The Sept. 19 board meeting of the Great Neck Library was a highly charged, chaotic meeting, the first held since director Arlene Nevens announced her retirement on July 8. Board member Martin Sokol whose original motion proffered at the last full board meeting on June 27 and amended to expand the duties of the board on hiring matters said, "I was wrong...I would like to rescind my motion." This action touched off a flurry of comments from a restive audience, many references to Robert's Rules of Order, a brief recess of the board and a ruling from president David Kahn to table the discussion. Mr. Sokol sought to overrule the president's decision, which would have required a super majority of the seven-member board, and was voted down.

The motion for a policy change that was passed on June 27 requires that the board be involved in the hiring of not only the director, the assistant director, and the business manager, but also the department heads, including heads of Levels, computer network administration and all maintenance personnel. The Record has learned that the library board has no policy in place requiring specific procedures to be followed in order to change a policy. (For example, the board of education does not vote on a change in policy until a proposed policy, formulated by the policy committee, has been read in public at three meetings, giving the public ample time to be heard on policy changes.)

Common wisdom is that the library board's change in policy regarding hiring practices was the "last straw" in Ms. Nevens' unexpected decision to retire, effective in November. As such, there were members of the community who at various points expressed their feelings on the matter, some downright hostile toward the board, some puzzled, and some worried about the effect of the turmoil on the future quality of library services.

Librarian Carol Perry, speaking to a letter she had written to the board on behalf of the library staff association, informed the board that the current situation with only two full-time and one part-time maintenance workers (down from 4.5 people) is a worry because with the beginning of the school season, and the reinvigoration of community activities and programs, the work of the maintenance staff in Main and the branches intensifies. She asked the board about their timetable for addressing the matter since hiring maintenance staff now requires active board participation.

She also urged the board to form a search committee and begin the quest for a new director. She said, "We regret the resignation and don't want to go too long without a leader." To date a search committee has not been formed, but the board did agree on the wording and cost, not to exceed $2,000, for an ad to be placed in a national publication at the September meeting.

This summer, the board was able to convene an emergency meeting with a quorum present to deal with the air conditioning condenser breakdown, but did not use that opportunity to set the wheels in motion to find a director. (See GNR, Aug. 17) Due to the timing now, an ad in a national library publication will not appear until November, the month that Ms. Nevens leaves. The board agreed to appoint Laura Weir, current assistant director, as the interim director at a salary increase of $16,000.

Library watchers had rather fruitlessly questioned why the board had felt the need to involve themselves closely in the hiring of maintenance staff.

More of the board's rationale had been revealed at the Finance Committee meeting on the prior evening, Sept. 18. Committee chairperson, Norman Rutta reviewed some questions and concerns that had been raised by former board member, Ralene Adler, regarding the scheduling and overtime of maintenance staff and the cost of the outside contractor, City Wide, the cleaning service for the main library and the branches.

Business manager, Neil Zitofsky, who also oversees the maintenance department, responded to Ms. Adler's concerns in a 4-page letter in which he reviewed and clarified the combined costs of the maintenance staff and the cleaning service. In 2001, with the retirement of a full-timer at a salary of $39,440 plus benefits, the board decided to bid out the cleaning job at an annual cost of $25,000 rather than replace him. Over time, the hours of the cleaning service have increased due to another retirement and a disability leave with the commensurate increase in costs. The 2005 combined cost for the staff and the service comes to $378,290, a 15 percent increase over a four-year period.

Ms. Adler, present at the committee meeting which is open to the public, thanked Mr. Zitofsky for his comprehensive report. The upshot of the discussions on the matter resulted in a decision by the committee to re-bid the cleaning service on a regular basis instead of allowing "evergreen" contracts to roll from year-to-year and to attempt to reschedule and stagger the maintenance workers to minimize overtime pay. However, until maintenance is fully staffed, overtime pay may be unavoidable.

According to Ms. Nevens, she had been prepared to forward her recommendation for a person to fill a vacant maintenance position earlier this summer, but because of the lack of a quorum on the board during the summer months, the position remained vacant. Ms. Nevens said that the person under consideration has probably already gotten another job and the process will have to begin anew.

For the record, the maintenance staff prepares and opens the buildings, does routine repairs, sets up and breaks down rooms for meetings and special events, transports books, supplies and equipment throughout Main and the branches, runs other errands for the administration such as bank deposits, keeps the rest rooms stocked and performs other and numerous odd jobs.

Other Finance Committee Matters

Although not widely known, it is true that the library's auditor discovered that there was a 2005 budget deficit of $74,714. At the committee meeting, it was explained that the unanticipated deficit came about with the end of the year surge in staff requests for financial compensation for unused vacation days. Steps have been taken this year by the administration to avoid a repeat scenario.

The library also received a jaw-dropping water bill this past quarter in the amount of $8,650 rather than the average of $1,500 for the same time period last year. It was discovered that the cooling tower tank on the roof of Main was leaking at a quiet, but prodigious rate. The committee will be investigating whether a recent draining and cleaning service for the unit resulted in an improper seal of the mechanism and whether this situation had any impact on the failure of the air conditioning compressor in late summer.

(The Record spoke with the Water Authority of Great Neck North's superintendent Robert Graziano about whether the company has a way of tracking and flagging over-usage of water so that such problems can be addressed earlier in midstream. Mr. Graziano said that the technology for such a "catch" is in the future, but not in place currently.)

Ms. Nevens announced that Frank Marino of Advanced Consulting, the project manager who consulted on renovation/expansion plans was not renewing his contract with the board. In another action, the board moved to hire a traffic consultant, Eschbacher, to prepare the required traffic impact for any future environmental impact study regarding the project.

Meanwhile, back at the board meeting, some audience members questioned the legality of the decision of the board to become more involved in hiring. According to Ms. Nevens, the action the board took was legal.

Board members have said publicly and privately that the push for more involvement grew out of a meeting that they had with their labor attorney Kevin Seaman which had been scheduled to give them guidance in their responsibility to evaluate Ms. Neven's performance. The Record spoke with Mr. Seaman who confirmed that indeed the Great Neck Library, which is an association library, has more leeway, more flexibility than do other types of libraries. He told us that it was entirely legal for the board to take the action it did; however, he did say that he thought it was imperative that boards should be closely involved in the hiring of the director, assistant director and business manager.

In the aftermath of the board meeting that left participants emotionally spent, there did appear to be consensus from various factions that the attendance of legal counsel at board meetings may be necessary in the future to advise board members about procedural matters.

Library staff who spoke with the Record on the condition of anonymity

expressed fears that the board's emphasis on fiscal constraint will result in deferring important decisions that will affect the quality of library services. One staffer said, "Deferment seems to be a major board policy right now. Defer hiring decisions, defer finding a new director, defer fixing the A/C, defer looking into and deciding on expansion plans, defer retaining a lawyer, defer retaining an architect - defer spending whatever money they can!"

The normal tensions that exist between board members, administration, staff and the public in service, not-for-profit institutions will be brought into sharper focus in the coming weeks with the contested election for two new trustees. Keep reading.