The Gary Public Library is pictured. Times file photo
GARY — Things got so tense at Monday's Gary Public Library Board of Trustees meeting that one of the members, Robert Buggs, had to be escorted out by police.
The spat erupted over allegations that Buggs used a cell phone to record a closed session meeting.
"I think that it was inappropriate, illegal and unfortunate that Mr. Buggs took the opportunity to start recording us when we were talking about personnel, safety issues and things that we don't necessarily want in the public," Robert Farag, another board member said at the meeting. "For you to do that — I can't find the words."
It's unclear what was being discussed during that closed session. Kelly Gibson, the board's attorney, said she saw the recordings on his phone but noted he deleted them.
The board voted to censure him over the matter and asked him to leave the meeting. During this process, Buggs repeatedly attempted to ask questions but was told he was interrupting and was in violation of the parliamentary procedures.
"Your lack of understanding does not excuse your poor behavior," board president Akilia McCain said after several minutes of back and forth. "Be a gentleman and leave."
When Buggs didn't leave, police officers escorted him from the building.
Buggs told The Times that he doesn't understand what parliamentary procedure he violated and claimed that because he doesn't get paid as a board member, he can't be censured.
The incident was the latest in a saga of escalating tensions among board members, which include a legal battle between two of the board members.
Jacquese White, another member of the GPL board, filed a lawsuit against Buggs, as well as Lovetta Tindal, Mary Ann Canty-Reedus and Amelia Brown.
In addition to serving on the GPL board, Buggs is a member of the Gary Community School Corp. Advisory Board, of which he is the president. He was appointed to the GPL board by his cohorts on the GCSC board. Tindal, Canty-Reedus and Brown are members of the GCSC board.
On Jan. 27, Buggs called a meeting of the GCSC Advisory Board, and the board voted to remove White from her position on the GPL board, a move that White's lawsuit alleges was illegal. White, and her attorney Jewell Harris Jr., note that Indiana State Code, which created the GCSC Advisory Board, specifies that the board cannot meet more than once every three months. That Jan. 27 meeting was less than three months after the previous meeting Dec. 13.
White has continued to participate in meetings, contending she was not legally removed.
Buggs said he and his colleagues removed White after she allegedly harassed and intimidated a videographer brought in to broadcast a GPL board meeting. According to Buggs, White repeatedly asked the videographer, a young student, for her personal information, which the videographer declined to give. Buggs said that the board received two written complaints about it and that the videographer filed a report with the Gary police and the Lake County prosecutor. He also claimed McCain was also involved in harassing the videographer.
"I don't believe there's any basis in fact to support that allegation," Harris said, speaking on behalf of his client White. "But more importantly, the action that they took (to remove White) is not legal."
Buggs argued that the Jan. 27 meeting was not a regular board meeting but rather it was a hearing. This, he said, makes it legal. He also said the GCSC board is authorized to remove a board member if they "jeopardize the public's confidence" in the board.
"Well, if you got a police report filed against you and two written complaints against you, then you have jeopardized, in my opinion, the public's confidence," Buggs said.
Buggs said the Jan. 27 meeting was held on school property in coordination with the district.
"If it had been illegal, the school corporation wouldn't have let us use the space and put the public notice up there," he said.
Harris said it's not that simple.
"The removal of a board member requires notice and it requires due process," he said. "None of those things happened. So even if you assume the allegations against my client to be true, there is still a legal process that you would have to go through and that process was not followed either."
Harris said the board members who removed White committed a "comedy of errors" in the removal process.
"It's not just a matter of waiting until the next meeting to take action," he said. "They have to provide her with notice that it's their intention to bring charges against her for removal. She gets an opportunity to respond to that. The matter gets set for a hearing. Then a determination gets made as to whether those allegations have any merit and whether or not it gives rise to her being removed. It's not just a matter of holding a meeting and saying, 'You're off the board.'"
White's lawsuit is asking the court to void the actions taken at the Jan. 27 meeting and issue a temporary restraining order preventing the advisory board from removing White from the library board until they comply with the proper meeting requirements.
"It's our intention to hold them accountable for those illegal acts," White said.
Buggs said he believes that the incident Monday in which police escorted him was part of retaliation for this situation.
Buggs also told The Times he believes White and McCain are improperly using the board's attorney. He claimed the two were having consultations with Gibson without the rest of the board and would not say what the consultations regarded. He also argued Gibson was advocating against him during Monday's meeting, when she should've been representing the entire board.
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