By Dan Israeli
After six months of trying to make it work, however, he stepped down at the library board's May 22 meeting, saying that the culture clash between business management and library management prohibited him from doing his job.
"I took the job with that understanding of a dual direction, and soon found out that it was unworkable," said Bosco, in an interview last week. "There are certain allegiances to the business manager that I couldn't overcome in order to manage the library properly. Usually, the board would accept the business manager's recommendations exclusively and I couldn't break through."
The business manger, Frank Marino, is a consultant hired by the library, paid to oversee all finances, purchasing and maintenance of the facility. Bosco has suggested that Marino work offsite, claiming that the overlapping layers of authority were interfering with Bosco's day-to-day responsibilities. Marino, however, said that his responsibilities necessitate his presence at the library.
Bosco also asked that the library's financial information, including the budget's balance, be made available to him and the public on a monthly basis. According to Marino, the Board of Trustees gets a position paper every month with a line-by-line breakdown of expenditures, but the document is kept in-house. There are quarterly and annual reports, along with a five-year managerial audit, undertaken by an outside CPA firm, that include a full accounting of the budget, all of which are made available to the public. Bosco said that the information should be openly reported every month, which, he added, would put Elmont on equal footing with other public libraries in Nassau County.
Bosco also claims that he asked for the creation of a deputy or assistant director's position, which he considers a necessary element in the operation of a public library. He said his request was never granted.
Marino stated that the request was never made. "It has been the board's goal to have an assistant director," Marino said. "[Bosco] never asked."
Joseph Marziotto, a library board trustee for more than 20 years, said that Bosco did inquire about an assistant director. Marziotto, the lone trustee who has not accepted Bosco's resignation, agreed with him on several ideas, including the suggestion to have Marino and future business managers work offsite. "The business manager is a consultant and shouldn't be on site," Marziotto said. "Our lawyer isn't on site. [Marino's] main responsibilities are finances, and he doesn't supervise anyone. Why does he have to be here?"
Bosco said he felt that the structure of the Elmont library was not a good fit for a professional library director. "I suspect any library director that accepts this job to go through a serious adjustment, with the difficulties and differences of opinion," said Bosco, who came to Elmont from Jericho, where he directed the public library. "The influence of the business manager on the board is too great. We have people vying for loyalty and decision-making power. We can't have that. A house divided against itself cannot stand."
While there has not been a long-serving director at the library for some time, Marino said that turnover at the top is common in public libraries. As for whether the facility's current structure has a negative effect on how it is run, Marino said that Elmont is a model for other libraries in the county. "The board is very supportive of whatever is needed for the library," he said. "This is just a case of a former director who is sour, spreading lies with no factual evidence of anything."
Marino said that the library is unique in Nassau County - a large facility with a relatively small operating budget. "If you compare this facility and its budget to any other library, it's unbelievable," said Marino, adding that Elmont was chosen as one of the four best libraries in Nassau. He noted that the new $12 million state-of-the-art building, constructed in 2006, spans 58,000 square feet. In comparison, the new West Hempstead building cost $10 million and measures only 26,000 square feet.
Maria Gregori, president of the library board, said that there have been false rumors circulating that suggest that Bosco was forced to resign. "The board agreed that he was unhappy, and accepted his resignation," Gregori said. "There were no surprises for Mr. Bosco. He knew we had an active business manager, which is why we have such a tight budget." She pointed to the library's two most recent budgets, neither of which included any tax increase. She added that the board has had a good working relationship with Marino.
Regardless of the library's strong performance, some still feel that its structure discourages change, especially if those changes are suggested by the director. John Beasley, an Elmont resident who ran unsuccessfully against Gregori in the May election, recently wrote a letter in support of Bosco and sent it to libraries across Nassau to illustrate what he feels is a dysfunctional system. "The Elmont library is a focus of community involvement, culture, education and information," Beasley wrote. "Such an institution needs a skilled, experienced and committed individual to head it up. Finally we had such a person in John Bosco."
The events that led to Bosco's resignation, according to Beasley, illustrate the difficulty the board has had in keeping a library director. "He wanted to assert his management over the budget, but couldn't under the circumstances," Beasley said. "The board conveyed that they lost their confidence in him."
Since Bosco's departure, the library is being run by Carolee Ciulla, who has been dubbed "librarian in charge" while the board searches for potential replacements through the Nassau County Civil Service Commission.
Marziotto said that the conflict between director and business manager has existed in the past, and that more clear definitions of their roles are needed to prevent it from happening in the future. "I go back eight or nine directors, and there were others that didn't like working with a business manager," Marziotto said. "They wanted free rein, to operate like any other library. What we need is mediation, and a better understanding of the business manager and director's responsibilities."
Comments about this story? DIsraeli@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 214.
