Woburn Mayor Removes President Of Library Board Of Trustees

WOBURN, MA — Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin removed the president of the library Board of Trustees Wednesday, he confirmed Thursday.

Galvin took trustee Janet Rabbitt off the library's board and corporation under his power as mayor, he said. The move follows a Jan. 19 meeting of the board that he called appalling in an appearance on the Woburn Public Media show Today In Woburn.

"I'm not at all happy with the actions of the president and it needs to be addressed," Galvin said on the show.

Patch reached out to Rabbitt for comment on Galvin's decision and will update this story when we hear back.

At the recent meeting, Board President Janet Rabbitt said that the Board had hired an attorney to review and respond to open meetings law complaints against it, prompting questions from two members who said they had no recollection of hiring an attorney and that they have been left out of recent meetings.

"You would have voted against it anyway, so what's the point?" Rabbitt asked at one point.

Galvin also introduced legislation to City Council Wednesday to end the board's unusual lifetime trustee structure. His proposal, which will need both the council and the state's sign-off, would "immediately cease" the terms of the board's lifetime trustees if they have sat on the board longer than the proposed term length of three years.

The recent confrontation between the trustees traces to a labor battle that began over the summer, with the library threatening layoffs. The library faces a number of open meeting law complaints and public records requests, some of which it is attempting to fight.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.