Officials at the Purchase Community House called Harrison police several times when they noticed what they said were suspicious men loitering on the premises, where preschool and after-school programs are held.
Each time, the police could do nothing because the men said they were visiting the Purchase Free Library, a small library that occupies a corner of the community house. Since the library is a public space, officials said, any individual has the right to access the property despite potential risks to children.
Purchase Community Inc., the nonprofit that runs the house, decided not to renew the library”™s lease this summer as a result, but the library has refused to leave. Supporters of the library have sued PCI”™s board of directors, which issued an eviction notice to the library in September. Justine Gaeta, president of PCI”™s board, said the decision to end the lease came after many months of discussion.
“Now a small group of library supporters wants to overturn that decision and change PCI”™s corporate purpose to make the library a permanent tenant,” she said. “Such steps have no legal basis and would harm the interests of everyone in the Purchase community.”
The situation poses broader questions for nonprofits of this type in suburbia and whether the court believes they have the same rights in leasing agreements as private operators.
PCI formed in 1926 and moved into its current headquarters in 1927 after the home was donated to the group by the family of William A. Read, which said it must always be used as a community house. No mention of a library is made in the agreement or in PCI”™s bylaws. The nonprofit is funded entirely through donations and user fees.
The library became a tenant of the building nearly six decades ago, moving into its current space in 1979 and operating on one-year leases. Its last contract was for an annual rent of $21,600. The lease came with no renewal rights clauses, the nonprofit said. When the safety concerns became a focus for PCI”™s board last year, the group hired Strategic Security Concepts Inc. as a security adviser. The library hired its own consultant, Comprehensive Solutions LLC. Both firms determined it would be difficult to limit access to the community house because of the library, which receives town subsidies and operates as part of the Westchester Library System.
Still, when the library was told in April that its lease would not be renewed, it started an online petition that garnered more than 700 signatures asking for the PCI board to reconsider. Library supporters have since criticized the election process for the PCI board of directors and questioned the legitimacy of its board members. Enough members of PCI were rallied to call for a special meeting set for Nov. 12, at which members will likely attempt to recall the board members and reverse the board’s decision regarding the library.
A letter from the Purchase library to community members said, “We are going to pursue settlement negotiations with the defendants in good faith to see if we can reach an amicable resolution of the matters facing our community that would save the library and keep it in the Community House and avoid further litigation among members of our community.”
Attorneys for PCI in their dismissal papers last week asked the court to delay the special meeting until an ultimate decision or to preside over the meeting. In that briefing, the attorneys said the election and its decision should be defended on the basis of existing case law regarding nonprofits. Martha Greenberg, of the library group that is suing PCI, was at the PCI election meeting and voted to re-elect the directors she is now suing, according to PCI papers.
The reason library supporters have cited for calling the elections into question is related to a change to PCI”™s bylaws regarding a voting quorum, or the required minimum number of members present to vote. The quorum number in bylaws was reduced recently from 15 to 10, after years of declining participation in PCI meetings.
The Purchase library operates independently of the Harrison Public Library, which has branches in the other two geographic areas of town: Harrison and West Harrison.
Click here to read the motion to dismiss the suit.
