but it was a conversation built on divisive and sometimes vile assertions.

Mr. Moore said in his remarks: Everyone’s opinion matters and deserves to be given an opportunity to state their beliefs.

Response: Let the record reflect that Mr. Moore neglected to mention that former board president Robert Judge did not give people this opportunity and that is why Judge, LCG, the current board president and the Sheriff’s deputies were sued.

The library meeting minutes reflect that at the November 21, 2022 meeting, a Library supporter asked the Board to remove language in the meeting rules that ban mentioning board members by name or ban controversial speech, as well as removing the signs from the front doors. And those requests were ignored by the board.

Let the record reflect that if anyone has doubt about the validity of the lawsuit brought by Library supporters in 2023, they need only look to two years worth of defense motions to dismiss, almost all of which were rejected by a Trump-appointed federal judge, which led to LCG and other defendants coming to the plaintiffs to settle.

Mr. Moore said in his remarks: You don’t have to agree with me, [in regards to religious beliefs]

Response: That’s true, We don’t have to agree with you but, let the record reflect, it is not a level playing field when a board member spends ½ hour preaching an overtly Christian sermon, or when an overtly Christian prayer is prayed at every meeting. Let the record reflect that no other religions are represented at the Board table. There is no spirit of inclusivity promoted, even though this parish is made up of people from a variety of faiths and also people with no religious affiliation. Let the record reflect that even though the majority of people in this parish may identify under the umbrella term “Christian,” it does not mean they interpret the Bible or live their faith like the people on the Board. If the board truly believes that all beliefs should be embraced, they would follow the 2014 Supreme Court Case Town of Greece v. Galloway, where the Court ruled that while Christian prayer is permitted before public meetings, officials cannot discriminate by allowing only prayers from certain religions. Let the record reflect that the majority of board members were appointed by almost the same trio of Council members, meaning that two of the five Council members have had almost no say in library board appointments. Let the record reflect that that is not fair representation.

Mr. Moore said in his remarks: let’s work together for the betterment of our community.

Response: What Mr. Moore neglected to mention is that we can’t “work together” when the Board makes changes that are not for the betterment of Librarians or First Amendment freedoms, like when they disaffiliated from ALA, banned “controversial” displays, or changed the mission statement to eliminate free and equal access, and remove words like diverse.

Let the record reflect that Mr. Moore appeared to direct his comments to Library supporters when he mentioned people engaging in “uncivil” conversation. Yet he neglected to mention leaders who have stoked division, like: Trump blaming Kirk’s assisination on a generalized radical left, Jeff Landry who generalized in his social media post that “the left” hate freedom and prosperity, Clay Higgins who has a history of making racist remarks and threats of violence, or
Robert Judge, who told a grieving mother that her son’s suicide was due to the son’s LGBTQ+ identity.

Moore also neglected to mention times Board members’ allies or friends in the parish council have not used facts to the betterment of our community, such as: Corey Grimley, who claimed at meetings in April and August 2022 that pornography was found in the library, specifically in the children’s section. Greg Ardoin made the same claim at the December 2023 meeting. Let the record reflect that Library policy always has and does prohibit anything pornographic from being purchased for any section of the library. The notion that the library has pornographic material was also refuted by Danny Gillane at the Nov 21, 2022 board meeting.

Josh Carlson made multiple false remarks about the media, Library supporters, and library materials at the June 2022 parish council meeting; so many, in fact, that Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship put out a press release asking him to provide his evidence. His accusations included an assertion that there was a book in the library with a picture of a minor child performing oral sex on a man. Let the record reflect that despite being asked directly which book and what page number of this alleged book, Mr. Carlson remained silent.

Stephanie Armbruster, at the February 22, 2021 meeting, claimed that there was national-level positive feedback from multiple sources to the board’s decision in January 2021 to reject the voting rights’ grant. Let the record reflect that after a PRR was submitted, the board had to walk back that claim and admit there was only a single email from “a librarian” that gave positive feedback.

Mr. Moore said in his remarks (in part): If you believe current board actions have increased risk to patrons, staff, media or legal counsel, I call on you to immediately identify the specific actions.

Response: Let the record reflect that former board members Robert Judge and Stephanie Armbruster caused grave risk to Librarian Cara Chance’s job security and reputation on July 25, 2022, when they tried to illegally fire her at a specially-called Board meeting that was announced only one business day before. Let the record also reflect that this attempted firing came a day before Ms. Chance was scheduled for surgery, setting up a potential situation in which she would have been without much-needed health insurance.

