Trustees for ImagineIF Libraries are expected Thursday to review a proposed contract for its newly approved director — one who could cost the system its state accreditation and roughly $30,000 in annual funding.

In a 3-2 decision earlier this month, the system’s board of trustees voted to hire Ashley Cummins from Alabama, where she had been completing a bachelor’s degree and planning to earn a master’s.

She now works as director of a small rural library in Russellville, Ala.

Accreditation with the Montana State Library requires directors to have already achieved at least a master’s degree. Montana State Librarian Jennie Stapp told the board during its last meeting, however, that the system could request a deferral for the education requirement.

Such, Stapp said, would require proof of hardship in hiring qualified candidates.

A second candidate who made it to the final round of interviews, Abby O’Neill, of Cleveland, Ohio, also lacked a master’s degree.

The board discussed the hiring decision for more than an hour during its last regular meeting.

Some trustees said they preferred to move forward with the hiring process. Others wanted to scrap it and start over.

Under the proposed contract already signed by Cummins, her renewable employment term would become effective March 7 and last through March 7, 2024, unless she was fired or the agreement modified.

Cummins — who would get up to $10,000 to relocate, with $7,000 of that guaranteed — could resign at any time with at least 60 days of advance written notice, according to the contract.

She would start at roughly $78,000 annually, which comes to about $37.56 per hour, according to the contract.

In her fourth year of employment, Cummins could expect to earn roughly $87,000 annually, subject to annual cost-of-living adjustments, according to the contract.

The library system has been losing its directors on the regular.

Martha Furman, former interim director of ImagineIF Libraries, resigned late last year amid growing tension between library board members and staff.

Feeling she spent most of her time in “crisis mode”, Furman replaced Connie Behe after Behe resigned this past summer.

Reporter John McLaughlin can be reached at 758-4439 or jmclaughlin@dailyinterlake.com