The Ridgway Public Library Board of Trustees violated state law when it hired new library Director Amy Baer last month, as it failed to notify the public beforehand that she was the sole finalist for the job.

Trustees offered her the position, which pays $55,000 per year, on July 5, and announced on the library website and bulletin board it had hired a new director. But under Colorado’s Open Meetings Law, public boards who manage taxpayer dollars, including local library boards of trustees, must release the name of a finalist for an executive position to the public 14 days before a contract is offered. In this case, Baer wasn’t announced as the sole finalist for the job before receiving a contract, as required by state law, though she took charge of the job in August.

Nearly two months into the job, Baer still doesn’t have an employment contract.

Board President Richard Tucker said the hiring mishap was an “innocent mistake,” and that the trustees were volunteers doing their best to serve the library. He said the board had discussed Sunshine Laws during the hiring process and made every effort to conduct a search lawfully.

“It’s a disappointment on my part and I take full responsibility for not posting that we were going to offer the contract,” he said.

Tucker said the board will likely discuss what to do about the situation, if anything, at a meeting this month, and that one of his goals is to get the board up to speed on Sunshine Laws.

Before 2021, local government entities were required to release the names of all the finalists for a job before making an offer to the sole finalist for a chief executive position. But since then, the state legislature changed the law to allow sole finalists to be announced instead of all the finalists. However, public bodies must still announce the sole finalist 14 days before offering a contract, and must make available most application materials such as resumes. In this situation, the library district board didn’t announce it wanted to offer the job to Baer with the required waiting period, and it didn’t have a contract.

Jeffrey Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, a nonprofit that helps people understand open meetings and open records laws and has a goal of ensuring transparency in government, said the purpose of this law is to let the public evaluate candidates, bring questions if needed and participate in the hiring process.

“The public has a profound interest in knowing how the chief executive officer of any government entity is selected, whether those seriously considered for such jobs are qualified and whether the finalists have insider connections to the decisionmakers,” he said in an email.

Baer was hired to replace former Ridgway Public Library Director Kristen Moberg, who retired at the end of June after more than 25 years on the job. The board first learned Moberg was retiring in March 2022 when she wrote on her annual evaluation that she planned on leaving.

Baer was assistant director at the time, making $22.50 per hour and working 30 hours per week. She’d worked for the library for about 10 years by the time the director position opened up, and became assistant director in 2020.

More than 15 candidates applied for the director position, though Tucker said most were unqualified and some had never worked in a library before. The board interviewed Baer twice and interviewed one other candidate over the phone, who had previously worked as a library director and visited the Ridgway library during the process.

“We as a board felt like we had our candidate,” he said of Baer.

Since she took the job as director, Baer has been instrumental in bringing back programming, much of which was canceled due to the pandemic, such as Lego Club, Story Time and Teen Library Cafe, he said. Her resume indicates she has a bachelor’s degree in child, consumer and family studies from Washington State University.

While Baer started her new position as director on Aug. 1, she still doesn’t have an employment contract in place. Tucker believes Moberg never had one, despite being employed by the library for more than 25 years. Tucker said Baer didn’t have a contract because the board did not have one ready when she was hired, they had to search for a template to follow and did not have an August meeting at which to present it. It’s not clear how she took on the new job without the contract including terms for her employment or compensation, but Tucker said she began earning the new salary Aug. 1. The board reviewed a draft contract at its Sept. 20 meeting but did not take action, and will revisit the item in October.

Tucker said he plans on resigning in December when his three-year term on the board ends.

He said he believes it is good for public boards to have turnover, and he has other activities he’d like to pursue.

COMPLAINT PRECEDED FORMER DIRECTOR’S DEPARTURE

In December 2021, a few months before Moberg announced her retirement on a routine evaluation, the library’s Board of Trustees met in an executive session to address complaints made over email about her on Dec. 9.

The Plaindealer filed a Colorado Open Records Act request for these emails, as well as her notice of resignation and final compensation.

Tucker provided the requested public documents but redacted the name of the complainant, who mentioned they were a former employee, a former board member and also a current library patron. Under state law, libraries can withhold names of library patrons. The sender said they worked for the library for 10 years. Some of the points they raised addressed the library’s selection of materials and the user-friendliness of the website, but the email also included concerns about the director and staff support at the library as well as the professional work culture at the library.

“As a staff member, I was never granted an exit interview. Nor were two other employees who left under duress,” it reads.

The complainant continued to ask if there was someone staff could communicate with besides Moberg, said they would like to see the director in the library more and expressed concern over whether the library board was continually evaluating her effectiveness.

In a response shared only with the board, Moberg wrote “(Name) welcome to stop in and see me anytime. I will return to more community involvement when our community is healthy.”

Ouray County had 14 cases of COVID during the week before the complaint was sent, according to case data at the time.

On a March 17 evaluation, Moberg answered routine questions, filling out columns rating her performance in areas like meeting deadlines. But to a question toward the bottom about what she’d like to accomplish in the coming year, Moberg wrote that she would be working toward retirement.

Despite not having an employment contract, she received nearly $12,000 upon leaving the library for unused sick and vacation time accumulated over the years, based on her final pay stub dated July 29. The staff handbook states that employees are paid 25% of their pay rate for each hour of unused sick time, and Moberg accumulated 688 hours. She was also paid her full pay rate for 160 hours of unused vacation time, and was making more than $70,000 per year when she retired. She was also paid $532.91 on her last paycheck and $1,629.53 in 2022 toward an individual retirement account. According to the handbook, employees who work 20 or more hours each week can contribute up to $10,000 per year of their compensation to a retirement plan, and the district will match the first 3%

At a Sept. 20 meeting, trustees discussed how they could honor Moberg at the library after her years of service. When they asked Moberg for ideas she suggested naming the library’s new children’s wing after her grandson. The board discussed the library’s naming policy, which grants naming rights for certain donation thresholds or for individuals who have provided extraordinary service. It also stipulates that Friends of the Ridgway Library should have input in the decision, and the board decided to ask for this input and take up the decision at a later date.

Kylea Henseler is a journalist with Report for America, who mainly covers local government issues. To make a tax-deductible donation to support her work here in Ouray County, contact erin@ouraynews.com.