State clears itself of wrongdoing in closing Historical Society’s Iowa City facility

IOWA CITY — The Iowa Department of Administrative Services has determined that the Iowa Department of Administrative Services did not violate the portion of state code requiring it to “maintain research centers in Des Moines and Iowa City” when it closed the Iowa City Research Library on Dec. 31.

The 17 petitioners who requested a declaratory order from the department — after first suing — plan to file an immediate appeal of the decision to the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, their attorney James Larew said.

The department’s declaratory order comes nearly two months after the 17 donors, historians, archivists, professors and community members on Nov. 3 petitioned the Department of Administrative Services upon order from a Johnson County district judge. The judge in October ordered the state to stop removing items from the Iowa City facility based on the “likelihood of success” of a lawsuit the group filed against the state.

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But the judge at that time also agreed with the state that the petitioners had been too quick to sue before first seeking a declaratory order — and he instructed the group to file a petition with the department before he would take any more action on the lawsuit.

In exonerating itself of any wrongdoing, the department in its Dec. 30 order identified several reasons it isn’t obligated to keep the 168-year-old Iowa City Research Library open in the Centennial Building — which has housed it since 1956.

“The term ‘research center’ is not defined in Iowa Code ch. 8A,” according to the declaratory order tasked with answering two questions from the petitioners.

First, does the department’s closure of the research library violate its duty outlined in Iowa Code to maintain a research center in Iowa City?

Second, does the department’s relocation or deaccession of donated items meant to stay in Iowa City violate its obligation to use gifts in accordance with donor intention?

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Nonanswer

The department answered the first question with a “no” and declined to answer the second, which it rewrote to read: “Has the department violated its obligations set forth in Iowa Code 8A.711(1) when it has been falsely alleged that the department relocated or deaccessioned items out of Iowa City that are purportedly subject to donor agreement restrictions for those items to stay in Iowa City?”

Among the reasons the department cited in declining to answer that question is its basis on “inaccurate assertion of fact.”

And, although petitioners in their request for a declaratory order identified themselves as a group of Iowa “historians, archivists, donors, and community members,” Nathan Reckman — deputy director and general counsel of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services — in writing his order said they “do not allege that they are donors or expressed beneficiaries of donor agreements entered into by the department or that they have any specific, personal legal interest in the outcome of this decision beyond a general interest that may be generally shared by members of the community.”

“Petitioners’ petition appears to confuse being a donor with being a descendant of a donor,” Reckman wrote. “However, none of the petitioners claim to be actual donors of any gifts or items at issue. Nor do they allege that any donor agreements between DAS and a donor name any individual petitioner as an express beneficiary to the donor agreement.”

As such, according to the order, the petitioners don’t appear to have standing to enforce donor agreements “to which they have no claim.”

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‘Broad legal authority’

The department justified its “no” answer to the first question about whether it violated Iowa law by closing the Iowa City facility by looking at what is meant by “research center.”

Without an explicit definition, the order pointed to the only other reference to a research center in that chapter of the code — which related to historical resources and the department’s obligation to establish, maintain and administer a “digital collection of historical manuscripts, documents, records, reports, images, and artifacts and make the collection available to the public through an online research center.”

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Because lawmakers in the 1980s removed the Iowa Code reference to the specific Centennial Building location in Iowa City, Reckman argued the department has “broad legal authority to effectuate its current obligation to maintain a research center in Iowa City so long as its meets its legal obligation in a reasonable manner that is not inconsistent with the legislative mandate.”

Pointing to a recent arrangement with the University of Iowa to maintain public access to the historical collections, Reckman in his order said “the university agreed to serve as DAS’s Iowa City research center as required by Iowa Code.”

“Importantly, the department has no statutory obligation to maintain the existence of the Centennial Building or for its Iowa City research center to remain in the Centennial Building.”

Concerned community members and petitioners — on a SaveIowaHistory.org website seeking to reverse the closure — said the UI agreement is unsatisfactory.

“The recent agreement with the University of Iowa is not the solution we are seeking,” group organizers wrote. “The State Archivist Tony Jahn is distracting the public from the real issues about the care and identification of irreplaceable treasures from Iowa’s past. Please help protect these materials for future generations.”

With the petitioners rushing to appeal the declaratory order to a district court judge, the Department of Administrative Services in December prefiled legislation to strike from Iowa Code the mandate it maintain historical research centers in both Des Moines and Iowa City.

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Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com