State withholds funds for Roosevelt Public Library, citing lack of director, long-range plan

New York State will no longer fund the embattled Roosevelt Public Library until it meets minimum standards, including hiring a director, the state Education Department warned.

It was unclear Tuesday how much state money the library will lose, but a Nov. 18 letter from the New York State Library, part of the state Education Department, reported that Roosevelt will not receive a Local Library Services Aid payment of $4,632 for this year. The funding is available to all of the state's 754 public libraries that meet minimum standards. It supports a variety of programs including continuing education and Internet access, according to the state library website.

The letter to Roosevelt board president Bola Majekodunmi stated that the library "will not be eligible for State funding from any source" until it meets minimum standards or gets a variance from each of them.

State officials did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

The Roosevelt library board already is under fiscal review by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and mired in internal disputes over management and spending. The library has a $2.6 million annual budget.

The board's "continued failure to comply" or file variance requests "jeopardizes the library's local public funding, as well," according to the letter.

State Library development specialist Karen Balsen, who signed the letter, cited three failures to meet standards by the Roosevelt board: having no paid library director, written long-range plan of service and annual report to the community.

The 12,000-square-foot library, which serves 17,000 residents, has been without a director since Joy Rankin resigned last year.

Majekodunmi could not be reached for comment about the halt in state funding. Board vice president Emarinsie Funderburke-Ivey did not return calls. Board member the Rev. Jerome Taylor, pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Roosevelt, said he did not understand why the letter was written.

"We had to go through the civil service list procedure first and not many people were responding to that," he said of the search for a director. "But we are going through a stack of resumes right now.

"And we recently submitted a long range plan, with a community report," he said. "It must be one of those cases of crossing in the mail."

Majekodunmi, Funderburke-Ivey and Taylor took over the board majority in July after Francis Abel Jr. and Wilton Robinson Jr. were voted out as president and vice president over concerns about management and spending.

The state letter indicated the lack of a long range plan and annual report to the community have been issues since 2012. The lack of a director was first reported in last year.

Balsen's letter indicated the Roosevelt board promised to submit the variance requests to the Nassau Library System no later than Oct. 16 but never did.Sean Brown, a Roosevelt resident who said he had been a volunteer at some library events in the past, said he is "saddened by the way the library has declined in the past few months. It never used to be like this."