City Council postponed action on appointing new members to fill vacancies on the Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees at its Monday night meeting. After a series of resignations at the EPL board’s June 17 meeting, the board will only have two out of its nine seats filled as of June 30.
Mayor Daniel Biss said Board Vice President Arikpo Dada announced her resignation after the latest board meeting. According to the board’s bylaws, the mayor is responsible for appointing city residents as new board members.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, councilmembers considered four new EPL board appointees, including Ald. Shawn Iles (3rd), who previously served as the board’s president.
Several councilmembers expressed concern about the potential appointment of a sitting city representative to the board, as the city and EPL have recently engaged in heated negotiations over an intergovernmental agreement, which would clarify expectations around financial and facility responsibilities, human resources processes and shared services while preserving the library’s autonomy.
Several board members who resigned last week cited these failed negotiations as a reason for their departures.
Meanwhile, since the EPL board only has two board members, IGA negotiations will effectively be stalled, along with the board’s search for a new EPL executive director following the resignation of former Executive Director Yolande Wilburn in February.
“I want to work through this and get to the outcome we’re looking for,” Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) said in discussion considering the appointees. “A necessary step for that to happen is for there to be people represented in the library with whom to have this conversation, so I’m not looking to delay that any further.”
Biss said he viewed the move to potentially appoint a councilmember to the board as a “compromise approach” between the two EPL camps: those who want complete independence and those who want the library to be reestablished as a city department.
However, other councilmembers worried that the move could heighten tensions between the two bodies and be seen as excessive city oversight. Ald. Parielle Davis (7th) questioned whether anyone other than councilmembers supported the idea. She said it felt “aggressive” and “divisive” to approve an idea that the EPL board and employees seemed to oppose.
Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th) moved to hold the resolution. He said he first wanted to discuss with councilmembers where they stand on an IGA before changing the negotiation team on EPL’s side of the table.
“I also think that it is problematic to have a councilmember serving on a board in which we may be finding ourselves at odds with,” Rodgers said.
Several councilmembers emphasized the need to fill the vacancies in order to have a functioning library board. Nieuwsma moved to overturn Rodgers’ hold, arguing that there is a need to move forward and have conversations with the board.
Council ultimately rejected Nieuwsma’s motion 5-3, with Nieuwsma, Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) and Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd) voting affirmatively. The resolution was held and will return to the agenda at Council’s July 13 meeting, two days before the EPL board’s next meeting.
Iles recused himself from discussion over the library appointees and left Council chambers during the deliberation. He later told The Daily he had had a “long conversation” on Saturday with Board President Tracy Fulce, whose term expires at the end of June, and former board member Esther Wallen, who resigned at Wednesday’s meeting.
For Iles, Council’s move to potentially appoint him to the board, which is legal under the Illinois Local Library Act, was an attempt to call on his experience as a former board member and president to help EPL move forward during a turbulent time.
“I think it depends on the lens that you look at it with,” Iles said. “If you think that there’s conflict between the two branches of government here, then you think it feels like oversight. And if you think these are two branches of government that are pulling in the same direction, then you feel like it’s compromise.”
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