Westhampton Library trustees wrangled with citizens for an hour and 45 minutes last night on the issue of having an elected board. Karen Andrews, VP and trustee for 12 years, quit without explanation and walked out of the room.
Thomas Moore, president of the library board and husband of Maria Moore, mayor of Westhampton Beach, rebuffed pleas by residents to take immediate steps towards an elected board.
Former WHB town attorney Hermon Bishop noted that 13 of the 19 “association” libraries in Suffolk county have elected boards. Association libraries like the WH library are 501/c/3 non-profits that are private corporations that can elect their own boards.
Moore parried citizen comments about the board’s make-up by saying that board members, who are not paid, have plenty of other tasks such has handling complaints by several staffers that have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
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A contract also has to be negotiated with the union that was recently formed at the library, he noted. An election of union officers is being conducted this week. Bishop wrote in the Oct. 8 Southampton Press that switching to an elected board would not be a complicated matter. Bishop told the meeting last night that the board should make election of trustees "a priority."
Former library employee Sabina Trager also pleaded for an elected board. New trustees Susan Rosenberg and Barbara Matros said they are researching the issue but are not yet ready to form an opinion on it.
A resident asked why the meeting was not being audio or video-recorded. Moore said he saw no reason for doing that.
Residents also noted the library has $4.16 million in cash/savings but has earmarked $3.1 million of this for “capital projects” including construction on an unfinished attic. The $7.5 million library was opened five years ago. The residents said capital projects must be shelved or permanently cancelled and emphasis put on hosting “town halls” on topics such as the close of WHB’s only supermarket and the threat of $1 million in fines and costs related to the dispute over the eruv Jewish boundary proposed for WHB.
Andrews is Fourth Trustee to Resign
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Andrews announced as the meeting started that she was resigning from the board. No explanation was given. She then left the room.
She became the fourth of five previous trustees to resign. The others were Joan Levan, president, June Sellin, and Marth-Ann Betjemann.
The one remaining director is Jennifer Mendelson whose term extends to June 11, 2018. Named to the board, besides Moore, were retired high school teachers Barbara Matros and Susan Rosenberg.
Andrews is with the Corcoran Group, WHB, part of Realogy Holdings Corp., Madison, N.J., the largest residential real estate company in the U.S. She was the only library trustee whose email and phone contacts were available to the public.
The policy of blocking individual contact points of trustees continues. The new board is only reachable via a general email address of [email protected].
Greg Wehner, who usually covers library board meetings, was not present nor were any other news media besides the O’Dwyer Co. A WHB “work” session also took place last night but such sessions do not provide for public comment.
Moore Provides Statement
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Moore provided a written statement that addressed some of the concerns of residents.
It pointed out that the board has plenty of other tasks to do besides considering its replacement with an elected board.
“There are pending administrative employee complaints that require the board’s attention,” said the statement. “These are the immediate priorities for this board.”
He said the board feels it is “important that it identify all legally eligible candidates who are willing to serve as the need arises in the future both as terms expire in the regular course and unexpectedly. It is also appropriate to review the selection process so that the best interests of the library are served.”
Volunteer organizations find it difficult to recruit people to work many hours without pay, he noted.
Residents at the meeting accused the board of chronic foot-dragging on the elected vs. appointed issue, saying the matter had been brought to the board’s attention many months ago.
There is no reason the entire board could not resign, they said, and citizens allowed to compete for their positions on the basis of new library policies such as stressing intellectual pursuits rather than allocating millions to “improving” a five-year-old building.
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