Village Council, Library Board To Hold Joint Meeting On Governance

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — Members of the Downers Grove Village Council and the Library Board of Trustees will meet Jan. 2 to discuss how library board trustees are chosen. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Herrick Middle School, 4435 Middaugh Ave.

The issue of library board governance has been a hot topic at village council meetings amid a proposal to include the following nonbinding referendum question on the ballot for the April 1 consolidated election:

“Shall the trustees of the Downers Grove Public Library be elected, rather than appointed?”

The referendum proposal was posed Nov. 19 and approved by a 4-3 vote to be considered at the village council's Dec. 3 meeting.

In late November, Downers Grove Library Board President Matt Topic challenged the "chaotic timeline" of the proposed referendum question.

Topic wrote, "One hundred and thirty years is a long time for an institution to endure, and that tradition deserves due respect, especially when the institution has consistently succeeded in achieving its mission. The Council should take far more than two chaotic weeks to consider the financial and other implications of what it is contemplating, or what it would ask voters to consider in the referendum."

The Dec. 3 village meeting included several hours of discussion and public comment. A number of residents pleaded with the village council to wait before presenting the library board referendum question, so voters could have more information about how the proposed transition might take place.

Commissioner Leslie Sadowski-Fugitt was among the village council members encouraging the council to wait before putting the question on the April ballot.

Sadowski-Fugitt suggested working with staff and trustees from the library to "actually be informed about what the best path for the community is.”

She said, "Please, let us do this the right way, together."

On Thursday, Downers Grove Library Marketing and Communications Manager Cindy Khatri told Patch the joint meeting on Jan. 2 will bring the village council and the library board together to discuss "how library trustees may be selected in the future."

Khatri said the library had no additional information as of Thursday.

The Downers Grove Village Council is set to consider the referendum question on Jan. 7.

Also on Patch: Residents Favor Appointed Downers Grove Library Board: Patch Survey