Proceeding initiated in this Court pursuant to Public Officers Law § 36 to remove certain respondents from various offices in the Village of Trumansburg, Tompkins County.
Petitioner, a resident of the Village of Trumansburg, Tompkins
Removal from office under Public Officers Law § 36 is a drastic remedy “ ‘reserved for malicious and corrupt acts as compared to minor neglect of duties, administrative oversights and violations of law’ ” (Matter of Chandler v Weir, 30 AD3d 795, 796 [2006], quoting Matter of West v Grant, 243 AD2d 815, 816 [1997]; Matter of Miller v Balland, 7 AD3d 916, 917 [2004]). Here, the misconduct alleged by petitioner essentially consists of the Board returning to open session following executive session and failing to properly notify the public of the changed date of the October 2006 meeting. We note that petitioner presents no evidence in support of the latter allegation. In any event, even assuming that respondents’ conduct constituted a violation of the Open Meetings Law, these allegations do not rise to the level of “unscrupulous conduct or gross dereliction of duty . . . [or] connote a pattern of misconduct and abuse of authority” justifying removal (Matter of McCarthy v Sanford, 24 AD3d 1168, 1169 [2005] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see Matter of Chandler v Weir, supra at 796; Matter of Miller v Balland, supra at 917; cf. Matter of DeFalco v Doetsch, 208 AD2d 1047, 1049-1050 [1994]).
Finally, we note that inasmuch as Rose Hilbert’s term expired on March 31, 2007 and she did not seek reelection, this matter
Cardona, P.J., Peters, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ., concur. Adjudged that the motion to dismiss is granted, without costs, and petition dismissed.
The Board later rescinded this approval at its January 2007 meeting.