Let the record reflect that former board members Robert Judge and Erasto Padron, and current board members Ella Arsement and Daniel Kelly, caused grave risk to Danny Gillane’s job security and reputation when they illegally fired him in August 2023.

Let the record reflect that former board member Stephanie Armbruster caused grave risk to Librarians’ reputations when she falsely claimed at two separate meetings, in February 2023 and December 2023, that librarians had said it was their job to give children or teens information when their parents didn’t want them to have it. Ms. Armbruster mischaracterized a statement of two librarians on the reconsideration committee – she incorrectly claimed that they said, regarding the book in question: “parents aren’t providing this information to children so we need to” and mused that these were hardly the only two librarians to feel this way. Let the record reflect: both times, one of the librarians on that committee corrected her and said that Ms. Armbruster was incorrect – that they had simply stated that this book has merit in their collection, and that their job was to provide access to information, not to influence. That librarian also said that it would be a violation of professional ethics to push any materials on patrons and that they haven’t.

Let the record reflect that at the August 15, 2022 meeting, at least one member of the public raised concerns about how the board was affecting employees and was limiting the library’s ability to attract employees. One employee stated at that meeting that she had given her two week resignation due to low morale.

Mr. Moore said in his remarks, in regards to the North East Regional Library project: This means that over the course of four years, the board was right on time with the original timeline estimates projected by Mr. Angelle, and it’s in the public domain for everyone to see.
He also claims: Furthermore, all of the claims of delay, dragging feet, resistance to building a new library are proven and patently false.

Let the record reflect that the timeline Allan Moore referred people to shows that the “library program,” which I’m assuming means the library design, was approved in Feb 2025. This is incorrect. At the February meeting, Mr. Judge made a motion to indefinitely postpone the vote, with Mr. Moore seconding. The library design was actually approved at the March meeting, after the Mayor-President and other elected officials showed up.

Let the record reflect that the timeline also neglects to mention the drama in August 2023, when Parish Council ordered Robert Judge to move forward after his many delays. Let the record reflect that at the Parish Council meeting on August 22, 2023, Robert Judge made the excuse that the board didn’t have enough information or studies. A solid 1 ½ years after Judge stood before Council making this claim, a year and a half during which he had time to gather the necessary information he sought, he used more or less the same reasoning to delay a vote in February 2025.

And that was hardly the first time Robert Judge or other former board members attempted to delay the process, information not reflected on the library’s timeline.

In Feb 2022 – Landon Boudreaux, Stephanie Armbruster, & Robert Judge attempted to add search for leased property to board vote on moving forward with RFP process. They did not succeed but their action at that meeting showed that they were willing to override the Northeast Library’s committee recommendation, a committee that Mr. Boudreaux himself chaired and that Mr. Judge was a part of. This was a committee comprised of knowledgeable community members, along with both Danny Gillane and Larry Angelle. Ms. Armbruster also cited financial concerns, which is ironic considering that she voted against the 2018 library millage and has a spouse who publicly campaigned for moving $10M from the library budget in 2019.

In May 2023 – Mr. Judge and Ms. Armbruster once again attempted to delay the NE library by asking for more time to investigate lease possibility. This was more than a FULL YEAR after the committee had voted to build a building rather than lease a space.

In August 2023 – Judge attempted to force a vote on a lease for the third time, prompting the parish council to force him to call a special meeting to approve the land purchase. At the August 21 meeting, Judge’s “no” vote meant that the vote to purchase land didn’t pass. At the Council meeting the following day, three Council members expressed their great frustration towards Judge for the delays. Witnesses at the board meeting said that Judge claimed the board could “start with a leased space and see if it was enough,” belying his claims that he actually wanted to open a Northeast branch.

Mr. Moore said in his remarks, in regards to the North East Regional Library project: This means that over the course of four years, the board was right on time with the original timeline estimates projected by Mr. Angelle, and it’s in the public domain for everyone to see.

Let the record reflect that one major difference between the timeline online and the one that Mr. Angelle shared with the original Northeast Library committee, is that the latter included, in bold type: Estimate up to 2.5 Years to finalize a land purchase Note the biggest delay Mr. Angelle foresaw was in land purchase – he gives an example of West Regional and their lack of suitable proposals. In the case of Northeast, there was already a site (Holy Rosary) desired by the community that only would have required a small amount of negotiation to obtain a long-term lease, 99 year lease, on the property. Note: not a long-term lease on a storefront or a small building; a lease on land on which a suitable library could be built.

