An LGBTQ group’s flyer posted in a Nampa library drew fire. What Eagle’s library just did
Eagle’s library board has voted to take down the library’s community bulletin board, a move that followed a controversy at the nearby Nampa Public Library surrounding a poster advertising a LGBTQ+ youth group.
The Eagle library board has received attention in recent months for relocating 23 books within its collection deemed “harmful to minors” and for the unexpected — and still unexplained — removal of two members from its board by the City Council in October. The board is now “in limbo” as it waits for the city to fill the vacancies, according to Trustee Brian Almon.
At the request of library Director Steve Bumgarner, Almon said the board voted Wednesday to remove the bulletin board, a space where members of the public could post community events in adherence with the library’s policies.
Guest Services Manager Sacha Timmons told the Idaho Statesman that the library staff had experienced “issues” with the bulletin board when it came to decision-making around posters. She said the wording of the library’s board-posting policy was “open to interpretation,” and that decisions sometimes confused patrons. For example, community members couldn’t advertise events that cost money, unless those events were for nonprofits.
Timmons also said the library could be forced to post something that gave the library a “bad image” under the policy, such as an advertisement for a “white supremacist group ... rally.”
“Acceptance or rejection of material for display does not imply approval or disapproval by the library of the ideas or opinions expressed,” the policy, which has now been revoked, said
Almon linked the decision more directly to concerns raised by staff regarding a controversy involving an LGBTQ+ youth club’s poster on the bulletin of the Nampa Public Library.
State Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, had reached out to multiple officials and took to social media in November to complain about the poster, calling the Nampa youth group a “groomer” group where children talk to adults about sex, the Statesman previously reported. Groups including the Idaho Liberty Dogs and Idaho Mass Resistance also took issue with the poster.
Nampa’s library director told Lenney that the youth group’s poster was in line with the organization’s posting policy, which is to provide a public bulletin board but not to imply endorsement of what is posted, the Statesman reported.
The library also sent a letter to the community saying, “The calls to action by the Mass Resistance and those who amplified their message had a damaging impact on Nampa Public Library management, staff, and library users.”
Almon told the Statesman that the board’s unanimous decision to remove the bulletin board at Eagle library was intended to help the staff “get ahead of” issues like that.
In a text message to the Statesman, Almon clarified that the decision was supported by the city attorney, Victor Villegas, and Mayor Brad Pike, according to what he heard from the library director in the board meeting.
In a Substack article explaining the decision, Almon emphasized his support of library staff in avoiding “backlash ... rather than making judgment calls,” he wrote. He also made a “caveat that we might consider bringing it back with a more narrowly tailored policy in the future.”
Almon also connected the issue to a recent bill introduced by state Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, to ban most flags in state-funded public classrooms, including LGBTQ+ Pride flags.
“For too long, Christians and conservatives have given ground on this issue, to the point where kindergartners are being taught about homosexuality and transgenderism,” Almon wrote. “This is literal grooming, taking innocent and impressionable young children and molding them into something twisted and perverted ... Keeping pride flags out of public school classrooms and fliers inviting teens to talk privately with homosexual adults off of library bulletin boards is the least we can do.”
The bulletin board was removed as of Thursday. Timmons told the Statesman that at the time it was taken down, it was about half-full and there were no posters similar to the youth group poster in Nampa.
The library is located at 100 Stierman Way across from Eagle City Hall.
Council rejects mayor’s library-board nominees
The library board’s vacancies were expected to be filled Tuesday when the City Council voted on two candidates Pike recommended for appointment, Eagle residents Ashley Schreiber and Brett Patterson.
Instead, City Council Member Melissa Gindlesperger, the council’s liaison to the library board, said she was left out of the final decision-making process. She made a motion to deny Schreiber and Pattersons’ confirmations, saying there were “better candidates.”
Her fellow council members unanimously supported the motion.
Disruption of the board follows the board’s 3-1 vote in September to relocate 23 books in the library’s collection, moving 20 to the adult section and placing three behind the circulation desk, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
That decision followed a series of 25 requests for reconsideration that the library received from an Eagle resident, Angela Russell, after a new state law went into effect July 1. The law governs how libraries must respond to material deemed “harmful to minors,” giving libraries 30 days to relocate such materials after receiving a complaint from a parent or guardian of a minor who obtained the materials — or risk being sued.
Almon joined fellow board members Sarah Hayes and Kelsey Taylor voting in favor of the relocations. Less than three weeks later, Hayes and Taylor were removed from the board, while Almon remained.
