Downers Grove officials have tabled a controversial proposal to change the leadership structure for the village’s politically embattled library.
A nonbinding referendum asking whether to replace the west suburban library’s appointed board with an elected one was the latest debate to rock the institution, which has become a battleground in recent culture wars around race, gender and sexuality that raged nationwide post-pandemic. Perhaps most memorably, the library was forced to cancel a drag queen-themed bingo activity in September 2022 after it received violent threats. It’s also seen the removal of two trustees since 2017.
Although a nonbinding referendum carries no force of law, the idea still ignited a fierce response Thursday from citizens who feared that opening the door to elections could offer political interest groups a foothold to influence the library’s affairs. It garnered instant, vocal opposition from the entire library board, whose members said they had not been consulted about the proposal and warned it could create significant tax increases.
Instead of posing the question of an elected board to voters this spring, the Village Council and the library board agreed on Thursday they would form a joint subcommittee to consider “potential alternative approaches” to choosing library trustees over the next several months. The group will likely begin meeting in February and wrap up its work in September, leaving open the possibility of a ballot question in 2026, per a letter from the library board and the council.
Commissioner Michael Davenport, who brought the referendum to the Village Council in November 2024, told about 150 residents at a joint library and Village Council meeting Thursday evening that he was focused on looking forward.
“Any process that will end in a result of the citizens of Downers Grove having more input into the (appointment) process … I think, is a win,” he said.
Resident Marshall Schmitt praised the library board and the Village Council for working together to change course but warned that the divisions regarding the referendum weren’t going away.
“It will be very easy for this group to get hijacked based on political agendas,” he said.
Citizens like Laura Kamedulski worried about what would happen if “a really committed and, in my view, extreme and exclusionary group (was) trying to get these library board seats.”
Kamedulski spoke a few minutes after Laura Hois, the co-chair of the Downers Grove chapter of Awake Illinois, reiterated her support for an elected board. In Hois’ view, the current board does not represent conservatives and “Christian, God-fearing individuals that love our country.” She said the library needed to be “a neutral institution … free of the leftist political agenda” and other materials related to race, gender and sexuality.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified Awake Illinois as a hate group. Hois’ comments met a chorus of boos and hisses from around the room, prompting Mayor Bob Barnett to plead for people to respect others’ time and listen to each other.
“There’s a list of things as long as this pad of paper that we don’t see the world the same on,” Barnett said of himself and his colleagues. “But we’re trying to find places to agree … and I hope that some folks out there are going to be looking for places to agree with the work we’re doing.”
Barnett and other members of the library board and Village Council said they were optimistic about the work ahead. They acknowledged that the relationship between the two bodies needed improvement, but many said they thought Thursday’s meeting and future ones could help repair the relationship.
“A few weeks ago, I said two words — I said ‘Let’s talk,’ and I’m thrilled that that has happened,” said library trustee David Humphreys.
Resident Eric Blaylock said he remained skeptical that the village could make substantial changes to the library board, but said he was happier with the way the village was approaching the possibility.
“This feels like it’s actually a discussion now,” he said. “I think that this is a good way to move forward.”