Let the record reflect that the timeline also neglects to mention that NERL committee member Lynette Mejia was removed from the committee by then-chair Landon Boudreaux, after she exercised her first amendment rights and wrote an article critical of the Board’s decision to change the collection development policy, an article which had no bearing on her fitness or objectivity to serve on a committee to plan a new library. Let the record also reflect that after a warning letter from Tulane’s First Amendment clinic, Ms. Mejia was reinstated on the committee.

Let the record also reflect that even after being castigated by Council and members of the public in August 2023, and resigning as board president, Mr. Judge still attempted to include an amendment for leased space at the September 11, 2023 meeting where the board finally voted to purchase land.

Let the record reflect that in multiple meeting minutes and news articles, it is noted that current financial issues with Northeast were exacerbated due to all the delays – that if things had moved quicker in 2021, if the land had been leased instead of purchased, construction of the actual building could have begun earlier when construction material costs were lower.

Finally, let the record reflect that both Allan Moore and Ella Arsement showed up to the August 19, 2025 Parish Council meeting asking the council NOT to vote to enter into negotiations with Holy Rosary, thereby potentially causing FURTHER delays on a project they claim they want moved forward.

Mr. Moore quotes Danny in conversation with Mayor-President Boulet: And so we managed to get all that information gathered together before the board meeting. But the board essentially only had a few hours.

Let the record reflect that Mr. Moore neglects to mention times in the past where receiving information a short time beforehand didn’t stop the Board from moving forward with decisions.

It did not stop them from voting no to a vote to go into Exec session in May 2025, based on information Robert Judge presented to them at the meeting itself (even though this contradicted the advice of their own attorney, whose legal services are funded by taxpayers). It did not stop Mr. Judge and Stephanie Armbruster from making a motion and seconding it to attempt to pass a resolution to disaffiliate from ALA at the November 2023 board of control meeting, even though Mr. Judge only presented the information at the meeting and not beforehand, as their attorney noted.

Let the record reflect that Mr. Moore himself said the Northeast library process was started in 2019. And most current board members have been on the board since at least 2023, so they should have been well-briefed on the library progress – An update was provided pretty much every month. Any board member could have asked for data or requested information for a decision they knew was coming.

In fact, at the January 2025 board meeting, in the director’s report, it was stated in part: Library Director and Operations Manager met with Ella Arsement, chairperson of the committee, to discuss the decisions the committee will need to make at its February 13 meeting.

So the board should have been anticipating a decision and asked appropriate questions before the February board meeting.

Mr. Moore also speaks of “due diligence” and claims the board was merely exercising responsibility.

What Mr. Moore neglects to mention and what should be noted for the record is that this due diligence could and should have been practiced way before the February 2025 meeting. The bigger question is why Ms.Arsement, as chair of the NorthEast Regional Library Committee, did not already have this information, or didn’t ask for it prior for one of her multiple committee meetings. Everything should have been in position for that February meeting.

Finally, Ms. Arsement claims in her remarks with regards to the Northeast project: All that was left was for parish council approval and mayor president approval and her signature on that contract, we would have already been breaking ground on the Northeast Library.

Let the record reflect, according to the timeline that Mr. Moore referenced, ground would not be broken until around November 2026, if not later.

In Allan Moore’s remarks, he quoted Daniel Kelly from the February meeting, saying: We’re going to see if we can have a meeting at least by Monday of next week or Tuesday of next week, meaning another meeting to discuss North East Regional Library.

Let the record reflect that they did not have a meeting the next week.

Mr. Moore said, regarding the February 2025 meeting: Robert again explains what the motion to postpone indefinitely. And I quote Robert here, It simply takes it off of this meeting. That’s all it does.

Let the record reflect that what Mr. Moore didn’t note was that Robert Judge almost certainly chose that motion to cause chaos. He has a four year track record of doing exactly that. He knew how “postpone indefinitely” would sound, causing confusion and anger. He should have used “postpone to a certain time” or “definitely” to ensure that the motion would make it to another agenda.

Mr. Moore also forgot to mention the elephant in the room, and this needs to be noted in the minutes since we all know how Mr. Moore believes in the importance of facts. And this is a fact: People don’t trust Mr. Judge.

They don’t trust him after watching him attempt one illegal firing and carrying out another.

They don’t trust him after he flashed a picture on the screen at the Feb 2023 meeting that didn’t even come from a children’s book.

They don’t trust him after he had one Library supporter arrested at a meeting, and had another supporter escorted out by armed sheriff’s deputies at another.

