There has been little debate about naming Austin Jurgensmeyer as the next member of the Pikes Peak Library District board, but some questions linger about the new application process.

The Colorado Springs City Council unanimously approved the appointment during its meeting Tuesday. The city and the El Paso County Board of Commissioners are the joint authorities that oversee the appointment of board members to the library board.

Jurgensmeyer is the founder and lead consultant for Peak Insights Consulting, which advises local businesses, and owns a small real estate company called Home in the Rockies.

According to his application for the board seat, Jurgensmeyer has lived in Colorado Springs for the last 15 years and regularly uses Library 21c. Jurgensmeyer’s consulting work relies on an extensive background in data science, which he said could help the library district make reasonable decisions.

“I’m particularly interested in serving on a board that connects strategy, community development, and data-driven decision-making,” Jurgensmeyer wrote in his application.

The city and county revised the appointment process earlier in the year-long effort to fill the previous library board seat that came open. Instead of having the entire joint appointment committee interview applicants at the same time, which would necessitate a public meeting, the committee members conduct individual interviews. The library board no longer has any input on the process or even knowledge of who might be a finalist for the seat before the joint decision.

Councilmember Nancy Henjum is one of the four members of the joint appointment committee, along with Council President Lynette Crow-Iverson and County Commissioners Carrie Geitner and Lauren Nelson.

Henjum said during Tuesday’s meeting that the new approach was seemingly controlled by “a pretty political set of alliances.” Henjum said that Jurgensmeyer had somehow been singled out from the 11 applicants for the seat as the one candidate the other three board members all spoke to before nominating him in November.

“I had no idea who was going to be nominated in that joint appointment committee meeting and it was someone that I had not interviewed,” Henjum said.

Henjum, councilmember Dave Donelson and residents who spoke with Jurgensmeyer after he was initially selected said he had a good attitude about working with the public to make library decisions.

Earlier in December, Henjum had met with the library board’s Public Affairs Committee last week. Henjum said that board members spoke about wanting to be more involved in the appointment process again since they had no awareness of who had applied for the seat.

“I am not personally familiar with Mr. Jurgensmeyer’s background, but I know and trust that the joint appointing committee members put a great deal of thought into their selection,” library board President Julie Smyth said.

The appointment will be on the agenda for the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners next Tuesday. Jurgensmeyer will serve a five-year term if approved by the commissioners.