LA PLATA — Charles County Public Library Executive Director KennethWayne Thompson has resigned, effective Oct. 28, the library’s Board of Trustees told employees in a letter dated Oct. 29.
The letter said CCPL “remains fully open and operational.” DauVeen Walker will be the designated LIC for the system while the board finalizes an interim executive director arrangement, which trustees projected would start in mid-November. The board said it would share more information as plans are confirmed.
The letter did not give a reason for Thompson’s departure. It thanked employees for their “dedication and professionalism” and their continued service to Charles County residents.
Thompson leaves about two months after the library’s workers ratified their first union contract, ending a bargaining fight that stretched for more than a year and drew criticism over the cost of the outside law firm hired for management’s side of the table.
A first contract, after a long fight
In mid-August, the Chronicle reported that CCPL’s first union and library management had declared an impasse after 14 months and 28 bargaining sessions. The union represents 57 full-time and part-time library workers. That year of talks included roughly $250,000 in public spending on a management-side labor law firm and the resignation of more than half of the library’s board.
Two weeks later, the deadlock broke. Library workers ratified their first collective bargaining agreement in a vote that ended Aug. 26, according to UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO, the union that represents them. The union said about 90% of voting members approved the contract, which it said improves wages, working conditions and workplace protections.
The union blamed the long timeline on the county’s decision to hire the law firm Jackson Lewis to represent management. In its Aug. 27 announcement, union President Gino Renne called the firm an “expensive union-avoidance law firm” and said it helped drag out negotiations. The union’s release did not include a response from the county or the library, and the trustees’ letter does not address the contract or the bargaining.
UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO also represents library workers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
Projects in motion
The interim director will inherit major work already underway. The county is still waiting on a town building permit for the long-planned new La Plata library, though commissioners have backed demolition now and a spring groundbreaking. This fall the system has also promoted its homebound book delivery service and a partnership with social services to get books to children.
Before coming to Charles County, Thompson was named director of the Davenport Public Library in Iowa in 2013, according to a release announcing that appointment.
The trustees have not named the interim director.
