Frustrated by Josephine County commissioners’ lack of action after the shocking termination of the library’s lease on January 6, 2025, and afraid that the termination could lead to eviction, the Grants Pass Friends of the Library is launching an “Eviction Watch” campaign.
The campaign will begin with a countdown clock website beginning on Thursday, June 5. That day marks 30 weeks until the end of the library’s lease on December 31, 2025. The Eviction Watch website will be live on Thursday at https://grantspassfol.wixsite.com/gpfol
On January 6, 2025, the Josephine County Board of Commissioners voted to terminate the Grants Pass library lease with 30 days’ notice and no prior consultation. From January 6 through March 31, the county did not provide an explanation, indicate what it wanted, offer any lease terms, name a proposed rental rate, or send a termination notice. Despite this lack of communication, the library district responded with transparency and flexibility—offering multiple meeting dates and submitting formal lease renewal proposal on March 25 and May 5.
“Whatever urgency prompted the commissioners to terminate the lease so suddenly seems to have vanished,” said Grants Pass Friends of the Library co-chair Jennifer Roberts. “There’s been no official communication regarding the lease, no specifics about what they want. The whole thing is very odd.”
A meeting scheduled between commissioners and members of the library district board in March was canceled. Library leaders only discovered the cancellation the night before it was scheduled to take place because a constituent shared a message from one of the commissioners on Facebook.
“Our hope is that this countdown clock shows the commissioners that we’re paying attention to their inaction and that we care very deeply about our library,” said co-chair of the Grants Pass Friends of the Library Teresa Stover.
Five months after the lease was canceled, the Grants Pass Library remains in limbo—waiting for the county to act. While Commissioner Barnett, who was voted the liaison to the library by the other commissioners, did meet with library director Kate Lasky on May 21, there has still been no substantive action, nor has the topic of the library’s lease been placed on the county’s agenda for transparent discussion. And while commissioners have acknowledged receipt of the district’s March 25 and May 5 renewal proposals, yet they have offered no terms, scheduled no talks, and provided no substantive reply.
The Grants Pass Friends of the Library urges library supporters to visit the countdown site, to share it broadly, and to keep paying attention to the commissioners’ votes and actions.