Library big’s $2M shock
Pol: Toss library boss’ exit deal
HIS PARACHUTE is as golden as it gets. Queens Library chief Thomas Galante has an ironclad contract that states even if he is fired, he gets paid his $392,000 salary for five more years.
But one pol now wants to squash this $2 million storybook ending.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz is demanding that trustees of the Queens Library rein in their out-of-control chief executive, Thomas Galante, and eliminate a secret $2 million golden parachute in his employment contract.
“Faith must be restored in our library system,” Katz wrote Tuesday in a stinging letter to the 19 trustees, urging them to “act swiftly . . . to restore the trust that has been lost” after embarrassing revelations about library spending.
The Daily News reported earlier this month that Galante received a whopping $392,000 salary in 2013, plus a sports car, to run the borough’s taxpayerfunded library system. And The News was first to report that he spent nearly $140,000 on renovations to his executive offices — including a $26,000 private smoking deck.
At the same time, Galante has been raking in nearly $200,000 annually while moonlighting as a business consultant to a Long Island school district, new documents obtained by The News show.
And now comes to light another astonishing perk — Galante’s employment contract guarantees him a payout of nearly $2 million if he is dismissed.
That’s right, $2 million in severance — for a head librarian.
This, while veteran employees who got laid off two years ago at the underfunded Queens library system were lucky to collect 10 weeks of unused sick pay.
How in the world did the trustees of a publicly funded library approve such a deal? Gabriel Taussig, the chairman of the board, couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Katz, who took office in January, and who as borough president will get to name half of the library’s trustees, began reviewing the group’s internal records following the Daily News reports.
In her letter, she urges the board at its upcoming Thursday night meeting to “establish a fixed term of employment for the executive director with a clearly defined start and end date,” and to “appropriately limit the type and extent of outside employment . . . and require both approval and strict reporting to the board of all outside earned employment.”
Galante refused during a Feb. 5 City Council hearing to say whether he had any outside income, and he dodged questions about his five-year contract.
Pressed by Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) for the contract’s expiration date, he would only say, “The contract renews automatically on its own . . . it will not expire until 2019.” His spokeswoman, Joanne King, has since declined to discuss the matter.
According to several sources, library trustees quietly added an “evergreen” clause to Galante’s contract in 2012, which causes it to renew automatically each year for another five years.
So if the board were to dismiss Galante today without cause, he would be owed five years in salary — at approximately $400,000 annually.
“This is all outrageous,” City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) said. “(Galante) was very smug in his replies and he was not entirely forthcoming.”
In her letter, Katz urged the creation of an audit committee and tough new conflict-of-interest provisions for the library. She also vowed to work with the state Legislature to pass new financial-disclosure requirements for public library officials.
“Commissioners have to do it (disclose outside income), my staff have to do it, City Council has to and so should library officials,” Katz said in an interview.
In Galante’s case, his extensive moonlighting had never been publicly reported.
On Feb. 9, The News disclosed that Galante was paid an average of $143,000 annually between 2008 and 2010 by the Elmont Union Free School District in Long Island as a $150-per-hour business consultant.
But his compensation from Elmont increased dramatically in subsequent years, according to new records released by the district.
He was paid $200,100 by Elmont during the 2010-11 school year; $189,387 during 2011-12; and $190,387 during 2012-13. Over those three years, he billed Elmont for an average of 25 hours per week of work. He was essentially running the day-to-day finances of that $80 million school system while also directing the Queens Library.
The library’s trustees need to publicly explain how much they knew about Galante’s outside work, about its possible conflicts with his library duties and about his golden parachute.
Maybe we’ll get some answers Thursday night when they meet to consider Katz’s proposed reforms.