Queens Public Library Board Votes Not to Suspend the Library’s Director, Thomas Galante

From the NY Daily News:

Following a five-hour meeting, much of it behind closed doors, the library’s board voted 9-9 not to force director Thomas Galante to take a leave of absence. The tie meant the motion to suspend did not carry.
One board member, Terri Mangino, arrived from Florida at the last minute to cast her vote, said a source with knowledge of the proceedings.
“They waited for her to fly in because they knew she would vote to keep Tom,” the source said. “They knew she would tie it up.”
Galante smiled as he left the library late Thursday, his eye-popping $392,000-a-year job intact. In addition to his cushy salary, Galante renovated his office at the Queens Central Library for $140,000 — at a time when the cash-strapped system has not been able to reopen two branches damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Read the Complete Article

Full Text of a Statement We Received From the QPL After the Vote Taken/Results Announced

Queens Library provides critically important educational and informational resources to 2.3 million people. In a special meeting of the Board of Trustees, a motion for a leave of absence for the President and CEO was rejected. Thomas W. Galante will continue his work leading the Queens Library.
As part of its continued commitment to ensuring the library’s standing as a premier, nationally recognized library system, the Queens Library is pleased to announce that its Board of Trustees has adopted a series of reforms to its governance and operating policies and procedures. In the last six weeks, the Board of Trustees has moved very swiftly to implement a series of significant changes in policies and governance that strengthen the institution. The adopted actions include:
* CREATION OF AN AUDIT COMMITTEE: The Audit Committee will assist the Board in improving oversight of the internal and existing external audit function, including the appointment of both internal and external auditors who will report directly to the Board and monitoring the implementation of audit recommendations. Members of the Audit committee have been appointed and their work has already begun. This committee will add an additional level of oversight.
* A PROCESS AND TIMELINE FOR REVIEW OF EXECUTIVE CONTRACT: The Board is undertaking an independent and thorough review of the President & CEO’s employment contract. Evaluation will be made of the compensation and all contract terms of the Chief Executive Officer as compared to those of similar sized not-for-profit institutions. The work of the consultant is underway.
* GOVERNANCE REVIEW: To include the views and expertise of the entire Board of Trustees on critical governance matters, a Special Committee on Governance has been formed; its work is already underway to review several serious matters recommended for consideration, including the current committee structure of the Board.
* NEW CONFLICTS OF INTEREST POLICIES: A revised Conflict of Interest Policy for senior officers is in place to limit outside employment; to clearly define conflicts of interests for such employment and require senior officers to disclose any outside employment prior to accepting outside employment. Additional reviews have been authorized by the Board to determine if additional limits exist in comparable positions at similar non-profit organizations.
Additional proposals to further increase transparency, accountability and governance are under review by the Board of Trustee Committees and we expect additional actions to be announced in the coming weeks.

Note: For background on the Galante story see this infoDOCKET post:

• Queens Library Director Thomas Galante Questioned at NYC Council Library Budget Hearing

as well as:

• Thomas Galante should take leave of absence says Queens Borough President Melinda Katz (via NY Daily News)

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Conference Presentations, Jobs, Libraries, News, Public Libraries