Western Queens community board chair dropped following discrimination complaint
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QUEENS COMMUNITY BOARD 2 CHAIR DENISE KEEHAN-SMITH was not reappointed to serve a new term as board member. IMAGE VIA CB02 MEETING STREAM/YOUTUBE
By David Brand
The chair of a Western Queens community board has been blocked from serving another term as a board member, two months after the board’s district manager lodged a formal complaint accusing her of “abusive and quite discriminatory” behavior.
Community Board 2 Chairperson Denise Keehan-Smith was not reappointed to serve another two-year term on the board by Acting Borough President Sharon Lee on Monday. Lee’s announcement on board appointments came six days after the Eagle reported on an equal employment opportunity complaint filed by the district manager, Debra Markell Kleinert, against Keehan-Smith.
In the complaint, submitted to the Queens Borough President’s Office March 19, Markell Kleinert said Keehan-Smith was “abrasive, abusive, accusatory and constantly harassing me” over a period of two years. Keehan-Smith has served as chair of CB2, which covers Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City, since 2016. Markell Kleinert has served as CB2 district manager, a paid position that reports to the chair, since 2006.
Markell Kleinert wrote that Keehan-Smith has refused to talk with her in person or by phone and ordered her to report to the office in mid-March despite the COVID-19 outbreak. Markell Kleinert said that her age and respiratory issues made her particularly vulnerable to the illness. The Eagle obtained a copy of the complaint.
When contacted about Keehan-Smith Monday, the Queens Borough President’s Office referred to a press release announcing board appointments — a list that excludes Keehan-Smith’s name.
A phone call to Keehan-Smith went straight to voicemail. She did not immediately respond to a voice message. Markell Kleinert did not respond to a voicemail.
Keehan-Smith and Markell Kleinert also engaged in a lengthy dispute over an unpaid invoice for holiday lights dating back to December 2019. Keehan-Smith had directed Markell Kleinert to use money from a city council grant to pay the $5,138 invoice to a third-party vendor that supplied the lights, but Markell Kleinert countered that the payment would violate city council guidelines for the grant. A council spokesperson confirmed to the Eagle that the payment would violate grant guidelines.
Another high-ranking Western Queens community board member, Community Board 1 Executive Board Member Nancy Silverman, was also left off the list of appointments, though it was not immediately clear why.
An email obtained by the Eagle from veteran Queens Community Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano to an official in the Queens borough president’s office suggests there were complaints lodged against Silverman by CB1 District Manager Florence Koulouris. Giordano spoke out against alleged “mistreatment” of district managers on CB1 and CB2 in the email.
“I am very upset regarding what I have learned clearly seems to be mistreatment against the honest, very hard working and intelligent District Managers of CB1Q and CB2Q,” Giordano wrote in the email to the borough’s president office. Calls to Queens Community Board 5’s office rang repeatedly before an automated messaging system said the call could not be completed “as the called party is temporarily unavailable.”
“I truly hope that action is thoughtfully taken to get the self serving abusers and bullies to change their destructive ways, or to get them off community boards so that communities and honest, diligent, caring people are not bullied and abused,” Giordano added in the email.
Silverman said she was “shocked” to learn that she was not reappointed via an email from the Queens borough president’s office Monday morning. She said she did not know who Giordano was and that she was surprised to learn about potential complaints by the Koulouris, the district manager.*
“There should be feedback. If people call me abusive and they had concerns about me then you’d think I would be given notice,” Silverman said
She said that she frequently spoke out about increasing board “transparency and consistency” and had criticized Koulouris for some of her actions as district manager, but she received no warning that her board tenure was about to end.
Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, who makes board member recommendations for CB1 and CB2, said Lee consulted with him before making the final decision not to reappoint Keehan-Smith and Silverman.
“For some time now I’ve heard from numerous people who have shared concerns with me regarding these boards,” Van Bramer said. “I believe our boards must work constructively for the districts they serve and staff and other board members must be treated with respect and dignity.”
“I thank Borough President Lee for her collaborative approach and respect her decisions,” he added.
Queens’ 14 community boards make advisory recommendations on land use proposals, weigh in on street design plans and host forums about key community issues. The 50-member boards hold monthly public meetings, which have switched to remote conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lee announced 339 appointees to two-year terms Monday.
*This story has been updated to include a quote from Nancy Silverman and more context about complaints made against CB1 and CB2 members.
