Background:
The County Board Open Appointments Policy and MN Statutes Section 383B.102 require that appointments to unclassified service have confirmation by the Board of County Commissioners.
Following an extensive national recruitment campaign/effort, the County Administrator and Library Board are recommending Chad Helton be appointed as the Library Director.
Mr. Helton brings extensive experience to the position. He has held a variety of library leadership positions including as a Department Head/Operations Manager in academic libraries – Stanford and Chapel Hill, a the Library Service Manager overseeing the operations of three library branches plus the circulation of all five branches of the City of Palo Alto Library System and as the Deputy County Librarian overseeing the Support Services Division of twenty-six community libraries in Contra Costa County. In his most recent position, as Director of Branch Libraries for the City of Los Angeles, Mr. Helton has demonstrated his ability to provide executive level leadership and direction to seventy two branch libraries while building partnerships with staff and community stakeholders.
Mr. Helton is experienced in project management, policy creation and implementation, budget management, library operations, collection management through analytics, copyright compliance, reference, e-resources, collaboration and leadership.
Mr. Helton has Bachelor of Arts in African-American Studies Minor with a Minor in Journalism and Mass Communication; a Master of Science in Library and Information Studies and; a Master of Public Administration.
As required by the Open Appointments Policy, a list of final applicants who interviewed for this position is on file with the Clerk of the County Board.