The Sumner County Financial Management Committee on Dec. 3 directed the library board to ratify the start dates and salary rates for two recently hired library directors by Dec. 12, saying the committee will place the employees on leave without pay if the board does not correct the records by that date.

Committee members described a sequence in which the library directors completed onboarding paperwork and began work near Oct. 31 before the library board had formally set start dates or approved pay rates in its minutes. Speaker 5 said the hires and paperwork occurred on Oct. 31 and that the salaries entered matched budget lines staff located. "She came with the 2 candidates, that afternoon... that's where the total business was in the budget," Speaker 5 said.

County counsel (Speaker 3) said he had advised finance to pay the employees "out of that line" to avoid potential litigation for failing to pay people who had begun work. "Go ahead and pay it out of that line," Speaker 3 said, adding that the library board still needed to vote to ratify pay rates and start dates.

Several committee members said the library board's minutes and video did not show discussion of start dates, salary steps, probationary periods or related terms. Speaker 1 said she had followed the minutes and could not find documentation that a start date or salary vote had been taken. "We had never voted on any of that," Speaker 1 said, noting the need to correct the process.

Speaker 1 moved that the library board be given until Dec. 12 to "cure these issues," and that if the board failed to act the committee would place the two employees on leave of absence without pay until ratification. The motion was seconded and, after discussion that included legal counsel'led cautions about potential labor consequences, the chair announced the motion passed.

Legal counsel and other members discussed procedural alternatives, including sending a formal notice to the library board specifying the cure date and clarifying that the committee's directive reflected the financial-management committee's will rather than termination. Counsel noted legal risks and said a "grant notice" or formal communication could be drafted to minimize litigation exposure.

The library board was instructed to schedule a meeting (committee staff noted 40 hours' notice would be sufficient for a special meeting) to address start dates and pay rates before Dec. 12. The committee said it would revisit the status of the hires after that deadline.