By Alex Robinson
Six members of the Queens Library board of trustees who were dismissed last week are not going to go quietly.
The trustees have filed a lawsuit against Borough President Melinda Katz for what they described as “a brazen, and unconstitutional, power grab by the Queens borough president, with the aid of the state Legislature, to transform the Queens Borough Public Library from an independent, private, nonprofit corporation into an organ of city government controlled by the Queens borough president and mayor.”
Katz and Mayor Bill de Blasio removed eight trustees in all, using new powers granted to them by a new state law, passed to bring greater transparency to nonprofit.
“We have not had the opportunity to review the lengthy complaint,” Katz said in a statement Friday evening.
The board members were removed for standing by embattled library President Thomas Galante. The president has been the subject of multiple investigations following allegations of fiscal mismanagement and questions surrounding his external income.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
