Levan & WaskiewiczLevan & Waskiewicz

The appointed board of the Westhampton library, under demands by citizens to resign and be replaced by an elected board, has rejected demands that it re-schedule its meeting at night instead 9:30 a.m.

Danielle Waskiewicz, library director, said the board will stick to its scheduled meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Citizens had requested months ago that nighttime meetings be held since working people cannot attend morning meetings. The Westhampton Beach Village board meets at 7 p.m. It has postponed its Oct. 1 meeting to Oct. 8.

The 35 citizens who attended the library board meeting Sept. 16 were told that the request for nighttime meetings had been received and was “under consideration.” Waskiewicz repeated that statement in an email to this website Sept. 30.

Virtually all citizens in the room Sept. 16 applauded and cheered when Peter Zegler said board president Joan Levan should step down. She immediately refused.

WHB library boardWesthampton Free Library board (L-R:) Danielle Waskiewicz, director, and board members June Sellin, president Joan Levan, Marth-Ann Betjemann, and Karen Andrews

Library employees, dissatisfied with employee and other policies of the library board, voted to form a union by a 31-3 margin on Aug. 21. It is the first union in the more than 100-year history of the library.

Employee Charges Unfair Firing; Sought Nighttime Meetings

Sabina Trager, who says she was unfairly fired by the board on June 23 after three-and-a-half years of part-time employment, wrote in the Sept. 10 SH Press that the union was formed because of the “uncomfortable and unforgiving environment at the library.”

Trager provided the following statement on her efforts to get the board to hold nighttime meetings:

"On 7/15/15 I attended the board meeting and asked if the board would consider moving its monthly meeting to the evening so that more people would attend. I also submitted this question in writing to the board. I never received a response.

"On 8/12/15 I again attended the monthly board meeting and asked the same question. I said more people could attend, this is how other boards operate so that's there is more accountability and transparency. My question was not given one word of response at the meeting. I again submitted my question in writing to the board.

"On 9/4/15 I met with Danielle. Her response to my question was, 'Yes, the Board is considering moving the meeting to the evening. They are evaluating and studying the issue.' I asked for a timeline, she didn't have one.

"At the 9/16 Board meeting the same question was asked again. The Board still has not responded. It has been three full months now that a patron and taxpayer has asked a simple question and has been stonewalled. This is unacceptable governance of our taxpayer funded institution."

A letter by Trager to the SH Post on Sept. 17 called for Levan to resign, saying Levan had fired Trager “with no documentation.” Trager noted she had “three perfect/exceeds objectives performance evaluations.”

The event that brought about the firing, wrote Trager, was Trager’s discussing staff wage increases of 2-3 per cent.

Bob Trager, husband of Sabina, in a letter to the Aug. 22 SH Press, called on library trustees to support “an open election process.”

He asked why the board kept more than $4.1 million in cash in one bank when the FDIC only insures $500,000 of it. He wondered why the library pushes for a tax increase each year when it has so much money on hand. The letter also questioned the responses of the board to the firing of Sabina.

Citizens Create “Web” Library

Citizens who are dissatisfied with the governance of the library are forming a website that will allow comments and dialogue by residents, a function that is absent from the library website.

The Westhampton Free Library is actually a private, 501/c/3 non-profit corporation that does not allow public election of its board. It is an “association” rather than a “public” library. Only about 12% of U.S. libraries have that status.

Most library funds, 74% in the case of the WH Library, come from taxes. But the public has no say in WH library policies, according to dissidents. They passed out 200 leaflets in front of the library Sept. 15-16 saying the board lacked “accountability, transparency, diversity, and financial oversight,” saying citizens are being “taxed without representation.”

Citizens are forming a “web library” for WH and surrounding towns that will be run by an elected board and allow citizen comments and debates.