Relates to the incorporation of the Queens Borough Public Library

Summary of provisions

Section one of the bill amends section 1 of chapter 164 of the laws of 1907 relating to the incorporation of the Queens Borough Public Library, as amended by chapter 495 of the laws of 1980, by adding a new § 1.b. that will require a new board of trustees to be named on January 1, 2015 , provided that on or after such date, the number of trustees shall be reduced to eleven.

Section two of the bill amends section 3 of chapter 164 of the laws of 1907 relating to the incorporation of the Queens Borough Public Library, as amended by chapter 561 of the laws of 2002, by adding the following new provisions:

*the term for trustees appointed on or after January 1, 2015 shall be two years.

*allows ex-officio members to designate a representative to serve ex-of- ficio in their place.

*creates the appointment of one employee from the Queens Borough Public Library system to serve as an ex-officio member of the board of trus- tees.

*the Queens Borough President shall appoint six trustees and the Mayor shall appoint five trustees and each must notify the other appointing party of who was appointed.

*trustees must be either a resident of Queens or own or operate a busi- ness in Queens, have at least one trustee must be a certified public

accountant, at least one trustee must be a district manager of one of the community boards in the borough of Queens, at least one trustee must be a chair of one of the community boards in the borough of Queens, at least two trustees must be persons who hold a master's degree in library science or library and information studies from an accredited college or university program.

*The appointing parties shall be authorized to recommend to the board of trustees removal of a trustee whom such party appointed, if in accord- ance with the by-laws adopted by the corporation, there is reasonable cause for such removal. However, such recommendation must be agreed upon by the other appointing party prior to any action being taken by the board of trustees.

*The board of trustees may recommend removal of a trustee, if in accord- ance with the by-laws adopted by the corporation, there is reasonable cause for such removal.

*Within 10 days after a recommendation for removal of a trustee is made by the board or an agreed upon recommendation for removal by the appointing parties is received by the board, the trustee subject to a recommendation of removal shall be given notice and an opportunity to appeal the recommendation for removal in writing to the board of trus- tees within 5 days of receipt of such notice. The board shall consider the written appeal and make a final decision within 5 days of receipt of such appeal and prior to any final action by the board on its on its own recommendation for removal or the agreed upon recommendation for removal by the appointing parties

Section three of the bill amends chapter 164 of the laws of 1907 relat- ing to the incorporation of the Queens Borough Public Library by adding the following new sections:

*§ 3-a.a. Requires that the trustees hold an annual public budget hear- ing, provide a thirty day public comment period prior to the budget's adoption and shall report all public and private revenue sources of funding for the budget.

*§ 3-a.b. Provides specific provisions regarding how the public budget hearing must be conducted and how notice must be provided to the public in advance of the hearing.

*§ 4-a.a. Requires that the executive director and key library personnel shall comply with financial disclosure requirements when federal, state, county, town, village or city money is used to fund staff salaries. The financial disclosure must be reported to the New York city conflict of interest board.

*§ 4-a.b. Requires that the board of trustees adopt by-laws that limit the type and extent of employment of the executive director and any key

library executive personnel may engage in outside their position with the library and shall prohibit outside employment for any executive director and key library executive personnel who receives a salary in excess of $150,000. Furthermore, the executive director and key library executive personnel must report any outside employment and such employ- ment must be approved by the board.

*§ 4-a.c. Requires that the board of trustees adopt by-laws regarding the approval for hiring and establishing policies for the compensation of key library executive personnel.

*§ 9-b.a. Requires the board to appoint an audit committee to oversee the library's accounting and financial report processes and annual audits and all annual audits shall be published in a report and made available on the library's website.

*§ 9-b.b. Requires the board to appoint an executive committee comprised of a cross-section of the board of trustees and the board of trustees shall abolish the administrative committee whose essential functions shall be transferred to the executive committee.

*§ 9-b.c. Requires the board to appoint a labor committee to address labor issues and oversee contracting out of services.

*§ 9-c. Requires the board to establish by-laws that prohibit a person with a conflict of interest from participating in any deliberations or voting on the matter giving rise to the conflict and existence of the conflict must be brought to attention of board of trustees or audit committee and documented in the minutes of the meeting at which such conflict was discussed.

Section four of the bill requires the board of trustees of Queens Borough Public Library to engage an outside consultant to conduct and complete a comprehensive executive compensation study within ninety days including a review of acceptable fringe benefits, including car allow- ances and tuition reimbursements.

Sections five and six of the bill amend subdivisions 2 and 19, respec- tively, of section 2601 of the New York City Charter, as added by a vote of the people of the city of New York at the general election held in November of 1988, by removing the exclusion of a public library from the definition of agency and amending the definition of "public servant" to include executive directors and key library executive personnel of the Queens Borough Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library.

Section seven of the bill amends subdivision 3 of section 86 of the public officers law, as added by chapter 933 of the laws of 1977, by adding a new subdivision 3.b. to include the Queens Borough Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library within the definition of agency thereby explicitly making these public

library entities subject to the freedom of information law provisions in state and city law.

Section eight of the bill sets forth an immediate effective date.

Justification

As a result of the recent discovery of an excessive annual salary, ques- tionable outside employment and outrageous office renovations by the Executive Director of the Queens Borough Public Library it is readily apparent that much needed reform is required to strengthen oversight and promote transparency within this fundamentally public institution that receives tremendous amounts of public money from federal, state and city governments.*

This legislation will take extensive steps in reforming the current law governing Queens Borough Public Library, as described above, in order to ensure that this institution is functioning in a way that is transparent and accountable to the citizens that it serves and who fund its oper- ations.

The legislation will also make all three major public libraries in the city of New York, including the Queens Borough Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library subject to the city's Conflict of Interest law and the state and city Freedom of Infor- mation laws. This additional piece of the legislation is not meant to be punitive to any of these important organizations. Instead it is meant to recognize the major sources of public funding these entities enjoy and the resulting obligation that they too be subject to the same ethics and freedom of information requirements as all other quasi-public agencies who must comply with these important laws.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

Minimal.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.

* According to the Queens Borough Public Library's annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, the library received $5.1 million from the federal government, in addition to $88.8 million from the City of New York and $9.2 million from the State of New York.