Outgoing library chief decides county job 'wasn't meant to be'

Kit Hadley, nominated for Hennepin County's No. 2 administrative job, says she doesn't want to distract from city-county library merger.

By Steve Brandt, Star Tribune

Last update: November 20, 2007 - 8:37 PM

Outgoing Minneapolis library chief Kit Hadley has withdrawn from contention for the post of Hennepin County's second-ranking administrator.

Hadley said she acted after the County Board's decision to twice delay her appointment made clear that it would be a continuing distraction in plans to consolidate Minneapolis and county libraries.

"I accept that it wasn't meant to be," Hadley said Tuesday, one day after she notified Minneapolis library employees of her decision.

Several county commissioners balked at approving Hadley, not because of her qualifications but it would put her in the role of supervising county library chief Amy Ryan.

Hadley, a former state housing finance commissioner, was recommended to the board for the No. 2 post by County Administrator Richard Johnson.

Johnson said Tuesday that he will begin a new search for the post, which involves managing general government operations of the county.

"I think she's an excellent candidate -- well-qualified," he said.

Hadley, whose last day in the office was last Friday, said she had no immediate plans aside from cooking a turkey.

"I've never known what the next step was going to be," she said.

But Commissioner Gail Dorfman, a supporter of the appointment, lamented the lost opportunity.

"It's a loss for the county. She had a level of experience that would have greatly benefited the county, and she had great integrity," Dorfman said.

Dorfman said she thought that Hadley and Ryan shared the goal of a great library system and would have worked well together. They overlapped for about a year in the Minneapolis system after Hadley was named to the city job in 2003 and before Ryan moved to the county the following year.

Commissioner Penny Steele said she thought that it was important for her suburban constituents that Ryan be treated with respect and questioned how the two would work together.

Hadley was selected as city library chief over a career librarian from Chicago. Her selection came after the Library Board the previous year got the city charter amended to allow a non-librarian to hold the job.

She acted quickly to settle a long-festering lawsuit in which a dozen librarians complained of workplace exposure to Internet porn viewed by some library patrons.

Hadley also was involved in city-county talks that led to an agreement to merge the two systems under the county's wing and larger tax base. That merger is scheduled for the end of this year.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

Steve Brandt • sbrandt@startribune.com

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