“IT IS ORDERED that summary judgment is entered against respondent Hope Marable. It is further recommended that the Board of Regents remove Hope Marable from the office of trustee of the Mount Vernon Public Library.” – New York State Board of Regents
It appears the long-awaited end to the dysfunction at the Mount Vernon Public Library may be officially coming to an end and a new chapter may be about to begin. Per the document Black Westchester was able to obtain, the New York State Board of Regents filed an order to show cause to officially remove all the previous trustees, Oscar Davis Jr, Cathlin Gleason-Boncardo, Hope Marable, Vivien Salmon and Judy Williams-Davis.
Cathlin Gleason-Boncardo, Vivien Salmon, Oscar Davis and Judy Williams previously resigned discontinuing the instant action against them. Trustee Marable was the lone holdout from the previous Board. On Tuesday, February 14, 2023, the NYS Board of Regents rendered their official decision, Trustee Marable “shall be removed from the Board of Trustees of the Mount Vernon Public Library effective immediately. (see document below).
New York State Board of Regents v Hope Marable (as Trustee of the Mount Vernon Public Library by BLACK WESTCHESTER on Scribd
This may hopefully be the end of a long-documented drama being played out at the MVPL. We covered several stories of Community leaders calling for accountability, including but not limited to Save Mount Vernon founders Jesse Van Lew and Atif Coleman appearance on The People Before Politics Radio Show, Sunday, October 3, 2021, to discuss their rally in front of Westchester County Courthouse, Wednesday, October 8th, to demand Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah to investigate alleged financial malfeasance of the Mount Vernon Public Library Board of Trustees.
DA Rocah announced on January 13th that her office didn’t uncover evidence to bring charges on any individuals or entity. She did say the investigation revealed evidence of poor bookkeeping and other evidence of mismanagement related to the library’s finances, which is what community groups like Save Mount Vernon have been claiming for over a year. The investigation may be over, but the problem of previous poor bookkeeping and mismanagement have not solved. They have a new Treasurer. New trustees appointed; a new Board President has been elected to try to clean up the library.
Shortly after the Board of Trustees including Trustee Marable voted to fire Marcus Griffin as their treasure with a vote of 4-0 (President Coleman wasn’t present for the meeting).
The Board of Regents appointed two new Trustee board members and Janelle Allbritton was appointed by the board or trustees. Now that the Board of Regents has removed Marable, many in the community are hoping this means a positive new chapter for the Mount Vernon Public Library.
We reached out to new Board of Trustee President Chanese Coleman, who said she had no comment on the matter at this time.
We also reached out to former Trustee Hope Marable for a quote, as of publishing she has not responded.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story as we will update it as further information comes in.
