Kitchigami library board fires director and technology manager

The Kitchigami Regional Library System board fired Executive Director Melissa Whatley and Tech Services Manager Tami Beto after two closed sessions during its May 21 meeting at KRLS headquarters, 310 2nd St. N. in Pine River.

The board moved behind closed doors under Minnesota Statute § 13D.05, subd. (2)(b), which allows a closed session to consider preliminary allegations or charges against an individual subject to the board’s authority. The agenda showed two separate personnel sessions, signaling that the action was tied to employee discipline and board concerns serious enough to be handled outside public discussion.

The termination came after months of labor and personnel conflict inside the regional system that serves Beltrami, Cass, Crow Wing, Hubbard and Wadena counties. AFSCME Council 65 had accused Beto of racial and religious discrimination, sexual harassment, wage discrimination and bringing firearms into the workplace. The union also accused Whatley of tampering with the investigation into Beto. In September 2025, union representatives presented petitions with more than 100 signatures as a vote of no confidence in both leaders, and board member George Deiss questioned how the petitions were gathered.

Public records show the board was already dealing with broader management concerns before the firings. Minutes from a November 20, 2025 meeting referenced a director evaluation score of 3.38 out of 5 for Whatley. A January 2025 organizational proposal from Whatley had also created two regional branch manager positions to oversee KRLS’s nine branches. Those branches, along with a bookmobile, make up the system’s network across northern Minnesota.

The stakes extend into Beltrami County, where Bemidji Public Library operates as one of the KRLS branches. KRLS headquarters in Pine River serves as the system’s technical services center, the place where the technology connecting the branch libraries is housed. That makes the leadership change more than a personnel dispute in Pine River: it could ripple through library operations, digital services and coordination across the region.

The May 21 agenda also included AFSCME contract business, step approval for non-union staff, library-hours changes and budget planning for 2027. With the director and technology manager gone, KRLS now faces the task of keeping a 5-county library network steady while bargaining, staffing and service decisions remain unresolved.