By Mike Weland
Dubbed the “Best Small Library in America” in 2017, the Boundary County Public Library, Bonners Ferry, became a hotbed of contention in 2021 after four employees raised numerous allegations of mismanagement, malfeasance and potentially criminal violations.
The first indication of the upheaval about to erupt came with an announcement March 13, 2021, by the library district board of the retirement of the library director, Craig Anderson, effective April 1, and the interim appointment of his predecessor, retired director Sandy Ashworth, then 80, as an unpaid consultant with a mandate to “identify problems and provide solutions in the library’s management.”
On April 15, the library board declared an emergency, never defining its nature but saying it involved serious safety issues, and announced a two week library closure. In response to my inquiry, Ashworth said the library was going into “dry dock” to address safety issues not acceptable in a public building, describing those issues as clutter and security issues. The closure would last around three months.
Having gotten nowhere in their attempts to bring their concerns and allegations to the library board for resolution, librarian Dana Boiler and her husband, Jeff, an attorney, sat down with me for a lengthy interview, which resulted in the article, “Allegations against library far reaching,” published April 25, 2021, the first time the concerns were made public.
On May 5, in response, the library board announced it had entered into an agreement that day with the Lewiston law firm Clement, Brown & McNichols to conduct an independent investigation of the complaints “to determine if a violation of law and/or policy has occurred.”
On July 6, the board held a special meeting to accept the firm’s investigative report, and I submitted a written public records request for its release.
On July 22, Ashworth was appointed interim library director and the following day she gave notice of administrative leave with pay to the four whistleblowers, including Dana Boiler. On July 29, she sent me a letter denying my records request, citing Idaho Code § 74-104(1) and Idaho Code § 74-106(1). I submitted an administrative appeal August 17, 2021. While I did receive a certified receipt of delivery, I never received a response.
My intent at the time had been to seek out the assistance of the Idaho Press Club to challenge the denial, but before I knew it, the deadline to file had passed, and I gave up hope of informing the public of why the library had been closed, what the issues were and what was being done to resolve them. But the window opened again when, on May 19, 2022, the whistleblowers filed a tort claim with the library district, and with a new director in place, the board and its attorneys responded to my new public records request with a copy of the 33-page report, redacted to the point of uselessness. But I could read the footer on each page, “personnel,” and the main reason the library board’s attorneys were claiming in withholding the public record.
Had they responded along the lines, “sorry, you missed your chance,” that would have been the end of it, but the effrontery of the response I received proved more than I could bear, and this time, I was watching the clock.
There was a lot more going on with the library and I covered several more stories: Two separate recall petitions to unseat the library board both failed. Accusations against new director Kimber Glidden of bringing “woke” ideas to our fine library and fears of pornography on the kids’ bookshelves and drag queens telling stories brought so much distraction Glidden resigned after just nine months. ICRMP pulled the district’s liability coverage, threatening to force closure, only relenting with a special three-month policy to see if the board has the wherewithal to correct the problems that led to so much distress and dissension.
I contacted the Idaho Press Club and it wasn’t long before I was in touch with Scott McIntosh, opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman, chair of the Press Club’s First Amendment Committee, and soon thereafter with Idaho Press Club President Betsy Russell. Both heard my story and agreed to help, and both had my back from early on. We agreed that printing “personnel” at the bottom of each page of a public record does not an exemption make, and both Scott and Betsy agreed to help.
They contacted the law firm of Smith and Malek, Coeur d’Alene, and we were soon working with attorney Kirk Houston, who carried us through to the successful but somewhat surprising conclusion, pro bono, and getting it done short of the courtroom.
On August 9, 2022, Houston wrote a letter to the district, and we worked together until October 7, 2022, when I was able to publish “Library releases June 2021 investigation report,” having at last received a copy tolerably redacted. And it was a surprise.
As expected, the lax management style of director Anderson took part of the blame for the issues raised, but a small part: The report laid most of the blame at the feet of the whistleblowers, particularly Dana Boiler.
“What the hell?!” one reader wrote in response. “They got terrible advice from counsel on this one. They should have released that the minute it came in! Think of how much grief might have been saved.”
Mike Weland has reported news in Boundary County since 1991, and currently publishes the online-only 9b.news from his home in Bonners Ferry.
