GUILDERLAND — Seven months after the co-owner of a café in the Guilderland Public Library caused a public furor as she abruptly shut down, alleging racism, a firm hired by the library board to independently investigate the charges has found no racism.

In an 18-page report, which the library posted to its website at noon on Sept. 30, Guidepost Solutions said, “We found no evidence of comments or affirmative acts by employees of GPL directed to Cafe staff based on race or any other protected class. We also found no record of any complaints made by either of the Café partners to GPL or the Board, of any alleged violations of the GPL Non-Discrimination / Anti- Harassment Policy.”

The report did note comments, already covered extensively by The Enterprise, made by several library or café patrons “about the type of food served and the ethnic backgrounds of certain staff members,” which the report said are “often referred to as micro-aggressions.”

Melanie Diaz Partak had posted to the Café con Mel’s Facebook page the day she closed, on Feb. 21, “I have faced racism, harassment and constant disrespect. These issues have not only come from patrons, which I am no stranger to dealing with, but they have come worse surprisingly from the Library staff members.”

Partak could not be reached by The Enterprise and, through her lawyer, declined to comment to investigators from Guidepost.

The Guidepost report, however, quotes a text message Partak sent the day she closed, on Feb. 21 “after receiving confirmation that the Maintenance Supervisor would not be disciplined or fired for an incident” involving a misplaced package.

“I’m going public today,” Partak texted, “and it will definitely be covered … once I post the news will come to me.”

Partak’s allegations did indeed spark widespread media coverage and the library board held a listening session on Feb. 25 attended by 75 people, which raised more questions.

At their Feb. 28 meeting, the trustees agreed to hire an outside firm to investigate the racism charges made by Café con Mel but decided to discuss separately how to investigate the library’s role, including such questions as how the Café con Mel was chosen, the terms of the contract including the rent of $200 per month, and work done for the café.

In March, the board hired, for $15,000 plus travel and research expenses, Guidepost Solutions, based in New York City, to look into the allegations of racism.

A committee of board members was formed to investigate the management issues. Peter Petruski, who started as the library’s director in May, two months after the café’s closure, told The Enterprise on Monday morning that that committee “is still ongoing, looking into the administrative aspect.’

Petruski said there is “no timeline” for that committee to present its findings.

However, the Guidepost report notes that, while the firm was hired to focus on “the very discrete issue of alleged racism and harassment of a protected class, the breadth of the inquiry became necessarily broader due to the lack of specificity by Ms. Partak in her Facebook post, and her unwillingness to participate in the investigation.”

Consequently, the Guidepost investigation looked into other matters that “revealed a number of long-standing issues at the GPL that requires deliberative consideration and remediation by the Board, the new Executive Director, and the GPL management team,” the report says.

Guidepost found that the library management team “would often make conclusory statements, reaffirming each other’s version of events about issues such as harassment and poor work performance without conducting adequate necessary investigative inquiries, compiling evidence and properly documenting findings.”

The July 20 Guidepost report concludes with six recommendations. Consequently, in releasing the report, the trustees, who approved the report at their August or September board meeting, Petruski said, issued their response to each of the recommendations.

“The board has full confidence in the findings,” said Petruski of Guidepost’s work. “They support what was found.”

“Cultural divide”

In essence, the Guidepost investigation found, “A cultural divide between the library staff and the Café continued to evolve leading to increased tension.”

Guidepost interviewed Timothy Wiles, who had been the library’s director for a decade and retired 19 days before the café closure.

“Of 70 employees, I’d be surprised if more than 15 people ever used the Café … the prices seemed high and library people don’t make a ton of money,” Wiles is quoted by Guidepost as saying.

Wiles also “admitted that his leniency with the Café may have caused some of the conflict.”

The report goes through the history of having the café, a first for the library and part of an $8.8 million project, which expanded and upgraded the library, in the midst of the pandemic.

The Guidepost report notes “no prospective vendors responded” to a 2021 solicitation for the café. In the spring of 2022, it says Elish Melchiade, a trustee, “became aware of the difficulties GPL was experiencing in identifying a vendor for the café space,” and suggested her friend, Partak, who then submitted a proposal.

One of the core tensions centered on the library offering free programs while the café was a for-profit business.

“There was a fractured relationship between some library staff and the Café. Interviews revealed an ‘us vs. them’ attitude rooted in the fundamental idea that the library is a non-profit entity that provides a service to the community, and the Café, contrary to the broader mission of the library, was a for-profit entity,” the report says, also noting, “It is unclear whether this issue was raised with the Board.”

