Mayor Maria Moore of Westhampton Beach has quit the library board after six years. Critics said she should have quit in June 2014 when she was elected mayor. Moore served eight years on fund-raising for the $7.5 million library.

Moore said this week that she stayed on the board in order to provide guidance to Marth-Ann Betjemann who joined the board earlier this year.

The 40 full-time and part-time library employees are voting Friday, Aug. 21 on formation of a chapter of New York State United Teachers, according to a story by Kyle Campbell in the Southampton Press.

WHBWHB board meeting Aug. 19

Campbell told the WHB meeting last night that he is joining the New York News as a reporter and has covered his last WHB meeting.

Library Worker Claims Unfair Firing

Sabrina Trager, a part-time library worker three-and-a-half years, claims she was fired June 23 “with no paperwork, no documentation, no discussion.” She said this was “very unprofessional” and something that “wouldn’t happen if we had a union.”

Trager says she was approached on the street by library board member Joan Levan and asked to sign a petition for Brian Tymann and Rob Rubio, who were challenging incumbents Patricia DiBenedetto and Hank Tucker.

The platform of Tymann and Rubio included opposition to the use of WHB property such as utility poles for religious purposes.

Trager said she refused because she had signed a petition for the two incumbents.

Levan told SH Press that Trager was fired because she violated library policy and that the board has the documentation needed for the firing.

Library Employees Want a Voice

Susan Berdinka, 10-year library employee, said co-workers “want equal voice and due process, which we have not ever had.” She said the library board makes policy decisions without consulting the staff.

“The board would have to talk to us if we had a union,” she said. Employees will cast secret ballots Friday.

Trudy Rudnick, NUSUT organizer, said the union has chapters in 50 libraries on Long Island.

WHB library employees “are told what will happen to them and they have no ability to sit down and discuss this with the administration,” said Rudnick. “The board is not elected and ha mostly closed-door meetings, is not respectful of them.”

Library board emails and phone numbers are not publicly available. Library director Danielle Waskiewicz forwards emails to the directors.

Waskiewicz said in an email Aug. 18 that the staff will make the “choice that is best for them and we support that choice."

Richard Zuckerman, attorney for the board, circulated a memo to staffers saying “We do not think a union is necessary or beneficial to both our and your best interests. It is possible that the union’s demands, if fulfilled, would result in prohibitive cost increase to the library, which may result in fewer jobs in order to pay for those demands.”

Rudnick charged that the memo was intended to confuse workers and possibly dissuade them from joining the union.

Public Meeting on Eruv Not Mentioned

The board meeting’s agenda did not mention the issue of the eruv lawsuits that face WHB.

Mayor Moore has been asked if she intends to have a public meeting on the eruv issue but has not yet responded. She told the Aug. 6 meeting that, “Perhaps it would be more helpful to the community to hear it at a public meeting, to have an update to the extent possible.”

That remark was made after she asked three times what the community wants her to do about the eruv situation.