City officials have not disclosed the reason for the unexpected dismissals. What we do know: The council made the decision unanimously after deliberating for an hour in an executive session with two stated purposes: to discuss personnel matters and to discuss pending or threatened litigation.
Dana Biberston, who served as public information officer for the city at the time, told the Statesman via email that she is “not privy” to what is discussed in executive session and that “the city cannot comment” on the reasoning behind the dismissals. Biberston did not confirm or deny if the council decision was related to the book relocations.
Gindlesperger also declined the Statesman’s request to comment on the matter at the time, while Council Member Mary May told the Statesman that her vote was not related to the book relocations.
At the time, the Statesman asked Almon if he would forward the Statesman’s request for comment to other library board members, including dismissed members Hayes and Taylor, for whom the Statesman had no reliable contact information.
Asked if the reason behind the dismissals will become public information in the future, Pike told the Statesman by phone then that personnel matters involving city employees are protected and would not be released. He then clarified that library board members — who are volunteers — are not city employees, but that whatever was discussed in executive session “affected two parties,” including at least one city employee.
“Part of it was encompassing an employee,” Pike said. “There was, you know, people at the library that are employees — they are part of it.”
Pike said part of his job is to protect city employees, so he could not disclose personnel matters.
With the dismissals, the board was left with only two members, not enough for a quorum. The City Council appointed Mitchell Moore on Nov. 12 to fill a term that was already scheduled to expire, allowing the board hold its December and January meetings.
The city posted a job listing on its website for the board vacancies, including the two caused by Hayes and Taylors’ removals and one later filled by Mitchell, until Oct. 31.
Two job listings were also posted for library staff positions, though Bumgarner did not respond to requests in November and December asking about the new openings. Timmons told the Statesman that the library gained the funding necessary to add a position and that one employee left the library for another job.
Pike, council member feud over appointment process
The process for filling the vacancies left by Hayes and Taylors’ removals has continued.
Pike said in the council meeting Tuesday that a four-person committee was in charge of reviewing applicants for the vacancies: himself, Gindlesperger, Bumgarner, and Library Trustee Candice Hopkins.
Schreiber and Patterson’s appointments were also listed on the City Council’s consent agenda that night.
Gindelsperger removed the items from the consent agenda to open them up for discussion, stating, “I was not asked for my input or opinion in regards to these appointments.”
As the liaison to the library board, she said, “The lack of inclusion in the decision making-process does concern me a little bit, particularly because I do believe there were other candidates that were more qualified, in addition to some candidates that were not even interviewed at all.”
Gindelsperger said she wanted the decision-making process to be more “collaborative” and “appropriate.”
Pike was adamant that the process had been legal and had “no hiccups.” He said at the council meeting that Gindelsperger was involved in all interviews, and he had expected comments on the final applicants from her that she never provided.
“I think it’s important that we all agree or clear up any misunderstandings before we put anybody in place,” Council Member Craig Kvamme said, explaining his support for Gindelsperger’s motion.
“It’s degrading to the process,” Pike told the Statesman in a phone interview Friday, noting that in his time with the city he had never seen the City Council reject an appointment recommendation made by the mayor.
Pike said he’s “not sure” what his next steps will be and that he is “standing behind” the two candidates he recommended. “We’re in a stalemate,” he said, noting the library board can continue to meet with its three members in the meantime.
Gindelsperger and her colleagues on the City Council did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s request for comment.
Information about Schreiber and Patterson, the candidates rejected Tuesday, was not immediately available. A Statesman reporter was directed by Eagle City Hall on Friday to file a public records request but was told that identifying information would likely be redacted, as board positions are volunteer.
Decisions on hold for the library? Not quite.
In the meantime, Almon says the library board is “behind” as it waits for two appointees to be confirmed.
“We’re kind of at the mercy of the mayor and the council,” Almon said, noting that the board still has not voted on official posts like chair, vice chair, and secretary, a process that typically happens at the start of the fiscal year in October.
They’ve also been holding off on making bigger decisions about the library, he said, though he said that the library is continuing to “run normally” and provide great services.
Almon said the three-member board met for roughly 20 minutes on Wednesday, during which Schreiber briefly made a public comment affirming her support of the library.
Almon said the meeting did include one action item: the bulletin-board issue.
What comes next
The library board’s next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 19, and it is unclear at this time if new appointees will be confirmed by then.
Almon said he is looking forward to having a full board. In a text message to the Statesman after the board dismissals, Almon said, “I’ll be happy when our library makes the news for its wide range of programs for all ages and selection of fun and useful materials.”
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Jan. 25, though the agenda has not yet been set.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 12:51 PM.
