Library trustees draft letter to address staff concerns

Amid ongoing public scrutiny, the ImagineIF Libraries board of trustees has issued a letter aimed at repairing its relationship with library staff.

The board discussed the draft letter at its Thursday meeting as a string of community members criticized the board’s recent decisions as politically motivated.

The board says in the letter, “[W]e recognize that this has been an incredibly stressful time for you. There has been a lot of change and uncertainty.”

“As a board, we have been having difficult conversations and making decisions that challenge the status quo, and that is a source of stress as you navigate these changes,” the letter continued.

All five trustees — Heidi Roedel, Doug Adams, Connie Leistiko, Marsha Sultz and David Ingram — signed the letter, which the board approved at its meeting.

For months there’s been ongoing turmoil surrounding the library board, including ongoing tensions between the board and library staff alongside the resignation of two library directors.

A recent article in the Flathead Beacon, sourced through public records requests, brought to light discussions, largely held through emails amongst some board members, showing their intent to change the library’s policies, including rewriting them without library staff input and a hope that book challenges would push out a former interim library director. The records also brought to light a conversation in which trustee Heidi Roedel asked about options to close the library and lay off the entire staff.

The library board says it does not plan to lay off staff. The declaration was chief among a list of topics trustees addressed in the letter following the submission of a list of questions by staff to the board.

“The board cannot imagine any scenario where we would lay off staff,” the letter says, noting that library staff have kept the library operating even without a director in place in the last few months.

Asked to weigh in on the content of the letter, Senior Librarian Sean Anderson said the staff has an expectation that the board would take ownership of the damage it caused and some likely won’t see the letter as enough.

“I think that staff will appreciate the response,” Anderson said. “I don’t know how far it will go to repair the relationship between the board and the staff.”

Appearing to reference comments from some board members that they hoped for a challenge to books so they could be removed from the shelves, Anderson said a change in policy to “remove books is an extreme position” against library standards.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” he said of the letter. “But I don’t know if it’s going to be enough.”

Stulz acknowledged the point, but said it’s a starting point.

“We should have ongoing letters to the staff about what we’re doing,” she said.

Adams said the board hopes that once new library director Ashley Cummins begins in March that will provide the opportunity for Cummins to provide a better understanding of board operations to library staff.

The letter also addresses the relationship between the library board and the county commissioners, noting that the library board is an autonomous board and only reports back to the county periodically.

A draft version of the letter included a statement that: “The county commissioners have indicated that there is a perception that the library isn’t welcoming to all, and that the library has a strong liberal bent. There is a desire from the Commissioners and other community members for the library to move towards the center and be more balanced.”

Though the sentences were removed by the board on Thursday before issuing the final version, the statement drew strong criticism from some members of the public.

Trustee Connie Leistiko spoke against the statement saying she had concerns about what it might imply.

“We definitely don’t take our marching orders from the commissioners — we are an autonomous board,” she said. “We answer to the community, not political influence.”

Trustee Adams said the statement came from comments that he made at the work session in drafting the letter.

“Part of what is being said, that this is my impression,” Adams said. “I’m not speaking for the commissioners, but that is my impression [from the commissioners].”

The letter also says the board recognizes that there has been tension between previous library directors and the board, and in response the board would like to bring back staff presentations so it can better understand staff’s work and get to know the new library director.

In terms of outside communication between board members, the trustees note in the letter they attended a training about open meeting law and board services and have learned the proper way to communicate.

AT THE start of the meeting, the board heard about 40 minutes of public comment with most speakers criticizing decisions made by trustees in the past several months, including the handling of two book challenges.

Sarah Busse, president of the ImagineIF Library Foundation, read a letter from the foundation board saying that in the past six months the foundation has become increasingly disappointed in library board decisions.

“Our foundation mission does not require us to support actions or decisions by the board of trustees that inhibit or degrade library services,” she said in reading the letter.

The letter lists a series of grievances the foundation claims the board has committed, including undermining professional library staff, decreasing funds for operations, and failing in its duties of transparency, good governance and adherence to policy.

“These decisions jeopardize the patron access to professional staff, quality collections and exemplary programming,” she read.

Busse said the decisions have jeopardized the foundation’s ability to fundraise as part of a major capital campaign to raise $1.6 million for a new library building for Bigfork. Fundraising not long ago hit the halfway point, but Busse said donors have been canceling their pledges because of board decisions.

Many told trustees that politics should be kept out of board decisions, seeming to take direct aim at previous comments by some trustees that the library has a strong liberal bent and that needs to change.

“The world is literally on fire and you should have better things to do than to fan the flames of discontent in your little corner of the world that is the library,” Cheryl Lee told the board.

Joe Biby said access to public records has shown that some trustees have “schemed away” to change the library.

“You’re like keystone cops who have left your fingerprints on the dismantling of the library,” he said.

ALSO DURING the meeting, trustees discussed a recent letter issued by the Flathead County Commissioners to the library board regarding property proposed to become the future home of the Bigfork library. In the letter, the commissioners say they will not commit to assuming any property responsibility for the library system at this time.

However, board trustee Adams chalked the letter up to a miscommunication, claiming commissioners want more information about the property before making a decision, and that a recent draft transfer agreement sent to the commissioners lacked an inspection document and estimate for future building maintenance costs which was requested.

The board said a future discussion with trustees, the commissioners and representatives from the ImagineIF Foundation Board are expected and that they remain committed to the property transfer.

“I’m still optimistic that we can come up with a plan to work with them on that,” Adams said.

The ImagineIF Library Foundation has already purchased the Bethany Lutheran Church Ark Building, the site the foundation plans to become the Bigfork library, with the intention that ownership of the building would be turned over to the county.

IN ADDITION, the board on Thursday approved a timeline for bringing aboard the new Library Director Ashley Cummins who is set to start on March 7. The schedule has her meeting with library trustees in the afternoon of her first day, followed by meetings with the library’s leadership and management team on the second day of her employment.

It also notes that Cummins requested 100 days without any contact with the press followed by her giving a “report.”

Sultz said the 100 days would be too long of a time period for Cummins to go without introducing herself to the community.

“It’s very naive for her to think the community is not interested in her introducing herself,” she said. “Part of her job is to interact with the community and show that she wants to be part of the community.”

Roedel said Cummins is choosing to do something different by staying focused on her job.

Anderson said while it would be nice for Cummins to have time to prepare the reality of the situation is that it’s not likely while adding that senior library staff could assist her in “crafting messages” so she doesn’t become “overwhelmed.”

Features Editor Heidi Desch can be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com