City councils could override public library boards or replace them entirely under a bill advancing in the Iowa House of Representatives.
Library directors and board members from across Iowa spoke out against the bill at the Statehouse Thursday. They said the Legislature should leave current law in place, which requires proposed changes to library boards to be put to a vote of city residents.
Wade Dooley, who chairs the library board in Albion, called the bill a train wreck.
“It opens up all sorts of possibilities for very disastrous consequences if you get an activist city council that starts see-sawing on what they believe for a library to be or not be,” he said. “Our city council has barely any training to be a city council. Now you also want them to run a library? I’m sorry, but that’s not a good idea.”
Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Panora, voted to advance the bill. He said even though no one supported the bill at the subcommittee meeting, he’s heard from city council members who support it.
“City council funds the libraries. There’s personnel issues, there are taxpayer dollars being spent. And these are the individuals who are elected to make those decisions,” Nordman said. “So if there’s issues with the library board, I think the buck stops at the city council.”
Opponents of the bill said it would politicize libraries by allowing city council members to decide what books are made available.
They said the bill would effectively reverse last year’s referendum in Pella that allowed the Pella Public Library to maintain its independence, which Mary Timmer supported.
“So we had a massive turnout, and we got 51% to keep the library as it is, as we all love it,” Timmer said. “So please don’t overturn this … and legislate a way of stopping the vote. This is democracy. We voted for it.”
League of Cities lobbyist Daniel Stalder said the group is undecided on the bill.
“I see this bill as largely permissive,” he said. “It doesn’t require library boards to be under the city council. It just allows for that change to take place.”
Amanda Brewer, director of the Harlan Community Library, said library board members receive extensive orientation and annual training about running a library.
“And our city councils can’t step up and take on that same role,” she said. “They’re already maxed out on their responsibilities. And they also need the buffer of the library board to protect them as a city and make the decisions that need to happen in the library.”
Rep. Jerome Amos, Jr., D-Waterloo, said moving library responsibilities to the city council is a bad idea.
“I hope you as my fellow subcommittee members recognize what individuals are telling us,” he said. “They don’t want this. They don’t need this. There’s no reason for this.”
The bill moved to the full House Local Government Committee for consideration.
