Gary Library Board member challenges removal from panel
A Gary Library Board member has filed a lawsuit contesting her removal from the board.
Jacquese White is seeking a temporary restraining order against four defendants on the Gary Community School Corp. advisory board who she alleges held an illegal board meeting Jan. 27 in which they voted to remove her from the library board.
White’s lawsuit follows a Feb. 2 opinion from state Public Access Counselor Luke H. Britt, who agreed with White’s complaint that the advisory board’s Jan. 27 meeting violated the opendoor law by not giving notice to the public.
It asks the court to enjoin the defendants from removing her from the board until they comply with state law
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 10 by attorney Jewell Harris Jr., asks for a declaratory judgment by which the court determines the legality of the Jan. 27 advisory board meeting.
The advisory board appointed White to the library board in July 2021.
Board member Robert L. Buggs said Friday the Gary school district’s manager refused to let the school advisory board hold the meeting on school property. Instead, he said the district arranged for the meeting to take place at the Gary library, and he said the district provided notice of the meeting.
Buggs said he sought White’s removal from the board for her actions at a Dec. 19 library board meeting. Buggs said he hired a college student to record the meeting so he could place the video on the city’s public access channel.
Buggs said White asked who the student was and began recording her during the meeting, and the student became frightened. Buggs said the student filed an intimidation complaint after the incident continued in a library parking lot.