A Boise-area city council wants the power to fire its library director. It may get it
BOISE – A Treasure Valley city wants to “get rid of a library director,” according to a state representative who presented a bill that could help them do it.
The proposed legislation, introduced by Rep. Jeff Cornilles, R-Nampa, in the House Local Government Committee, would allow city councils to have the ultimate say over hiring and firing public library directors – a power now vested with library boards or commissions.
Cornilles told the committee Monday that the idea came to him from a city in the Treasure Valley frustrated that elected city officials must defer to appointed library board members on hiring and firing decisions. Cornilles did not say which city, and no committee member asked him.
The bill comes as the Eagle library board has 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.
Brian Almon, an Eagle library board member, told the Statesman that he watched the legislative committee meeting and “was also curious about it.” Almon said by text that he believes that Eagle’s board now holds hiring and firing power but noted, “We were told last year that the mayor would be conducting staff reviews, including the director.”
Eagle Mayor Brad Pike was not available for comment, Tracy Osborn, the city clerk, told the Statesman in an email. Osborn said she did not know which city Cornilles’ bill referred to. She said Pike had conducted reviews of all department supervisors, including the library director, “as is standard practice.” She said he did not conduct reviews of other library staff.
But the Eagle City Council plans to hold a special meeting on Wednesday for “discussion and potential action regarding House Bill 209” – Cornilles’ bill.
Cornilles told fellow lawmakers that his proposal would bring decisions about hiring and firing of library directors “closer” to the taxpayers who fund public libraries, he said. The bill would let cities decide whether to keep hiring and firing authority with the board or transfer it to the city council.
“No city with a municipal library is required to change this model,” a written summary of the bill said.
Only city libraries would be affected. Some cities, like Eagle and Boise, operate libraries. Others, like Meridian, do not. Meridian libraries are operated by an independent library district with its own elected board.
Cornilles did not respond to a phone call and an email from the Statesman requesting comment.
He told the legislative committee: “I don’t know if this had anything to do with all the stuff that we’ve done in the last couple years with libraries. I’m guessing so, but I have no idea really at this point.”
Multiple other library bills have been introduced in recent legislative sessions. In 2023, the Legislature passed a bill with goals similar to the “harmful to minors” law passed in 2024 and now in effect, but Gov. Brad Little vetoed it, saying its steep penalties could have forced libraries to close to minors.
The committee unanimously voted to advance Cornilles’ proposal, and the bill was introduced Tuesday as House Bill 209.
“This city, I know, really wants to have this happen,” Cornilles said.
Publishers, authors, librarian sue Eagle
Almon’s board is a defendant in the lawsuit by the Donnelly Public Library District, a librarian at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, five book publishing giants, two authors, and two Idaho high school students and their parents, the Statesman previously reported.
The lawsuit alleges that the harmful-to-minors law is confusing, violates the First Amendment right to free speech and promotes discrimination. The law allows members of the public to sue libraries carrying such materials if the libraries fail to relocate them within 30 days of receiving a complaint.
Other defendants include Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts, Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman, Valley County Prosecutor Brian Naugle, and an anonymous individual who requested the removal of 23 books from Eagle’s library.