These tensions were reported in April by The Enterprise, which had filed a Freedom of Information Law request for any and all documents related to complaints made by or about the café’s owners and received 77 pages in response to that request that were heavy on financial and managerial matters but not related to racism.

The Enterprise also obtained invoices from early April 2023 through late November 2023 totaling $9,850 from Partak & Sons Builders, a company associated with Partak’s husband, Jonathan Partak.

The documents include pages of vendor transaction history, including over $6,000 for work done by Partak & Sons Builders. Altogether the “Café Total” is listed as $78,801.75 and the “total café project costs” is listed as $92,784.76.

Several allegations raised at that Feb. 26 public meeting led The Enterprise to look more closely at problems with the café business itself.

New York State records show that Melanie D. Fillerup, of D&L Hospitality, owed $6,880.65 in sales tax while a 2021 state certificate-of-doing-business-under-an-assumed-name form shows Melanie Diaz Fillerup doing business under the name of Café Con Mel at 133 Remsen St. in Cohoes.

Researching minutes from meetings of the Cohoes LDC, The Enterprise found that “Diaz Enterprises - Café con Mel” was given a $10,000 loan in February 2021; minutes show the lowest the balance ever got was $9,367.73 in July 2021. At its Jan. 25, 2024 meeting, the Cohoes LDC board voted to commence legal action against Café con Mel, the minutes say.

The Guidepost report, however, did not look at the café’s business dealings outside of the library.

Another point of tension that The Enterprise had reported on in April and that the Guidepost report includes is the frustration staff had in answering patron questions about the café hours, which were erratic.

“Closures were often posted on the Café’s website,” the Guidepost report says, “but the Library staff would not be informed … Text messages confirm that Ms. Partak ultimately decided to reduce Café operating hours beginning the second week of February 2024, around the same time of her public allegations about the Library.”

Maintenance supervisor

Six full pages — roughly a third — of the report are devoted to the maintenance supervisor, Lewis Warner, who is unnamed in the report.

The week the café closed, CBS 6 news reported that the incident triggering the closure was the library’s response to a stolen tablet, which Guidepost references. Briana Supardi received a statement from Partak, the station reported, saying Partak decided to close after a library employee “went through our mail, stole a point-of-sale tablet, and hid the tablet in their work office for weeks …. The library’s response was to offer this employee an early retirement package. It was at that point we knew it was unsafe to continue operations.”

The Guidepost report makes clear that Warner, a 23-year employee, was one of “four GPL employees [who] fit the eligibility criteria for the retirement incentive program and decided to participate.”

Guidepost writes, “In correspondence by Ms. Partak, there was some speculation that the Maintenance Supervisor was offered retirement in lieu of being disciplined for prior complaints. His departure was voluntary and part of broader reorganization at the Library that began in 2023.”

The Enterprise had submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the Guilderland Police for any reports related to the Café con Mel at the library, and received just one.

As we reported on March 7, Partak had lodged a complaint with the police on Jan. 10, alleging that a library employee, whose name was blacked out on the incident report, “signed for a package of hers and kept it in a storage room for a week before giving it to her.” The package was opened but undamaged, says the report.

Partak told the police that she and her husband, Jonathan Partak, “had constant issues with this individual since opening her business in September” and “wished to make a report in the event that behavior like this continues.”

The incident report does not include a response from the accused employee, and no arrest was made.

Our April 26 response from the library FOIL request added some details as Parker wrote, “The cafe had not been performing as well as needed to survive in the space for the month of December. In order to gain a bigger customer base I signed up for a delivery service named Grubhub.”

In talking to Warner, The Enterprise learned he was the employee whose name had been redacted in both the police report and the library’s response.

Warner admits he had conflicts with the café, largely centered on cleaning the café space. “I didn’t want my guys to do it. God forbid they knock over a crystal vase or whatever. It’s a private business,” he said of the café.

Nevertheless, his crew did clean the café every night as he was told it was required by the library’s contract with the café, Warner said.

The Enterprise on Feb. 27 published the terms of the lease, which stated that the tenant — Café con Mel — was to be responsible for the care and cleaning of the café and the outdoor seating area, and to insure it met all health and safety requirements.

The missing package, Warner told us, wasn’t delivered through the United States Postal System; rather, it came through FedEx.

Warner said he had no idea Partak was missing a package until six days after it arrived, on Jan. 9, when he got an email from the library’s director, asking about the missing package.

Warner checked his FedEx records and saw that a large shipment of janitorial supplies arrived that same day.

He recalled thinking, “I bet it came in with the cleaning supplies. And lo and behold, there it was on the top shelf … it just got put in our storage room.”

