NEW BOSS ON THE BOARD Leadership Shakeup Latest Change For Library Trustees Carl Seldin Koerner of Forest Hills (at right) replaces Gabriel Taussig as the board’s chairperson; Taussig remains on the board as an active member. Judy Bergtraum, Michael Rodriguez, Earl Simons and Robert Santos were elected vice chair, treasurer, assistant treasurer and secretary, respectively. Appointed last March by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Koerner is a partner with the advisory firm Koerner Kronenfeld Partners LLC and an active member of the Forest Hills Jewish Center and the Jewish Theological Seminary Religious Leadership Advisory Board. Koerner also had previous stints as director of the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation and as governor and treasurer for the West Side Tennis Club. “Queens Library provides an essential resource for our community,” Koerner said in a statement issued on Tuesday, Feb. 3. “I look forward to working with my fellow trustees and with interim president and CEO Bridget Quinn-Carey to sustain and grow the library so that it can fulfill its critical mission.” All of the board’s officers are volunteers and serve one-year terms. Each of the 19 trustees are appointed by the mayor or borough president and serve three-year terms. These were the latest changes in the board’s ongoing evolution since last summer, when the Queens Library system was gripped in a financial scandal surrounding its former president and CEO, Thomas W. Galante. The board first came under fire in April 2014 when it deadlocked on a resolution to send Galante on a leave of absence pending the results of investigations into his leadership. Trustees further bristled civic activists and elected officials the following month, when it voted to provide City Comptroller Scott Stringer financial information in accordance with a 1997 disclosure agreement it reached with then-Comptroller Alan Hevesi. With assistance from Katz, State Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry sponsored state legislation enabling the mayor and borough president to remove trustees from the board; previously, trustees could only be removed with the approval of two-thirds of all other board members. The legislation passed the Assembly and State Senate and TIMES, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015 • 8 by Robert Pozarycki After a tumultuous year, the Queens Borough Public Library’s board of trustees began 2015 by electing new executive members. -SEE TRUSTEES ON PG. 22- He’s Wanted For Bushwick Groping Police seek the public’s help in finding the man pictured at right who allegedly groped a woman in Bushwick last month. Law enforcement sources said the perpetrator forcibly touched the victim at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 17 in the vicinity of Irving Avenue and Halsey Street. The incident was reported to the 83rd Precinct; the victim was not seriously injured. Authorities describe the suspect as a white or Hispanic male standing 5’7”-tall, weighing 165 lbs. with brown hair and brown eyes. The NYPD Brooklyn South Special Victims Unit is conducting the investigation. Anyone with information regarding the suspect’s whereabouts that could prove helpful is asked to contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-577-TIPS; by text message to 274637 (enter information, then the code TIP577) or online at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com. All calls and messages will be kept confidential. ©Times Newsweekly - 2015 - STJOHNSCHUR ©Times Newsweekly - 2014 - VILLCASH AADDVVEERRTTIISSEE YYOOUURR BBUUSSIINNEESSSS WWIITTHH UUSS!! CCaallll 11--771188--882211--77550000
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