ID bill would let cities fire library directors. City behind it says that’s not the point
City officials in Eagle say they support a bill in the Legislature that would give city councils the authority to hire and fire public library directors. But they say Eagle has no intention of using such a law to fire its director.
The bill would allow cities with municipal libraries to decide whether they wanted to keep hiring and firing authority vested with their library board or transfer it to their city councils. Rep. Jeff Cornilles, R-Nampa, told a House committee on Feb. 10 that the idea came from a Treasure Valley city that wished “to get rid of a library director.”
Cornilles did not say which city, and he told the committee he didn’t “know the exact story” behind the proposed legislation, which the committee unanimously voted to introduce as House Bill 209.
“This city, I know, really wants to have this happen,” Cornilles said.
Eagle City Council pushes back
The bill came as the Eagle library board had been under scrutiny in the months after a new state law took effect in July governing how libraries must respond to materials deemed “harmful to minors.” After the board voted in September to relocate 23 library books, the City Council removed two members from the board in October for reasons not disclosed. The board and the city are among multiple institutions and people sued Feb. 4 in an attempt to overturn the law.
So when Cornilles said a city wanted to get rid of its library director, the Statesman tried to ask Eagle Mayor Brad Pike whether that city was his. But the city clerk’s office replied that he was unavailable at the time.
The City Council called a special meeting on Wednesday with an item for “discussion and potential action regarding House Bill 209,” where Council President Mary May clarified the bill’s intent.
“Let me state emphatically and categorically, we did not try to nor do we want to fire an employee,” May said. “That couldn’t be more — farther from the truth.”
May told the Statesman after the meeting that that there had been a “misunderstanding” and that Cornilles had since reached out to apologize, because he hadn’t known the whole story behind the bill.
At the meeting, though, May criticized Statesman and BoiseDev reporting on what she called “just a bad rumor.”
“It was disheartening to see not one but two reports put out today targeting a city employee and stating we were trying to fire them,” May said. “It’s bothersome that people would rush to print something without having facts and trying to investigate or at least ask the question.”
At the meeting, Pike praised Library Director Steve Bumgarner, who has worked for the library for over a decade.
“He’s done such an outstanding job, and we’ll continue to support him 100%,” Pike said.
Eagle’s city attorney, Victor Villegas, said the city’s code places department supervisors under the purview of the mayor and the City Council, which creates a “potential conflict” because library directors are also considered department supervisors, but state law places them under the purview of appointed library boards.
May said the bill would act as “a clean-up” of this discrepancy for cities who opt to apply it. “Nobody’s compelled to do anything they don’t want to do,” she said.
The bill would affect only those libraries run by cities, not those operated by independent library districts with elected boards.
City officials lend ‘full support’ to bill
After May and Pike’s statements, the council unanimously voted to send a letter expressing “full support” of Cornilles’ bill to the Legislature.
May told the Statesman in an email, “The ultimate benefit of the bill would be final decisions being vested with citizens’ elected representatives rather than an unelected board.”
May noted that Idaho has 55 public library districts with elected boards, and 47 city libraries with city-appointed boards.
“If having trustees directly elected in the 55 public library districts has not politicized the process, I have no reason to believe having a city’s elected officials involved in the process for the 47 city libraries would be any different,” May said.
Cornilles did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls from the Statesman. Pike did not respond to an email.
The bill, House Bill 209, was introduced on Feb. 11 and is now assigned to the House Local Government Committee.
This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 10:26 AM.
