Board of directors

The library district is governed by an all-volunteer board of directors who are elected by voters in the district.

The elected library district board governs all aspects of the library district, overseeing all library operations and finances. Board members follow public meeting law and meet regularly to conduct library business. Board members are volunteers who do not receive a salary or other payment for board services. They also may not have a financial interest in any library district contract. Board members live within the library district boundaries and serve four-year terms.

Rachele Selvig

Rachele Selvig, President

As a lawyer, wife, mother, and prior childcare provider and educator, Rachele has spent more than her fair share of time in libraries. She describes libraries as the fundamental backbone of a community and admires that libraries are all-inclusive places where people of all ages, backgrounds, economic statuses, political beliefs, and education levels can unite.

Since she and her family moved to Grants Pass in 2011, she has admired the growing support for our local library system. She is proud to be part of a community that holds libraries and knowledge dear to its heart.

Position
1
Term
July 2021 to June 2025
Current Affiliation
Partner, Davis, Hearn, Anderson & Selvig, P.C.
Former Affiliation
Partner, Cauble, Selvig & Whittington
Laurel Samson

Laurel Samson, MBA

Laurel Samson was born and grew up in northern California with two brothers and a sister. She graduated from Sonoma State College (as it was known in 1972) with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She married her husband, Scott, in 1979. Laurel and Scott spent five months traveling from Luxembourg to India to Tanzania to home before beginning an MBA program at Northeastern University.

After graduating, Laurel and Scott moved to Grants Pass. She worked as the interim finance director for Rogue Community College and then for the City of Grants Pass, where she remained for 28 years, retiring in 2012. She served in several positions including community development director, assistant city manager, and finally, city manager.

Laurel has participated with a number of nonprofit or civic organizations. She served on the board of directors with Siskiyou Project, KS Wild, Rogue Gateway Rotary Club, and Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. She worked on projects with the Frog O’Fare (tie dye booth), ASPIRE (for high school students), and spent 23 years as a Sunday school teacher. She has three children and one granddaughter. She enjoys hiking, sewing, spending time with their children, and traveling. Laurel was elected to the Josephine Community Library District in 2017 and has served two terms as president and one as vice president. She is very honored to serve the community and gives her heart to this library.

Position
2
Term
July 2021 to June 2025
Current Affiliation
City government consultant
Former Affiliation
City manager, retired, City of Grants Pass
Pat Fahey

Pat Fahey

Pat Fahey is a Grants Pass native and graduate of Grants Pass High School. Although he earned an accounting degree from Southern Oregon University, Pat refers to himself as a “garbage man by birth and by choice.” He’s the second generation in his family business, Southern Oregon Sanitation, a garbage company founded in 1948 and now serving more than 25,000 customers in Josephine, Jackson, and Douglas Counties. He retired in 2016, but retirement didn’t “take” for him, so later that year he purchased Sutherlin Sanitary Service, where he now works as general manager.

Pat has worked on behalf of his community for decades. He’s been a member of Grants Pass Rotary since 1987. He has served on the Grants Pass School Board finance committee, Three Rivers Community Hospital Foundation board, Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. board, and Josephine County budget committee. In nearly all of these, he has served in leadership positions. He currently sits on the boards of Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development, Inc. and Rogue Community College.

Position
3
Term
July 2023 to June 2027
Current Affiliation
General manager,
Sutherlin Sanitary Service
Former Affiliation
General manager,
Southern Oregon Sanitation
Gina Marie Agosta

Gina Marie Agosta, Vice President

Gina Marie Agosta was born and raised in Grants Pass. She graduated from the University of Portland with bachelor’s degrees in English and Organizational Communication. After graduating, Gina Marie returned home and began her career in the nonprofit field, serving as the executive director of Coalition for Kids for 10 years. Since 2017, she has worked at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center as a patient experience coordinator.

Gina Marie has been a member of the Rogue Gateway Rotary Club since 2009 and has served as club president and assistant governor for the four Rotary clubs of Josephine County. Gina Marie grew up practically living at the Grants Pass branch of the library and is proud to serve on the library district board.

Position
4
Term
July 2023 to June 2027
Current Affiliation
Patient experience coordinator, Asante
Former Affiliation
Nonprofit executive director
Tina Gotchall board member headshot

Tina Gotchall

Tina has lived and worked in Grants Pass for 37 years as a small-business owner of Powderhorn Cafe. She has been involved in many local nonprofit organizations including Josephine Community Libraries, Inc., Rotary Club of Grants Pass, the Town Center Association, Barnstormers, and Mental Health Court.

She co-founded the nonprofit Heart to Heart to bring automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to every school in Grants Pass and helped to establish this as law for all schools in Oregon.

She is inspired by our community’s support of the library. As a board member, she will serve and adhere to the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, and provide oversight of library policy. She believes Americans have the right to choose what they will and will not read for themselves and their children.

Position
5
Term
July 2023 to June 2027
Current Affiliation
Co-owner, Wallflour Bakery
Former Affiliation
Former owner, Powderhorn Cafe

Contact information

To contact the board, email board@josephinelibrary.org. You can also mail a letter to the board at Josephine Community Library District, 200 NW C Street, Grants Pass, OR  97526, or call the library at 541-476-0571 to have your message relayed to the board.

Board meetings

See information about upcoming library district board meetings. Review past meeting notices, agendas, and minutes.