Wyandanch library board ousts trustee after launching investigation

The Wyandanch Public Library board has voted to remove one of its trustees at a heated meeting where public comment was not allowed.

The board voted 3-2 Wednesday to remove Judith Graham-Guerrier, 72, and vacate her seat.  The board also voted to suspend Graham-Guerrier’s library privileges for three months for “disruptive and objectionable conduct.”

Kevin Verbesey, board of trustees director for the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, which oversees all the county's library branches and helps them follow state laws, among other things, has called such a removal “extraordinarily rare.”

An investigation into Graham-Guerrier conducted by an outside attorney that concluded three weeks ago recommended six charges for which the trustee could be removed: advocacy against the library budget; breach of executive session confidentiality; improper interference with library staff members; a pattern of disruption at board meetings; and two charges of disrupting meetings on Oct. 23 and Dec. 23, during which Suffolk County police were called by board president Ghenya Grant.

Graham-Guerrier, whose term ends in April, has been on the board for seven years. She has regularly clashed with Grant and trustee Nancy Holliday, who along with trustee Norman Sellers typically vote in sync. 

Trustees are unpaid and serve five-year terms.

Graham-Guerrier, who denies the charges, said the removal was a “power play” because she questions board spending and hiring decisions.

The board voted to go into executive session after opening the 5 p.m. meeting, which Grant said was necessary to discuss Graham-Guerrier after just learning she had retained attorney Shawn Cullinane of Lindenhurst. The session lasted about 2 1/2 hours, and Grant told the nearly two dozen frustrated residents that there would be no public comment period because it was a special meeting.

Resident Helisse Palmore called the decision “disrespectful.”

“People should be given the opportunity to speak,” she said. “It’s almost like they expect the community to stay silent and allow them to do whatever they want to do.”

Grant did not respond to a request for comment, but Melville-based attorney Howard Gilbert, who is special counsel to the board, said board policy does not mandate a public comment period for special meetings. He said he did not have a copy of the policy and was unsure whether he had seen it.

“No one was looking to prevent anyone from speaking, it’s just that the board has to adhere to its practices and policies,” Gilbert said. Asked whether the board could have chosen to have public comment despite the policy, he replied, “Anything is possible.”

After the meeting was reopened and the vote taken, trustee Katrina Crawford attempted to introduce a resolution calling for a three-month suspension of the removal so that Graham-Guerrier had “adequate time to defend herself.” The resolution called the removal a “foolish waste of taxpayer money” and nothing more than a “personal vendetta.”

But Grant adjourned the meeting as Crawford spoke, getting up and turning off the lights as she left the still-full room.

“I am appalled at the process by which this board has undertaken this,” Cullinane said. “They’ve spent untold thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on an investigation that is lacking in written complaints.”

Grant has not disclosed the cost of the investigation. Graham-Guerrier said she will appeal to the state Department of Education, which oversees the library, and will run for her seat in April.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “I’m not going to stop until things are right with this board.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.