Selectmen hear complaints against Oak Bluffs library director

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— File photo by Mae Deary

Updated 9:55 am, October 6.

Oak Bluffs selectmen went behind closed doors at the end of their Tuesday meeting to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges against, a town employee.

Library director Danguole Budris, represented by attorney George Davis, entered the closed door meeting. The selectmen’s labor counsel, Jack Collins, also attended the meeting.

One subject of the executive session was an accusation that Ms. Budris was absent from the library on August 3, when police were called to deal with an unruly patron. An employee who wrote a report of the incident has accused Ms. Budris of pressuring her to alter the acount to describe the Ms. Budris as present in the library when police arrived, according to sources with direct knowledge of the event. The sources would not agree to be quoted because the matter is the subject of executive sessions.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Mr. Davis declined to comment on the subject of Tuesday’s executive session.

On September 12, three library employees spoke to selectmen in executive session at the end of the regular selectmen’s meeting. Ms. Budris attended that meeting, but asked for more time to respond to the allegations.

Selectmen and members of the library board of trustees have scrutinized the job performance of Ms. Budris in recent months, including her attendance.

In a telephone conversation Thursday morning, attorney Davis said he had declined to comment on the executive session because the proceedings are not public. But, Mr. Davis added, he had not been asked to comment on the specific allegation against his client, namely that Ms. Budris asked an employee to change a report.

“She categorically denies pressuring anybody to alter that account,” Mr. Davis said Thursday. He said that during the first executive session, on September 12, library employees presented new information.

“We asked for more time, because we were presented for the very first time with the specific allegations,” Mr. Davis said. “We needed time to look into them.”

This article was updated to reflect the comments of attorney George Davis, following publication of the print version of The Times.