They don’t trust him after he twisted facts to push for disaffiliation from ALA.

They don’t trust him after he revised the mission statement and took out the words diverse, equal and free.

They don’t trust him after he time and again tried to go against the wishes of the first Northeast committee and push for a building lease option.

They don’t trust him after he tanked a vote for land purchase at the August 2023 board meeting. So they’re not going to trust him when he tries to mansplain what “indefinitely postponed” means.

And let the record reflect, in response to Ms. Arsement’s comments about the project being taken away from them while they were “making “progress,” that they put themselves in this situation. Despite Mr. Judge’s track record of leading the library board in the wrong direction, the majority of the board members listened to him at the February meeting and he led them off a cliff. At some point elected officials will get fed up with the delays and take action themselves and this shouldn’t have been a surprise; Council threatened to do it all the way back in 2023.

To Mr. Moore’s points about programming. He spoke about how wonderful it was, what a diverse offering of programs there were for all ages – he presented all of this as if it was brand new information.

But what the record does not reflect, is that for many people in the room, this was not new information. We’re not surprised by all the offerings because, and let the record reflect this, we use the library. We actually come into the library buildings. We check out actual physical books and DVDs. We bring our children to programs and attend programs ourselves. We have for years, way before 2019.

In fact, it’s a little surprising that Mr. Moore, who supposedly was knowledgeable enough about the library to get appointed to the board over many other candidates, took nearly two years to figure this out.

Perhaps Mr. Moore should have directed his comments towards Mr. Judge, who wanted to limit and control programming and narrow the scope of the library’s mission, as reflected in multiple audio recordings of meetings.
Perhaps Mr. Moore should direct his comments towards Greg Ardoin, past meeting attendee, who wrote in a letter to the editor that libraries should be places where people come to get information and only that.

Perhaps Mr. Moore should watch or listen to the board and council meetings in August 2023, where Judge claims that foot traffic into library buildings has decreased because everyone is getting things electronically.

In fact, in 2024, Mr. Moore, Ms. Arsement, Ms. Armbruster and Mr. Judge all voted to change the mission statement and remove the following words: “our community,” “free and equal”, “diverse”, and “information, life-long learning, recreation, and cultural enrichment.”

So let the record reflect that I am surprised that Mr. Moore is excited about programs like Mahjong – which by the way is a tile-based game developed in 19th century China – since it really falls into the category of cultural enrichment.

I’m surprised he’s excited about fencing, because, by Mr. Judge’s reasoning, the library shouldn’t duplicate services offered by parks and rec, and fencing is offered there.

Mr. Judge even emailed Mr. Gillane in November 2024 asking him why recreational programs are still available since it’s in conflict with the updated mission statement.

So, Mr. Moore, if you are impressed with programming, it is because librarians have thankfully ignored the directive that you helped pass at the April 2024 meeting and instead made sure that programming remained robust, cultural and recreational. They have survived in spite of the library board, not because of it.

Mr. Moore remarked: We don’t solve problems by silencing each other. We solve them by sharpening the truth against error in the public square in unity.

What Mr. Moore neglected to mention and what I’d like to submit for the record, is that we don’t solve problems when a small minority takes advantage of their publicly appointed position to talk for a half hour about items not even on the agenda. We don’t solve problems when a group, who has almost uniformly been appointed by the same three Council members, takes concrete steps to narrow the scope of the library’s mission, or bans displays that represent diverse populations in the community, or takes away ALA from librarians despite many knowledgeable members of the public and librarians themselves issuing objections. We don’t solve problems when a minority tries to act as the majority and speak for everyone and when they are given unlimited time at a public forum to do so.

Mr. Moore later talks about library cards and school partnerships, saying: And that was something that Mr. Gillane started years and years ago and then picked back up as he came back into the directorship.

Let the record reflect that what Mr. Moore neglects to mention is that Mr. Gillane came back into the directorship after being unceremoniously fired and then rehired. This firing happened at the August 21, 2023 meeting where Robert Judge, Ella Arsement, Daniel Kelly and Erasto Padron were present. This unjust firing led to the resignation of then-board president and lawsuit defendant Robert Judge, and the Board quickly had to backtrack and let Mr. Gillane resign.

Mr. Moore also explains the school ID/Library card program, saying: In other words, they don’t have to go get an additional library card, they use their school ID and they come straight into our system.

