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Mayor Removes Library Trustee After Hearing Officer Recommends Removal Over Alleged Deportation Comment
Summary
Mayor William Portman removed library trustee Susanna Viscomi immediately after a hearing officer, Jonathan Cohen, found it "more likely than not" she made a remark suggesting a storyteller "be deported." The decision followed an independent library investigation and public comment split between supporters and critics.
Mayor William Portman removed library trustee Susanna ("Sue") Viscomi from the Red Bank Library Board immediately after the borough's labor attorney, Jonathan Cohen, acting as hearing officer, recommended removal following an investigation into an alleged remark about a storyteller's immigration status.
Cohen told council he reviewed the library's investigative materials, interviewed Viscomi and other witnesses, and weighed credibility among accounts. He summarized the central allegation as arising from a December 2023 or January 2024 storytelling event in which Julie Castillo shared a family story about her father's deportation. According to the former library director, Elini Glickis, and another witness, Cohen said, Viscomi responded to a question about how Castillo could be in the United States by saying, in effect, "Well, maybe she should be deported, too." Based on those accounts, Cohen said it was "more likely than not" that Viscomi made the remark and recommended removal from her volunteer board post.
Mayor Portman said he accepted Cohen's recommendation and removed Viscomi "effective immediately," adding the borough will appoint a replacement to the library board by the next meeting. Portman described volunteer trustees as appointees who should reflect the governing body's values.
Viscomi used the public-comment period to deny the allegation and defend her decades of service to Red Bank. She disputed details in the investigative materials, challenged the lack of sworn testimony and precise dates, and said she did not recall making the statement the investigator attributed to her. Supporters who spoke at the meeting—parents, volunteers and fellow board members—urged the council to reconsider, citing Viscomi's long record of advocacy for schools and immigrant families.
Others, including Cesar Hernandez (a library employee and immigrant-rights organizer) and several residents who described themselves as witnesses or community advocates, said the alleged remark was deeply harmful and supported the hearing officer's credibility assessment. Hernandez said the incident left a young storyteller feeling insulted and that leadership had failed that youth.
The borough's hearing officer and the investigator both described a constrained record: an initial two-page submission of witness notes and a fuller, attorney-client privileged investigative report the borough could not publicly release. Cohen said he had interviewed Viscomi, a character witness, and other individuals and had reviewed the investigator's findings before concluding the accounts by the former library director and another witness were credible.
The council did not hold a separate, contested hearing in open session before announcing the removal; the mayor framed the decision as an appointment matter made "at the pleasure of the mayor." Cohen said administrative hearings often rely on weighing differing accounts where recordings or sworn testimony are unavailable.
What happens next: Portman said the borough would name a new library trustee by the next meeting. Viscomi remains a locally elected school-board member, and several speakers asked whether the trustee removal would prompt a separate review of her elected position on the Board of Education.
