I just received this news release from the city:

Mayor Jim Ardis has appointed Council Member Bill Spears to fill the position of Liaison to the Peoria Public Library Board.

Mayor Ardis said, “Moving quickly to appoint a liaison after Councilman Sandberg’s resignation stresses the importance the Council places on having a liaison in place as the conduit to work with the Board, and achieve a consensus that will enhance the library system.”

Gary Sandberg said he resigned at 7:00 Tuesday night, adding, “I’m not wasting any more of my time.” He also said that the council had forgotten they had a library liaison as they were all talking to the library board directly before the council meeting without including Gary.

Ed Szynaka, Peoria Public Library Director, had not heard until this morning that Gary had resigned. He said he was “extraordinarily disappointed” that Gary would no longer be the liaison, and said on behalf of the board that this news was a “very big disappointment to all of us,” adding, “but we will work with Mr. Spears,” after learning that Councilman Bill Spears had been appointed to replace Gary.

I asked Mr. Szynaka about Gary’s comment that the council was going around Gary before Tuesday’s meeting. He said that he and the board were “barraged with communication from council members and the mayor” in the hours leading up to the council meeting. He did not receive any communication from Gary during that time, nor was Gary included on the conference calls that took place. Outside of that, he couldn’t comment on whether Gary was being kept in the loop on the discussions.