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Former Queens Library Trustees Withdraw Lawsuit Demanding to Get Reinstated

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | December 1, 2014 1:34pm
 Six former Queens Library trustees filed the lawsuit after Melinda Katz removed them from the board.
Six former Queens Library trustees filed the lawsuit after Melinda Katz removed them from the board.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — Former Queens Library trustees withdrew a lawsuit they filed against Borough President Melinda Katz, who removed them from the board earlier this year.

Katz booted the six board members in July for supporting the library’s ex-president, Thomas Galante, who was criticized for his high salary and spending. The trustees also refused to provide the library's financial documents to auditors.

Galante, who makes $392,000 a year, was put on a paid leave in September.

The board members — Jacqueline Arrington, Joseph Ficalora, William Jefferson, Grace Lawrence, Terri Mangino and George Stamatiades — claimed in the lawsuit that their removal was "unconstitutional." They demanded their positions back and sought unspecified damages from Katz.

Katz used a new state law that gives her and the mayor — the two elected officials who appoint the library's board members — the power to remove them and replace them with new members.

“This lawsuit was a bitter attempt by the removed Trustees at personal retaliation devoid of consideration for the public interest,” Katz said in a statement.

“We are committed to further improving the services provided by the Library to Queens residents in a transparent and inclusive manner," the Queens Library Board of Trustees stated in a statement.

According to Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP, a law firm which represents the booted members, the group decided to withdraw the lawsuit last week for a variety of reasons, including litigation costs.