Bringing apparent closure to a months-long fight for control of the Queens Library (QL) Board of Trustees, Judge Frederic Block of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday November 26 dismissed Arrington et al. v. Katz, a lawsuit filed in August by six former QL trustees against Queens Borough President (QBP) Melinda Katz and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. With the suit, former trustees Jacqueline E. Arrington, Joseph R. Ficalora, William Jefferson, Grace Lawrence, Terri C. Mangino, and George L. Stamatiades had sought to have their positions on the board reinstated, and to overturn a new state law that enables the offices of the QBP and the New York City mayor to dismiss QL board members at will. The suit had also sought unspecified monetary damages from Katz. According to the Queens Times Ledger, the suit was dismissed by Block because “the plaintiffs and defendants stopped submitting documents and neither sought a summary judgment.” The new law, the dismissals, and the resulting suit are all closely tied to ongoing controversy regarding embattled QL president and CEO Thomas W. Galante, who in September was placed on indefinite, paid administrative leave by the library’s reorganized board after facing months of scrutiny from the press and local politicians regarding his salary, his consulting work, and matters related to QL renovation projects. On January 27, the New York Daily News published an article that highlighted Galante’s $392,000 salary and insinuated that renovations to executive conference rooms at the QL central library were being done for Galante’s benefit. The following day, NYC comptroller Scott Stringer announced plans to audit all three of the city’s library systems: QL, the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Public Library. QL provided Stringer’s office with all financial documents related to the library’s state, city, and federal funding, but as the audit progressed the board of trustees refused to turn over documents related to private donations, which account for about 15 percent of the library’s budget. Agreements reached with prior NYC comptrollers had allowed the library to keep this information private during audits, and a slim majority of the board’s 18 members viewed the requests as a case of overreach by the newly-elected Stringer. And as local officials pressured Galante to resign, half of the board closed ranks, arguing that Galante hadn’t been charged with any wrongdoing and that there was insufficient cause for dismissal or suspension without pay. In April, the board voted nine in favor and nine opposed to forcing Galante to take a leave of absence during Stringer’s investigation. Ultimately, those votes led to Galante’s supporters being dismissed from their volunteer positions. In response to their reluctance to suspend Galante or open the books on private donations for Stringer, Katz began working with Queens State Senator Michael Gianaris and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry on S-6893, a bill that would cut the appointment terms for QL board members from five years to two, and would enable city officials to dismiss board members at will. “In terms of independence of governance, it is extremely threatening, because the board will now be subject to political control,” Queens Library spokesperson Joanne King told LJ at the time. On June 19, the NY state senate passed the bill in a 59-1 landslide, and on July 23, Katz sent letters to Arrington, Ficalora, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mangino, and Stamatiades, specifically citing their support of Galante as the reason for their dismissal. Separately, de Blasio removed Patricia Flynn and Stephen Van Anden, both appointees of previous mayors. Mary Ann Mattone, who had also voted against suspending Galante, resigned. Describing the new law as a violation of the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the six trustees dismissed by Katz fought back, filing their suit in Brooklyn federal court on August 1. “The 2014 Amendment shatters the independence central to the Library’s civic mission and the Legislature’s 1907 grant of corporate status,” the suit claimed. The case was dealt a setback on August 12, when District Court Judge James Orenstein recommended against granting a preliminary injunction that would have reinstated the former trustees to their positions while the case was heard. In a press announcement issued on December 1, Katz credited the reconfigured QL board with bringing a new level of transparency to the institution. “The millions of families who rely on the Queens Library services deserve nothing less than a world-class library system,” Katz stated. “The new Board continues to do an excellent job of making sure the Library is governed in a transparent manner and according to the highest standards of fiscal accountability. The reforms, accountability and oversight measures implemented in recent months have successfully restored public faith and trust in the Library’s management and spending practices.”