CB 9 Chair Says There will be Re-Vote on Ousting Member – But another member says it will never happen

After Community Board 9 members voted at their meeting last week to retain one individual who had faced being ousted as part of the organization, the group’s chairman said another vote must be taken at next month’s meeting because they did not properly follow the board’s bylaws before saying yea or nay on the matter.

CB 9 Chairman Jim Coccovillo said in a press release issued via Twitter Monday night that the board would have to weigh in again as to whether or not member Sam Esposito could remain part of the organization because there had been no public discussion prior to last week’s vote. Last week’s vote on the longtime member’s tenure came to be after several board members told Coccovillo that Esposito had sent them an email with anti-Semitic remarks – something which Esposito said made him extremely offended, and which he stressed was untrue. Esposito said he believes the vote occurred because Coccovillo wants him off the board after Esposito supported CB 9 District Manager Mary Ann Carey after some members, including the chairman, had wanted to remove her earlier this year. Coccovillo, meanwhile, said there were concerns over Esposito’s conduct on the board, including being absent from meetings.

Following the board’s vote last week, CB 9 member Wallace Bock, one of three members who said Esposito had made anti-Semitic remarks, walked out of the meeting and said he was resigning, though the Queens Borough President’s office has not yet received a letter of resignation from Bock, according to Coccovillo.

The CB 9 chairman said that he conferred with Barry Grodenchik, director of community boards, and Hugh Weinberg, general counsel in the borough president’s office, and determined that, “the procedures for removal, as described in the Community Board 9 by-laws, require that those bringing the demand, as well as any other board members who wish to speak on the matter, be heard before the vote to remove can be taken.”

Esposito, however, said he does not believe a vote will be taken at the next meeting.

“From what I understand, the executive board is taking a vote next Tuesday on whether or not to actually put the re-vote on the agenda,” Esposito said.