New attorney hired by the Crawford County Library Board

The Crawford County Library System Board has hired former Arkansas senator Bob Ballinger, the director of law and policy for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), as its new legal counsel.

The board voted Sept. 12 to hire former Ballinger, who lives in Oark, as the library’s attorney. Board member Keith Pigg of Mulberry voted against the decision. Pigg said at the meeting that he found several controversial posts concerning Ballinger when he did an internet search and he was concerned whether that might reflect on the library system.

The NACL announced Ballinger as its director of law and policy Jan. 30. The NACL is a non-profit association founded by former State Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, to support city, county, state and federal lawmakers. Ballinger is also the state chair of the NACL and a founding member of the organization, acccording to the NACL.

The other applicant for the position was Christopher Brockett of Ozark.

Tammi Hamby, head of the library board, said Ballinger will replace Gentry Wahlmeier, who formerly served as the system’s attorney. Wahlmeier resigned in June.

During a March 14 meeting of the Crawford County Library Board, Pigg questioned Wahlmeier, who is with Wahlmeier Law Firm, regarding the attorney’s fees. After noting that the fees were exceptionally high, Pigg asked if he could get more detail than that the fees were from extraordinary research and advisement, as he was told when he first asked for a detailed bill.

The board received a bill from Wahlmeier after the first of the year for $12,000 for services from October through mid-December, and $14,000 for mid-December through February. Wahlmeir said invoices were held until after Jan. 1 because he knew the library system was over budget for 2022, so bills were presented when the new budget would be able to cover his fees.

According to Deidra Gryzmala, former director of the Crawford County Library System who resigned Feb. 24 amidst controversy over LBGQT+ materials in the library, attorney fees typically ranged around $3,000 for “a few months.” Wahlmeier’s bill amounted to $5,200 a month for the five months.

Ballinger and Brockett told the library board they would charge $275 an hour and would attend the library board meetings. They both also said they would provide an itemized listing of fees if they were required to research legal information or perform duties on the library systems’ behalf while not at a meeting. Both said they would not charge mileage to the meetings.

Wahlmeier’s fees were $200 an hour, Hamby said. The attorney prior to that was a volunteer, she added.

“Our budget is very tight, so we are hoping to not have high attorney fees for the rest of the year,” Hamby said.

The legal fees were primarily the result of actions by Hamby and her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Hamby, a Van Buren family physician, to spearhead a campaign against LBGQT+ books being available through the library system. Hamby was appointed to the Crawford County Library Board by Keith and named the board chair after Jamie Balkman, former chair, and two other board members resigned after a contentious Quorum Court meeting in December 2022.

Gryzmala resigned with a $40,687.50 severance deal Feb. 21. Eva White was appointed interim director during a special called meeting Feb. 24. White was the library director for Crawford County from 1999 to 2012 and then again from 2013 to January 2021.