By Alex Robinson
State lawmakers set political differences aside last week to make sure the state Legislature passed a Queens Library reform bill.
Once Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the bill, it will reform the library’s board of trustees, giving the mayor and borough president power to remove board members.
The bill was authored by state Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-East Elmhurst) and Borough President Melinda Katz after the board of trustees failed to oust or suspend the library’s chief executive officer, Thomas Galante, following allegations of fiscal mismanagement and revelations he made a $392,000 salary.
The state Senate passed the bill last Friday by a vote of 59-1 as the clock ticked away on this year’s legislative session. The bill had been unanimously passed by the Assembly two weeks earlier.
Passage of the bill seemed unlikely recently as a political squabble and disagreement over the extent of the legislation threatened to derail attempts at reforming the nonprofit.
Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) sponsored the bill’s companion in the Senate, but Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who sits in the majority coalition that controls the Senate, said the bill did not go far enough. To the ire of mainline Democrats, Avella recently joined the Independent Democratic Conference which governs the upper chamber in a power-sharing agreement with Republicans.
Avella pushed for his own version of the bill, which would have extended some of the bill’s provisions to all of the city’s library systems. His bill also included provisions that would have mandate that the board of trustees have two librarians, a public accountant, a Queens community board chairman and a district manager among its members.
The Bayside senator, who did not have a sponsor in the Assembly for his bill, said Gianaris’ bill would not come to the floor for a vote.
Aubry then made two amendments to his own bill to include two parts of Avella’s bill, which would make the Queens Library subject to Freedom of Information Laws and require the nonprofit to have annual budget hearings.
This was still not enough for Avella, who asked for more changes until the last day of the legislative session, when a compromise was reached. Avella and Aubry signed an agreement to revisit the issue in the next legislative session to put together additional reforms.
The IDC agreed to bring what is called a hand-down bill from the Assembly to the upper chamber’s floor for a vote rather than pass Gianaris’ bill, which was the same bill in all but name.
“This is a huge step in the right direction,” Avella said in an interview. “Is it everything I wanted? Of course not, but I’m going to keep a very watchful eye on what happens.”
Avella said he will continue to work toward additional reforms that affect all of the city’s library systems.
“I’m excited we were able to put politics aside to pass legislation,” Gianaris said in an interview. “We’ve taken many large steps forward and hopefully that will create the greater accountability to the library system.”
The bill will also reduce the terms of board members from five to three years and require that they are residents of Queens or own a business in the borough.
The Queens Library, which receives a good chunk of funding from city, state and federal coffers, has refused to fully open its books to city Comptroller Scott Stringer, who attempted to conduct an audit of the nonprofit’s finances.
The FBI has also been conducting a probe into income that Galante received from a job outside the library and his questionable operation of the nonprofit.
“The bill is a common-sense measure that would dramatically improve the governance and oversight of the Queens Library and help guarantee that it remains one of our borough’s most treasured institutions for many years to come,” Katz said in a statement.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
