Controversy surrounds library vote

Conversations became heated at the Elmont Library Board of Trustees’ June 23 meeting, after two applications to use the library’s meeting rooms, submitted by a local nonprofit organization, were denied.

During the meeting, members of the Board of Trustees discussed the board’s denial of two separate applications submitted by Danilo and Melissa Archbold, founders of the Zion Youth & Family Center of Elmont. The Archbolds submitted applications to use the library’s meeting rooms for a Girl Scout Troop and an after-school youth mentoring group, and another to use the library’s theatre for a theatre program. Only the group’s theatre application was approved.

During the meeting, Monique Hardial, one of the board’s seven members, stated that the two applications should be denied based on incompletion, as per board policy. The board unanimously agreed.

Pat Nicolosi, a board member, explained that, according to library policy, no group hosted by the library can earn a profit. The Archbolds, however, handed out flyers for their proposed youth mentoring group that stated the group cost $37.50 a week for members, he said.

“You cannot run a profit-based program at the library,” Nicolosi said. “It looked to us like he was trying to make money running an after-school program.”

Additionally, Nicolosi said, the library requires 75 percent of the membership of any group using its facility regularly to consist of local residents, and requires that a list be submitted to prove that 75 percent of membership is local. The Archbolds’ failed to prove that requirement through their applications, he added.

“There were a lot of red flags up with this,” Nicolosi said, adding that the mentoring program proposed by the Archbolds wasn’t defined well, which made board members uncomfortable. Any program proposed to be held in the library has to first be approved the its director — currently Maggie Gough — and the application for the proposed mentoring program didn’t include many details, including information on members, Nicolosi said.

“We don’t gamble; we need to know what the program is,” Nicolosi said. “We didn’t have documentation and fingerprinting of people [who would be mentoring]. Everyone mentoring needs to be certified.”

Nicolosi said the Archbolds’ applications also included the use of the library’s parking lot, which is not permitted, according to library policy.

A library employee, who declined to be identified, agreed. She said that the only time the library’s parking lot can be used, according to its policy, is when there is an approved event cannot be held in the building. Organizations running a mobile clinic or mammogram bus are examples of exceptions to the rule, she explained.

The employee said that the Archbolds first submitted their applications in April, but missed the application deadline, so were told to resubmit them in May. At that time, she said, the library’s director explained that several parts of the Archbolds’ applications were incorrect. “They did not take heed of that,” she said.

In addition to the Archbolds’ policy-violating applications, Nicolosi said, on June 20, at 10:45 p.m. — prior to the library vote — Danilo Archbold called him on his home phone, and aggressively demanded the board’s approval of his applications.

“It was pretty scary,” Nicolosi said. “I don’t know anyone who calls someone that late at night, especially if you’re not a close friend. He started cursing at me, and said if he didn’t get the room, he would do whatever he had to do to get the room. It’s not the way to do things, and the fact that he called me up cursing, that’s not the type of person I want around children.”

However, Danilo said, he only called Nicolosi to talk with him about what the board was discussing, and see what changes, if any, he needed to make to his applications. Danilo ended the conversation, he said, by saying that he would “call who he needed to call about getting things done,” which was not intended as a threat.

Melissa said that she believes the library board is discriminating against the Zion Youth & Family Center of Elmont, since it has allowed several other community groups to use the library’s meeting rooms.

“They are singling us out,” Melissa said. “They’re putting up walls and buffers.” From 2001 to 2002, Melissa said, she served as a member of the Gotham Avenue School Parent-Teacher Association, and Danilo served in 2001. During their time on the PTA, she added, they established the first PTA little league team and received a plaque of recognition from the school, and implemented several other events.

The Archbolds — who have three boys, ages 8, 16 and 17 — created Zion Youth & Family Center of Elmont in 2001 to provide several services to the community, including family support and elderly services, and programs for children. Melissa said she believes the library’s vote has, ultimately, harmed local children. “They say they don’t want to deny the library services to kids, but they are denying them from our programs,” she said. “The kids are suffering.”

However, Nicolosi maintained, the board’s decision was based solely on library policies. He added that the board has denied applications in the past, including one submitted by Nassau County’s 5th Precinct, when it didn’t meet the library’s resident requirement.

“We don’t keep anyone out of the library just because,” Nicolosi said. “As a board member, even I have to fill out a meeting room request, which I do every year ... the same rules apply for me; there is no preferential treatment for anyone.”

During the meeting, the library board stated that although the Zion Youth & Family Center’s theatre application was approved, the Archbolds would have to pay a $500 deposit and provide $1 million insurance policy before using it. Danilo said that the deposit was never mentioned to him prior to the meeting.

The Elmont Memorial Library’s next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on July 21, at 8 p.m., at the library.

Check online — www.liherald.com — for updates to this story. Comments about it? JNash@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 214.