London's mayor will sit on the library board. Small problem: its members don't want him

London Mayor Josh Morgan was appointed to the board that oversees the operations and budget of the London Public Library, but there's a hitch: the library board doesn't really want him. 

Last week, Morgan was appointed by a city committee to the library board after Ward 3 Coun. Peter Cuddy was kicked off for missing three meetings in a row.

On Tuesday afternoon, councillors voted to uphold that appointment. 

But in a letter to city councillors, the head of the library board said he'd rather that Morgan stay away. 

"We believe it would be in the best interest of the library to avoid any perceived conflict of interest that could arise from appointing the mayor to the library board and that a council member may be better suited," Brian Gibson wrote to city councillors in a letter distributed to politicians late Monday. 

It's an issue that doesn't usually get much airtime: making appointments to local boards, which oversee the operations of services such as the library, police service, or transit — the bread and butter of municipalities. Some, including the library board, require at least one city council member to sit on the board. 

Having one member with more power than others sitting on the board would be problematic, Gibson said in his letter.

"We are concerned that a board member that holds strong mayor powers will have outsized influence over any discussion by the board concerning budget," he wrote. 

'There's absolutely no conflict,' mayor says

But there's nothing stopping the mayor from sitting on the library board, city staffers told councillors during Tuesday's meeting.

Morgan took issue with some who suggested he couldn't sit on both council and the library board and consider both organizations' interests equally. 

"There's absolutely no conflict. There is no way that I would go to a board and bring up any strong mayor powers. I would bring a lot of knowledge and context." 

Before he was mayor, Morgan sat on the library board for eight years, three as its chair. 

During the multi-year budget, the library did not get all the money it wanted. During that process, some councillors pushed for library officials to come up with a better plan for managing library branches, some of which need repairs. 

Last week, Morgan told CTV News he wants to look at including branches in future housing developments or public-private partnerships with developers. He can make such proposals more easily if he sits on the library board and can participate in in-camera meetings that discuss land purchases and sales, he said. 

Call to replace 'failing old library locations'

Posting a copy of that news report, Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis took a swipe at the library and how it's being managed, writing in a social media post that it was asking for a 20 per cent budget increase "to fix leaking roofs and other building issues, as well as wanting to expand programs (probably not where you should be focused when the roof is leaking." 

Lewis said Morgan should step up to "fix this local challenge," including "maybe replacing failing old library locations with locations in new buildings nearby, while having housing a above a library location could make some sense." 

In the letter, written on behalf of the board, Gibson called Lewis's post "disrespectful to the board members who volunteer their time and bring a high degree of professionalism to their decision-making." 

Lewis told CBC News that Gibson's request to not have the mayor join the board is "not founded in reality." 

"It's council that chooses, not the board. They chose to create a vacancy. I don't know what is going on over there but I'm not particularly happy...The priority needs to be on leaky roofs, not expanding programming." 

Tuesday's vote to appoint Morgan passed 9-6. Gibson, speaking after the appointment, said he looks forward to working with the mayor. "We haven't had a sitting mayor on the library board in as long as I can remember," he said.