What Mr. Moore neglects to mention, and let the record reflect, is that all students’ cards will be restricted, meaning that students may not be able to check out books they need for school, especially if their parent or guardian isn’t able to make it to a library during library hours to unrestrict their card. And how that would have been different had the board chosen an “opt in”, rather than “opt-out” option with the cards. Where parents, exercising their parental rights, could decide if they wanted their child’s card restricted. Instead, the board acted in loco parentis and made that decision for every child, putting the burden on parents to give their child full access to resources, many of which they may need for school.

Allan Moore declared: So we were at a deficit in 2019, but due to great austerity principles and a team that is constantly being vigilant over the budget, we had a surplus in 2024. It needs to be entered into the record that Mr. Moore neglected to mention that the library was at a deficit in 2019 due to the millage failure in 2018 – costing the library approximately $3.5M annually ( at least one former board member, Stephanie Armbruster, voted for this millage to fail, as she publicly admitted). Michael Lunsford led the charge to doom this millage, saying the library had “plenty” of money. And in 2019, the library lost another $10M, which Lunsford and the Armbrusters campaigned in favor of.

So it’s interesting that the library supposedly had “plenty” of money in 2018 and 2019, but Mr. Moore is now saying that it was at a deficit in 2019. Is Mr. Moore publicly stating that Michael Lunsford lied when he made statements about the library’s finances in 2018 and 2019? Is Mr. Moore publicly stating it was a bad idea for the Armbrusters to join Lunsford and others and campaign to have another $10M taken away in 2019; that the library really COULDN’T afford to lose that money? Because it seems like one of the former library board members, along with a man that many board members have secret lunches with, were the ones responsible for putting the library at a deficit.

Mr. Moore also does not detail the austerity measures and I would like to submit them for the record. These measures wouldn’t have been necessary if the library hadn’t lost the aforementioned funds. There are:

no more Sunday hours, reduced weekday hours at some of the branches, expansion projects for NRL and SRL turned instead into building upgrades, keeping five managerial positions filled but paying new appointments almost $20K less than previous. In a time of cost of living increases, how can you attract quality people when you’re offering less?

Larry Angelle, at one of the August 2023 parish council meetings, when asked about the future fiscal health of the library, said things would be good in five years “if things continue.” or “as of now” or something to that effect. This means the library will be okay “if”: if the millages pass in the future, if there are no devastating storms, if Council doesn’t try to come after the library budget again like it did in 2019.

Let the record reflect that austerity was not necessary and could have been avoided; it happened because of the deliberate actions of individuals and it cost the library and this community.

Let the record reflect that at the May 2025 meeting, Mr. Moore acted puzzled about any past financial crisis the library faced, as if he didn’t believe it ever existed.

Allan Moore claims that all the growth in programming was: because of the hard work of all the programming that our librarians and our administrative staff go and work on budgets and ask the council for more money, which Danny just did, to expand programming even more, to be able to reach out into the community.

What Mr. Moore neglects to mention is all the times the Board chose not to rally for increased funding for the library. Let the record reflect: At the July 19, 2021 meeting, the board voted for a continuation of existing levy amounts, picking the option that would bring the least amount of money to the library. They declined to ask Council to roll millages forward, even though one speaker at the meeting, who was herself a seasoned public servant, warned them that this current millage rate could create a deficit for the library.

At the June 2023 board meeting, the board voted against rolling the tax forward, permanently forfeiting funds because it was a reassessment year. If they had voted to roll the millage forward, they would have ensured the same amount of funds as prior years.

And just to ensure Council didn’t go against the board’s wishes, at the October 17, 2023 Parish Council meeting, Ms. Arsement spoke and asked Council not to override Guillory’s veto and allow the millages to be rolled forward. She sat on the library board, apparently aware of how tight finances were with the upcoming plans for NERL, and she still felt compelled to not advocate to roll forward a millage that would have benefitted the library and its budget. Ms. Arsement claimed that the library had a rainy day fund balance of $10-13M.

At the Aug 5, 2024 meeting:, the board voted to request that the Parish Council levy the 2024 library millage rates at the same rates as the current 2023 millages.

Yet at the Mar 17, 2025 meeting, Ella proposes the middle option for NERL and stated that she cannot consciously allow the library system to go backward and be in the red like they were just a few short years ago, especially if there is something that can be done to prevent this from occurring again. She outlines austerity measures taken.

So let the record reflect: there is something that can be done to keep this from occurring again. Request the millage rates be rolled forward when you have a chance. Advocate for bringing the failed millage back on the ballot. Don’t keep the budget smaller when you have the opportunity to increase your finances. Don’t let your chosen austerity be the reason to not do right by the Northside.