Kathy Rose wants to see the removal of the East Bonner County Library’s mask requirement.

Rose, along with challenger Jalon Peters, has centered her campaign on the controversial mask requirement at the library.

“I feel the library is a real focal point of the community, and especially this mask policy has caused a lot of division,” she said. “I think it should be terminated. The policy was created without any type of criteria to terminate [it], and so it's kind of open ended, and it's just not right.”

Although the incumbents Jeanine Asche and Amy Flint have both said they are evaluating plans to lessen restrictions or entirely remove the mask requirement, Rose said the lack of clarity or a specific deadline for the mask policy to end makes those promises insufficient.

Aside from the mask policy, Rose said she’s worried about “cancel culture” overtaking the library — something she didn’t have examples of at the library, but was concerned would impact it.

She noted the “bans” on certain Dr. Seuss titles, including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” which the Suess estate chose to stop publishing last year, as an example.

Another concern for Rose outside of the masks is financial transparency, she said.

“information on the budget and just financial things are not as accessible to the taxpayer. I had to do some extra digging to find things myself,” she said.

She also worries that federal funding and grants may have an impact on the way the library runs, she said.

“That really got me concerned, because when an entity like the library, Public Library takes federal money, and state money and grants, there's usually some ties with that. And I think it would start out pretty much subtly,” she said.

Although Rose has not served on a library board before, she said she believes she’ll be able to add a new perspective.

Rose is currently the secretary for the Bonner County Central Committee, she said, and is a former vice chair for the Bonner County Republican Women. Previously, she owned a bridal and formalwear shop called Belchertown Bridal, where she said she taught herself HTML to get a website.

“I do agree they have a lot of library field experience. I think the board needs some diversity,” Rose said. “Since it's an elected position, the taxpayers need representation.”

Although she wasn’t originally planning to run for the position, she decided to run when she didn’t see a second challenger for the library elections stepping up.

“I was hoping somebody else would run, but [I decided to run] just a couple weeks before the deadline,” she said. “I'm always trying to get people to run, and it's like, ‘Well, OK, then I've got to stand up for my own philosophy, right?’ you got to get engaged.”