Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Until March 28, 2018, only villages were permitted to remove library trustees at will; cities and counties had to wait for trustee terms to expire before they could be replaced. However, in March of 2018, a new law was enacted to permit cities and counties the same privilege as villages.
Removal of city officers is addressed in Chapter 17.12 of the Wisconsin statutes. 2017 Wisconsin Act 150, enacted on March 28,2018, allows for removal of officers through various procedures, depending on whether the officer is an elected or appointed official. Elected officers may be removed by the common council for cause, whereas appointed officers can be removed at pleasure. Because public library trustees are appointed by a mayor and approved by a common council, they are considered appointed officers and, therefore, are now subject to removal at pleasure. County libraries are offered this provision as well.
How can this affect your library? Under the new law, a trustee may be removed from office for poor meeting attendance, lack of involvement, creating dissent, or other any other issue that creates challenge among library boards, without having to meet the definition of “cause.” Cause is legally defined as “inefficiency, neglect of duty, official misconduct or malfeasance in office.”
For more information, check out “Removal of Officers; Governing Body Procedures and the Recall Procedure,” by Claire Silverman, Legal Counsel for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, in the August 2018 issue of The Municipality.
Submitted by Shannon Schultz, Public Library Development