By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
UNITY — Former Unity library officials are taking legal action against the town’s selectboard and Unity Free Library Board of Trustees to mandate an immediate reopening of the facility and to reinstate two library officials who allege they were unlawfully released.
Deborah Leahy, a former library trustee, and Carolyn Kapchensky, the former library assistant, have filed a Writ of Mandamus in Sullivan County Superior Court to order the reopening of the Unity Free Library, which has been officially closed since July 15 without a confirmed reopening date or plan.
The new complaint, filed on Sunday, alleges that the Unity Selectboard, as well as Unity library trustees Jedediah Stopyro and Sally Teague, acted repeatedly in violation of state statutes under NH RSA 202-A, pertaining to the governance of public libraries in New Hampshire.
“Since July 2021 the Unity Free Library has been closed and it is the petitioners’ belief that without judicial intervention [it] will remain so for the foreseeable future,” according to the complaint.
On July 15, the selectboard, along with a two-thirds majority of the Unity Free Library Board of Trustees, took control of town library operations after months of questions about the library’s stewardship under Gordon Brann, the former trustees board chair and treasurer.
The two boards transferred the library’s treasury oversight from the library to the town; moved the library’s funds to new bank accounts that require town approval of all transactions; closed the library until the completion of a forensic audit of the library; and terminated the library’s two employees, Unity Free Library Director L.E. Edwards and Kapchensky.
Additionally, the complaint alleges that in September the selectboard, along with the majority of the trustees, eliminated Leahy’s position on the board by voting to eliminate the alternate seat, which Leahy had held.
Attorney Melanie Bell, representing Kapchensky and Leahy, argues in the complaint that the selectboard lacked the legal authority to terminate Kapchensky without input from the trustees, which does not appear on record.
“The Board of Trustees is solely responsible for the operation of the library, including hiring and firing,” reads the New Hampshire Library Trustee Association (NHLTA) manual, cited by Bell. “The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed [in April 1994] that the library is a separate and distinct entity from the town . . . and that library employees are not town employees.”
Unity Free Library Board of Trustees meeting minutes from May through Nov. 18 received by the Eagle Times through a Right-to-Know request showed no record of the trustees’ discussion or approval of Kapchensky’s termination.
The complaint also alleges that Stopyro and Teague violated state statute when denying Kapchensky’s request for a hearing on Sept. 3.
“RSA:A:17 states that ‘no employee of a public library shall be discharged or removed from office except by the library trustees for malfeasance, misfeasance or inefficiency in office, or incapacity or unfitness to perform the employee’s duties,’” the complaint states.
In an interview with the Eagle Times in November, Kapchensky said the only reason for termination in the letter she received was because she had not submitted any time sheets since Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020.
Kapenchsky, a per diem employee, explained that she only worked at the library as a fill-in for the director and had not worked at the library since Oct. 15, 2020, so there was no reason to submit time sheets.
In regards to Leahy, Bell contends in the complaint that the Unity Library by-laws do not allow a provision for eliminating the alternate positions from the board, which “shall be managed by a Board of Trustees consisting of three members and two alternate members.”
The complaint also alleges that the selectboard and trustees had no authority to turn the treasury powers to the town, citing a section of the NHLTA manual that states that New Hampshire public libraries “are not town departments, subject to jurisdiction and review by the town manager and/or select board.”
According to the manual, libraries “may reach an agreement with the town for the town to manage the public funds, as directed by the library director and the trustee treasurer.” However, the manual also says that “non-public funds are managed directly by the trustees.”
Central to the conflict between the selectboard and Brann concerns the library’s $52,081.78 in total funds. Some portion of these funds derived from unspent money from the town’s annual library budget. By law, unspent budgets are supposed to return to the taxpayers at the end of the fiscal year, unless approved by the voters.
According to meeting records, Brann acknowledged having retained public money in the library’s accounts.
However, it is not yet determined how much of the library’s total funds are public money as opposed to private donations, library revenues or other sources.
Kapchensky and Leahy are asking the court to order the immediate reopening of the Unity Free Library; appointment of a library director and a trustee as treasurer; the reinstatement of Kapchensky; and the restoration of alternate seats on the library board and the reappointment of Leahy as a trustee.
The complaint is also seeking for the town to pay Kapchensky’s and Leahy’s attorney fees.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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