Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
A letter signed Thursday by 16 city-county councilors is urging the Indianapolis Public Library Board to offer Nichelle Hayes the position of CEO following community outrage that she was passed over for the job.
Hayes, the former interim CEO, was a finalist in a selection process where the chosen candidate—former New Orleans library leader Gabriel Morley—declined the position.
But the library system did not offer the post to Hayes, instead choosing to reopen the search. This sparked protests by some community members at the most recent meeting of the six-member board of trustees.
The statement, which was signed by City-County Council President Vop Osili and 15 other councilors, said the IndyPL board’s decisions have created “more instability and turmoil for the institution rather than less.”
“Given the ongoing public outcry about the board’s choices in regard to selecting a permanent CEO, we feel it necessary to make our position clear,” the statement said.
“Unless there are issues of which we have not been made aware, we ask the Indianapolis Public Library board of directors to heed the calls of our community and appoint Ms. Nichelle Hayes as the Indianapolis Public Library CEO,” the council members said in a statement.
A majority of the 25-member City-County Council signed the letter calling for Hayes to be offered the position. Among the signatories were 15 Democrats and one independent. The council is one of several entities, including the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners and the Marion County Commissioners, who appoint members of the library board.
The City-County Council was in charge of appointing two members of the library board: recently-appointed Board President Hope Tribble and T.D. Robinson. Both members voted in favor of Morley and faced backlash that the decision—which offered the position to a white man over a Black woman—was racially motivated, despite both board members being Black.
Tribble, who took over for former Board President Jose Salinas, responded in a statement.
“As president of the Indianapolis Public Library board of trustees, I appreciate the feedback from members of our City-County Council regarding the search for a new CEO to lead the library, and I understand their focus is the best interest of their constituents and the stakeholders the library board is called to serve,” Tribble said in the statement. “The issues that the Councilors and others have raised will be addressed when all internal legal and governance reviews are complete.”
A press release in December said the initial search had been “compromised” due to a confidentiality breach and that a new interim CEO—someone unaffiliated with the library but active within the community—would be appointed in early 2023. The board statement said that former CEO candidates could be included in the next search.
Thursday’s council statement also referenced the literal costs of the search. The library system paid $27,000 to search firm Bradbury Miller Associates for the initial search.
“The search for the library’s next CEO has been expensive, both in terms of dollars and in terms of the library’s relationship with its community. We believe the library board’s recent decision to reopen the CEO search rather than appoint Ms. Nichelle Hayes will have a detrimental impact on the system,” the statement said.
In a response later Thursday, four members of the library board—Hayes supporters Pat Payne and Khaula Murtadha excluded—said that it’s incorrect to assume that Hayes is qualified because she was interim CEO, or that her status as a finalist meant the majority of the library board believed she was qualified to be CEO. It also said it was incorrect to act as though she is a “runner-up” to Morley.
The statement said the interim CEO was to serve in a “caretaker capacity” and said this person was able to be less experienced than the library system would want for a permanent CEO.
“While many have assumed that having the capacity to act as Interim CEO is a de facto illustration of having the necessary skills and experience to act as a permanent CEO, this is not the case. The Trustees were willing to accept an Interim CEO with far less managerial, leadership, and fiscal oversight skill and experience than that expected of a permanent CEO at an institution as large as the Library.”
The statement said that only three of the six members of the board were involved in the selection of final candidates, so Hayes being a final candidate for CEO does not indicate majority support from the board of trustees.
“The fact that Ms. Hayes was one of the three final candidates should not be construed as an indication that a majority of the Trustees believed Ms. Hayes, or any of the other final candidates, to be a viable option to be selected as the permanent CEO,” the statement said.
Many critics of the library board’s decision have said that since Morley, the “first choice” for CEO declined, the offer should go to Hayes. The board statement says the selection process isn’t “ranked-choice,” and that it is not atypical to restart a CEO search after a chosen candidate declines an offer.
“The search for a new CEO—at the Library or elsewhere—is not a competition in which one individual places first and another places second,” the statement said. “Rather, it is a process through which the leadership of an institution decides which candidate, is qualified to fill the role.”
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
“Unless there are issues of which we have not been made aware, we ask the Indianapolis Public Library board of directors to heed the calls of our community and appoint Ms. Nichelle Hayes as the Indianapolis Public Library CEO,” the council members said in a statement.”
So Voice of the People basically said we have zero insight into the decision making process, but we think you made a bad choice…
Just more pathetic racial pandering. Discussing, divisive behavior.
John M.
Agreed! That’s exavtly what it is.
Thanks again to CICF for creating this mess. Shameful.
Thank you!
If they had a personnel issue with her they can’t talk about it publicly. There must be a good reason they are passing on her.
The true racism is Mrs Hayes and now the City County Council. How pathetic they all are.
The Public Library is for all people of all
Color, creed, politics and religion!
I would ask how books has Hayes even read from ‘her’ own library? What contributions has Hayes actually made to the betterment of the Library? Just because the front steps of the main branch looks like a homeless shelter in a black neighborhood, the demand for a black CEO is nothing but racial pandering.
Why would she want to work there? They passed over her once. She should leave the dysfunctional organization.
Five of the six Trustees – from their photo’s on the website – appear to be African American (including the two recently appointed by the City-County Council). Yet their selection of a non-African American was “racially motivated”. Interesting.
So not the City County Council and the neighbors are making policy and personnel decisions for the Library. How does this work under the law?
The city councilors should stay the hell out of it.
Let the library board do their job and stop interfering.
“ Both members voted in favor of Morley and faced backlash that the decision—which offered the position to a white man over a Black woman—was racially motivated, despite both board members being Black.” So, if you select a white candidate, you’re a racist…but not the other way around? By the way…just curious…why do we capitalize “B” but not the “w”?
Same reason there’s no DEI movement in the NBA to address the lack of white representation in players. It’s a one-way street. (For the record, I think the NBA just picks the best guys; kinda how it should be everywhere.)
We could react if we were fed facts. The Board voted against her in effect but we don’t know why. The public interest would be benefited if the board would discuss in public its rationale. Otherwise we’re all left to guess and have uninformed opinions.
There is such a lack of leadership not only amongst the Council, but all of city leadership itself.
I would like to hear more about Ms. Hayes background and education. Why is there nothing printed about her qualifications? And for the council to suggest “community members” have voiced support for Hayes is a joke. I have observed staged political stunts by people from who knows where but that means nothing.