Warner also said, “I never knew the police were there” and would have gladly answered their questions.

“There was a presumptive conclusion by GPL staff that the Supervisor purposefully received and hid the package. Ms. Partak made a similar conclusion …,” Guidepost writes, noting, “A thorough investigation of the underlying circumstance in connection with the missing package was not conducted.”

Guidepost spoke with Federal Express representatives and learned Partak’s package from Grubhub “did not require a signature and no actual signature was recorded at the time of delivery.” Guidepost quoted a representative as saying it “may be the case” that a FedEx driver entered Warner’s name because it was the name on several boxes being delivered that day.

Warner, who spoke to The Enterprise on Monday morning, Sept. 30, before he read the report, said, when told it found no racism, “We already knew there wasn’t racism. The rest of the corruption hasn’t been addressed.”

He went on about Partak, “She alleged she had to shut down because of racism — what now? Is she off the hook?”

He noted that the library has paid for Guidepost’s investigation as well as for the services of its own lawyers at Girvin Ferlazzo to serve as go-betweens.

Warner also said that the space that had been set up as a café is now being used just for storage. “They spent over $90,000 to fix up this room as a café. It’s just a glorified closet now,” Warner said, asking, “Doesn’t the public care about the misuse of funds? It boggles my mind.”

Going forward

Guidepost termed the library’s policies and procedures “robust” and on par with other not-for-profit organizations.

However, the report said, “Existence of the policies and procedures is only the beginning. In practice, policies and procedures are as effective as the individual leaders of the organization who educate and train staff about procedures, promote their use, and incorporate the organization’s policies and procedures into everyday practice.”

Guidepost found the library to be lacking in routine monitoring, reporting and documentation of incidents and staff performance, and also identified communication as an issue.

The six recommendations made by Guidepost are listed below, in italics, along with the library board’s response to each:

— Provide board training on fiduciary responsibilities, conflicts of interest, and the New York State Civil Service Law.

GPL Board members received customized training from the Upper Hudson Library System on Finance 101 for Library Trustees on June 17. The Board Development Committee will work to coordinate board training in conflicts of interest and New York State Civil Service Law by June 30, 2025. All GPL Board members reviewed the Conflict of Interest Policy and signed the certification at their annual business meeting on July 18;

— Hire and/or appoint a Compliance Officer tasked to conduct a risk evaluation and to conduct investigations, as set forth in the Discrimination and Harassment Policies; alternatively, hire a Human Resources professional capable of performing these tasks.

Administration of the GPL is in the process of hiring a human resource manager. Posting of the position closed on Sept. 16, with a goal start date for the position of Nov. 4. The human resources manager will be appointed as a compliance officer by the board;

— Provide the Library Executive team basic training on form and process of conducting and documenting investigations, securing evidence, and conducting interviews.

The GPL administration is working with GPL’s attorneys, Girvin & Ferlazzo, to formalize a training program that includes training on investigation documentation, securing evidence, and conducting interviews in compliance with state, Civil Service, and internal laws and regulations;

— Update the Employee Handbook and other relevant policies and procedures; and task the Compliance Officer to conduct annual updates of policies and procedures.

GPL’s Employee Handbook is currently in review by the library’s administration and attorneys. The administration has confirmed that a revised version will be prepared, approved, and disseminated to current and future GPL employees by Jan. 31, 2025;

— Create key performance indicators for the Executive Director and conduct regular evaluations of the Executive Director and the managerial staff.

The Personnel Committee of the GPL Board is formalizing a process to establish goals, performance indicators, and evaluation cycle of the director. The process and subsequent evaluations will be approved by the board by Feb. 20, 2025. All members of library administration will receive a formal annual evaluation from the director or their supervisor on their anniversary date. This process began in August 2024;

— Delineate roles and responsibilities for all titles and conduct regular evaluations of staff.

As new positions are filled, the administration and library department management will be delineating the roles and responsibilities for newly hired staff. Annual evaluations of all staff are in process. Revision of the roles and responsibilities of current staff is underway, with all position descriptions estimated to be completed by June 30, 2025.

The board concluded this list by stating, “When the Board of Trustees began their search for a vendor for the café space during the library’s renovation, they sincerely hoped that the café would be an enhancement for the community, including the library and café staff, as well as an opportunity for a local business. It is unfortunate that hope was not fully realized.

“GPL is committed to continuing to strive to be an inclusive and respectful workplace. The Board, Administration, and GPL staff are committed to serving the community, and upholding the standards of excellence and inclusiveness the town of Guilderland places upon them.”