Appointments & Elections
Upon the election or appointment of new board members, the board’s chair or secretary should notify ICfL Public Library Consultant Clay Ritter. The ICfL needs to know the new trustee’s name, who last held that board seat, and the expiration year of the new trustee’s term. This information is used to maintain our mailing list.
The mayor and council appoint five city residents to govern a city library: 33-2604. BOARD OF TRUSTEES – APPOINTMENT – TERM OF OFFICE – COMPENSATION.
Five library district residents are elected by a vote of the people to govern a library district: 33-2715. BOARD OF TRUSTEES – SELECTION – NUMBER – QUALIFICATIONS – TERM – OATH – APPOINTMENT OF FIRST BOARD.
An appointed trustee shall qualify and assume the duties of the office within 10 days after their appointment. An elected trustee shall qualify and assume the duties of the office at the annual meeting, which is the first regular meeting in June. All trustees qualify by taking the oath of office required of state officers, to be administered by one of the present trustees or by a retiring trustee.
Determining Four-Year Terms
District library trustees are elected by the residents of the district to serve four-year terms. Trustee elections are always held on the uniform election date in May of odd-numbered years. The regular term of a trustee is for four years, or until a successor has been elected and qualified.
In order to accommodate four-year terms for five trustees, there will be two trustee terms expiring in a year, and three trustee terms expiring two years after that. It is a good idea to maintain a spreadsheet to keep track of these terms. Labeling the five seats as a), b), c), d), and e) will be much easier than labeling them using trustees’ names. This way, if the board declares a vacancy, it is still clear that the newly appointed trustee will be completing the four-year term of the departing trustee.
Oath of Office for a District Library Trustee
The oath of office is outlined in I.C. 59-401: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case my be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Idaho, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of library district Trustee according to the best of my ability.”
See chapter 4, title 59, Idaho Code for more information.
Board Vacancies
Occasionally, a board position will become vacant before a trustee’s term has ended.
When a City Library Has a Board Vacancy
33-2605. BOARD OF TRUSTEES — VACANCIES — REMOVAL: “The board shall report all vacancies to the council within five (5) working days. All such appointments shall be made in the same manner as appointments are originally made. Appointments to complete an unexpired term shall be for the remainder of the term only. Any trustee may be removed by the city council by the unanimous vote of all of its members.”
How Is a Replacement Named?
“All such appointments shall be made in the same manner as appointments are originally made” refers to I.C. § 33-2604, “appointed by the mayor and city council.”
When Does a Vacancy Occur?
Although Idaho Code 33-2605 does not list specific reasons for declaring a vacancy on a city library board, likely situations would be:
- When a trustee has died
- When a trustee has resigned
- When a trustee is no longer a resident of the library’s service area (i.e., has moved outside of the city limits)
- When a trustee has been appointed but refuses to serve
- When, without an excuse acceptable to other board members, a trustee has missed multiple board meetings, especially when these absences have resulted in the lack of a quorum. In this case, the board may ask the trustee in question to resign. It is then up to the trustee whether or not to comply with that request.
How long is the replacement trustee’s term?
According to Idaho Code 33-2605, “Appointments to complete an unexpired term shall be for the remainder of the term only.”
A term on a city library board is always for five years and until a successor is appointed. A trustee appointed to fill a vacancy is appointed only for the remainder of that five-year term. For this reason, it is easier to keep track of the expiration dates of each of the five board terms, and not of individual trustees’ time on the board.
With five trustees, each serving a five-year term, there should be one board term expiring each year. This is easy to keep track of on a simple spreadsheet in which the board positions are labeled a), b), c), d), e).
When a Library District Has a Board Vacancy
According to 33-2716(3), “A vacancy shall be declared by the board of trustees when any nominee has been elected but has failed to qualify for office, or within thirty (30) days of when any trustees shall (a) die; (b) resign from office; (c) no longer reside in his respective trustee zone of residence; (d) no longer be a resident or qualified elector of the public library district; (e) refuse to serve as trustee; (f) without excuse acceptable to the board of trustees, fail to attend two (2) consecutive regular meetings of the board; or (g) be recalled and discharged from office as provided in this chapter.”
How is a replacement named?
The board must declare that a vacancy exists within 30 days of the date the trustee is no longer on the board for any of the above-mentioned reasons. This must be done at either a regular or a special board meeting. The board then has 60 days to name a replacement. If the library board does not appoint a replacement within that 60-day window, the county commissioners of the district’s home county (as defined in I.C. § 33-2702(3)) are required by law to do so.
How long is the replacement trustee’s term?
According to Idaho Code section 33-2716, “Any person appointed as provided in this chapter shall serve until the next election of public library district trustees following the appointment. At the election a trustee shall be elected to complete the unexpired term of the office which was declared vacant filled by appointment.”
A term on a district library board is always for four years and until a temporary successor is appointed. That appointed temporary trustee serves until the next election of public library trustee following the appointment.
Trustee elections are always held on the uniform election date in May of odd-numbered years. With five trustees, each serving a four-year term, there should be two board terms expiring one odd-numbered year, and three board terms expiring the following odd-numbered year.
It is easier to keep track of the expiration dates of each of the five board terms, and not of individual trustees’ time on the board. This task will be much more easily accomplished by using a spreadsheet application.