Middleton library board president resigns amid sexual harassment allegations
The president of the Middleton Library Board has resigned amid sexual harassment claims, one sign of turmoil embroiling the small Canyon County city’s library system. Several employees and another board member have quit.
Jim Taylor, who was appointed by the mayor, resigned Tuesday following claims from at least two women that he made unwanted sexual comments to them.
The alleged harassment is one factor in nearly six months of conflict between the library board, the mayor and the library staff over what the people who quit say was a lack of support for their work. More than half of the library’s five-person staff, including the director, resigned in June and July.
Middleton Mayor Steve Rule, who took office in January 2020, appointed Taylor, a former correctional officer for the Idaho Department of Correction, last September. Of the three library staff members and one board member who resigned, two included complaints of sexual harassment by Taylor in their resignation letters.
One of the two was Heather Ellis, the former information technology and services manager for the library. She resigned in July.
She told the Idaho Statesman that Taylor toured the library last winter and introduced himself to her. They recognized each other because of their previous jobs in the Department of Correction.
Taylor then asked her if she had been fired from her Correction job because she slept with an inmate, Ellis said. She said the comment left her speechless, and it was overheard by the library director and a coworker. She was not fired from her Correction job, Ellis said by phone.
Sydney Douthit, the library’s programs and outreach coordinator, also resigned in July. Douthit was not on the receiving end of any sexual comments from Taylor, but said she was there to hear his comment to Ellis.
“That was really uncomfortable,” Douthit said.
The second woman, Kassie Knapp, had served since 2015 on the library board, an unpaid volunteer position. She also resigned last month.
She told the Idaho Statesman that Taylor made a comment to her about his genitals, saying he had only one testicle because the other was blown off during a war.
Jennifer Barr, who resigned as director in July after nearly four years, did not specify reasons for leaving in her resignation letter, and the Statesman was unable to reach her.
Taylor did not respond to an emailed request for comment, and neither did the library board. Rule said the women’s allegations are a personnel matter and he could not comment.
Don Watt, now interim board president, said he had also heard claims about Taylor’s sexual comments and told the Statesman by phone, before Taylor resigned, that “if those are accurate statements, he should resign.”
Other points of contention
Taylor’s comments are among a number of issues involving the library board, the library staff and the public.
Since Rule was sworn into office in 2020, library advocates say, he has not been supportive.
“The mayor has made it known since our first meeting with him that he thinks that libraries are pointless and people don’t use them anymore,” Knapp told the Statesman.
Douthit said she felt city leaders and the library board no longer supported the library system.
“I don’t know what city wouldn’t support a library,” Douthit said by phone.
Ellis expressed sadness in her letter to be leaving the library, but wrote that “ill intended motivations and misguided thinking” from board members, the City Council and mayor gave her no choice but to leave.
Ellis said board members lacked experience and interest in the library. For example, Ellis wrote that board members questioned why the library has programs, such as Science, Technology and Math workshops, story time and chess club, or why the staff needs to apply for grants.
She also said there was a lack of communication between the board and the library director, with board members and the director giving her differing instructions.
“I would urge no one to linger in such a situation,” Ellis wrote.
For his part, Rule told the Statesman that he was frustrated with the library’s staff’s unwillingness to move some programs to the Middleton Community Center.
Rule took away one of the library’s two buildings on Dewey Street, where the library was running programs. In his email reply to the Statesman, Rule called the programs “expensive but good.”
He gave the building to the Police Department to use. He said he “reduced their (the library’s) budget proportionately.”
“I valued police protection for the city more than programs out of that building,” Rule wrote. “It is a perfect fit for the police. The police side is a big success. The library side, not so. Multiple resignations and upset people.”
Rule said in a separate email that he encouraged the library to run its programs out of the Middleton Community Center. The community center is four blocks from the library, at 113 W Main St.
“I believe the programs would work well there but they won’t even try!” he wrote. “The location is within walking distance to the middle school. Those kids are the main users of these programs for kids. Library management disagree and are very, very, aggressive and mean spirited in their attacks on the library board who insist they try running their programs out of the community center.”
In a follow-up email, he wrote, “I find it difficult to satisfy library employees.”
Library programs dwindle
Alicia Mondor, a Middleton resident with three children, said she often attends library board meetings and over the past few months has been concerned at how she saw the board operating.
“We frequent the library, we love the books and the after-school art things,” Mondor told the Statesman by phone. “Slowly those were dwindling. The building they had set aside for technology and where kids could go after school and play games — that was given to the police department.”
Taylor made comments in a library board meeting about the library being a day care center and its employees being day care providers, Mondor said.
Watt, the interim president, confirmed to the Statesman that Taylor made comments like that during a public meeting.
Watt said he started off hopeful that Rule would support the library, but as he watched the new mayor propose to cut the library budget from $380,000 a year to $250,000 a year during fiscal year 2020-21, “it was clear that he was not a strong proponent of continuing to grow the library.” The City Council approved the cut.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, board members expressed hope that they could move in a positive direction.
“Obviously we have come through a hard time, and the past is past, and it is time to look forward,” said Mark Christiansen, a board member. “The best thing to do is to learn from our experiences.”
Christiansen proposed hosting a workshop between the board and library staff to discuss job roles, goal setting and “a positive path forward.” The board set the workshop for next month.
Library director’s emotional farewell
In her final board meeting as library director, on July 13, Barr cast no blame but ticked off a list of accomplishments and then turned to an emotional account of what being a librarian means to her. She said that in the previous several months, many people asked her why she remained at the library “under the current conditions.”
“I stayed for the widower who comes in weekly for a movie, conversation, human contact and a smile,” she said, “who brightens all of our days with his crazy beard and willingness to always pick up a drill and help us with maintenance projects.”
After eight more such anecdotes, she concluded:
“And finally, I stayed for the multitude of people, young and old, who come in each week looking for knowledge and entertainment, human contact and community, respite and rejuvenation. For those who need a place to feel welcome regardless of their appearance, income, age, beliefs or differences. And for the hundreds of others who currently don’t come in but might be looking for, and need to, someday. Because life can be really difficult, and I believe that libraries can help.”
Rachel Spacek covers western Ada and eastern Canyon counties. Have a story suggestion or a question? Email Spacek at rspacek@idahostatesman.com.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
