On Dec. 8, the Westbury Library's board of trustees held its last meeting of 2004. The meeting was also Library Director Cathleen Towey's final one until her return in 2006. Effective Jan. 1, Towey will begin a one-year, unpaid leave to take on a special project at a new library on Long Island.

The meeting was filled with emotion as library staff members expressed gratitude and support for Towey, many thanking her for nearly four years of dedicated leadership and service (see letters to the editor, page 20.) According to Towey, the temporary position will enable her to bring new and exciting ideas back to Westbury as well as provide her with a break from the ongoing legal conflict. The meeting also sparked discussion regarding whether or not trustee Larry Boes should resign due to the lawsuit, which was put forth by his wife, Joan.

In 2002, Ms. Boes filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against the library, Towey, current and past board members and three employees who were officers of the library's staff association. Ms. Boes filed the suit after the library changed its part-time cultural program position, which was held by Ms. Boes, to full-time in order to meet the growing population and programming needs of the Westbury community. Since civil service law required the library to hire from a certified civil service list of people who had passed a test to be eligible for the full-time position, and Ms. Boes had not taken the exam, she was let go. In her suit, however, Ms. Boes alleges that the library did not permanently replace her with a full-time cultural program specialist certified by the Nassau County Civil Service Commission.

In addition to such claims as breach of contract, deprivation of rights and conspiracy and discrimination, Ms. Boes is also demanding compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees and other such relief that the court may deem just and proper. She is seeking to be reinstated as the library's full- or part-time cultural program specialist employee. Just this year, however, Boes took and failed the civil service exam required for the full-time cultural program position.

As it stands now, the lawsuit is still in the hands of the lawyers. Earlier this year, mediation between the two sides - Diane Krebs for the library and Thomas Liotti, a Westbury village justice, for Boes, failed. The case was scheduled to return to federal court on Dec. 7, but was postponed at the request of Liotti the day before and will be returning to mediation shortly.

The pending lawsuit sparked some concern for one resident, who after attending several library board meetings, sent a letter to Westbury Library Board President C. Yvette Long regarding what he refers to as "apparent friction on the board." In the letter, which was read aloud at the Dec. 8 meeting, the resident, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, "I am very confused as to how a sitting board member could be involved in a lawsuit involving his wife and the director of the library ... Since the director has chosen to ask for and has been granted a leave of absence, shouldn't Mr. Boes do the same?

The letter goes on to say, "You, as president, should ask for a vote on this issue and ask Mr. Boes to step aside until the matter at hand is settled. I am certain that most of the patrons of the library are, as I was, not aware of the situation within your board. Should further conflict affect the operation of the library, it would basically come back to the board and why they didn't do all they could to prevent it."

Mr. Boes, however, has no intention of resigning, stating that doing so is not an option. "I was elected by the people of the Westbury Library District. I don't feel I have any obligation to resign from the board for something that pre-existed my campaign and election to the board," he said. "It is not my choice to step down because of something people [who voted for me] already knew about. I was elected after my wife was terminated, which was well-known."

Mr. Boes added that he has, in the two years he has served as trustee, excused himself from board discussions regarding his wife's lawsuit. "I have excused myself every time, but there are some board members who still like to pick arguments about it," he said.

Last month, the library board voted 3 to 1 in favor of granting Towey the leave, which takes effect Jan 1. Mr. Boes was the opposing vote.

"I am not sure she is returning. That was my principle criticism of granting her a leave of absence," said Mr. Boes in an interview with the Westbury Times. "I do not believe [the leave] is beneficial for the library, its patrons and taxpayers. To give permission for an open-ended job and to come back if she wants to has never been done." He added, "She will not even say where she will be going."

Towey, however, has stated that she has every intention of returning and that the reason she has chosen not to publicize where the library she will be working is located because she is still awaiting civil service confirmation. "[Mr. Boes] acts like this whole civil service system has nothing to do with anything, but it has everything to do with everything we do here," she said.