By Kathianne Boniello
Borough President Helen Marshall has removed a member from Community Board 11 in Bayside because she missed too many meetings, newly elected board Chairman Jerry Iannece said Monday.
Lois Marbach, a community activist from Bayside who has been on the board for several years, acknowledged she had missed CB 11 meetings in 2001. Marbach, a political consultant, blamed last year’s extended election season for her absenteeism.
The announcement that Marbach’s term on the board had not been renewed by Marshall came during Monday’s monthly meeting of CB 11, during which activist and failed city council candidate Joyce Shepard chastised some board members for skipping too many meetings.
CB 11 covers the communities of Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Oakland Gardens, Hollis Hills and Auburndale.
Iannece was conducting his first meeting as board chairman during Monday night’s gathering at MS 158 in Bayside. While he declined to comment on Shepard’s accusations of absenteeism among CB 11 members, Iannece said he would like to see Marbach reinstated on the board.
“I would rather she not been removed,” Iannece said. “It’s not my call, it’s the borough president’s call.”
“I was aware my attendance was not great,” Marbach said in a telephone interview Tuesday, adding that she would like to be back on the board but would not cause a controversy over her dismissal.
The chairman said absences by board members had been tolerated in the past, but board members could expect a warning in the near future to attend more meetings.
Shepard, who spoke during the public participation section of the meeting, said she compiled lists of how many meetings CB 11 members have missed during the last three years.
The activist, a Bay Terrace resident who does not live within the boundaries of CB 11, said some members had missed the vast majority of meetings over the past three years while some skipped none or very few.
Shepard’s information about absenteeism among board members could not be independently confirmed as of Tuesday.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
