As she promised, head librarian Bobbie Morgan returned to work on Tuesday, but she's not thrilled about being there.
Morgan, director of the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System, had planned to work part time and remotely through 2021, a proposal that was approved unanimously by the library's board of trustees in October.
But at a December board meeting, the board, with three new members and feeling pressure from Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington and Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson, declined to agree to a contract with her that would have finalized the arrangement.
"I've never had a board change a motion like that," she said Tuesday from her office in the newly opened Pine Bluff Public Library on Main Street. "When a board passes a motion, the director's job is to act on that and move forward on that directive from the board and make it go into effect."
The board's actions, she said, "leaves a director in an awkward position to know what to do in the future."
Morgan said she had asked to work remotely because of her health condition, which puts her at increased for covid.
"That's what hurt the most," she said, holding up four fingers, one for each of the health conditions that could complicate her ability to survive becoming infected with covid. "The fact that they didn't take that into consideration."
Her employment situation came to a head at a December meeting when the board meeting was visited by Mayor Washington and County Judge Robinson. The two said they were concerned that the head of the library was going to be allowed to work remotely and receive full-time benefits. Both also said they believed that the new multimillion dollar library and remodeled branches needed an on-site operator.
Robinson was so upset that he named three new members to the library's board, thereby removing two members and replacing a third who had resigned. One of those he removed was the board's president, Tommy Brown. Brown defended himself in a letter to Robinson, but the letter was apparently too little, too late. Replacing Brown was Tom Owens, who, at his first board meeting, was elected president.
Owens has had little to say about Morgan's status. When asked about Morgan's willingness to come back to work, he said he had been out of town and that he would discuss the matter with the other board members at the next meeting.
In the meantime, Morgan, based on the agreement made in October by the board to allow her to work remotely, left town and moved to Georgia. Then, at a special-called meeting in December, the board voted to direct Morgan to come back to work after her vacation ended or to demand that she turn in her resignation. The original time frame for that was right after the Jan. 1 holidays, but she told the board that she would take additional vacation and return to work on Jan. 19, which is where she was on Tuesday.
"I'm here, doing my job," she said. "I'm always doing that."
Morgan said she was proud of what she had accomplished in the handful of years she had been in Pine Bluff, particularly the new library, which has amenities that aren't the normal fare for a library, such as a sound studio and training kitchen. "I'm very pleased with that," she said.
And while she said her feelings were not hurt, she did say that the board's actions caught her off guard.
"I don't normally accept that kind of treatment," she said. "It made me take a close look at those now on the board, and some of them I've never met. I don't have bad feelings about that, but professionally, I was disappointed that the trust was broken."
Morgan said she might not have come back except for the fact that she told the board that she would stay on-site for a few months after the library opened to make sure any problems were handled.
"I believe in fulfilling my commitment," she said, "and that is a commitment to the community."
At the January board meeting, Morgan was present remotely, and the only thing she was asked was if she was coming back to work. She said yes.
Asked Tuesday if she would stay until April 2, the date she gave the board for when she would leave permanently, she said she would.
"Yes, unless something else happens," she said with enthusiasm. "I've got two more board meetings."
Morgan had already moved out of her house when she found out that she was not going to be allowed to work remotely. Asked where she was now living, she laughed.
"A little house in the woods," she said, "a very peaceful house in the woods, and that's all I'm going to say."
