Turmoil Continues at Goshen Library
On August 11th, Goshen 1st Selectman Todd Carusillo fired Goshen Public Library Director Linda Senkus Benedict. Benedict had been the subject of multiple complaints by staff members and library patrons, including yelling at patrons, being verbally abusive to staff, behaving inappropriately during a Library Board meeting, and throwing a library patron’s personal belongings into the trash, incidents that were detailed in Carusillo’s termination letter to Benedict.
Carusillo said that on July 31st he warned Benedict, “stop mistreating and… verbally abusing… staff, or there will be consequences.”
Five days later another staff member resigned, sending a 5-page complaint letter detailing how Benedict belittled and humiliated staff and patrons. Multiple library staff members had previously resigned during Benedict’s tenure, some directly citing abuse by Benedict.
Carusillo told The Goshen News the final incident that led to the termination involved a patron that was in the library, who “must have got up to go get another book or go to the bathroom or whatever. Our library director picked up his cell phone, his keys, his wallet, his books, and threw them into the trash. You don't do that to a patron. I have zero tolerance for behavior like that. And she got terminated.” Carusillo also said he acted on the advice of the Town’s labor attorney to protect the Town from further legal liabilities.
On August 12th, the day after Benedict was terminated, Carusillo met with Library Board members Lynette Miller, Josephine Jones and Johanna Kimball in his office. According to Carusillo, “when I told her [Miller] I was taking care of staffing, that I had people coming in, I was bringing in Kate Malanka, a former staff member at the library… to help with the staffing problems… Ms. Miller threw her hands up in the air and said she was resigning.”
She didn’t.
Benedict was recruited by Miller in late 2024, following the resignation of previous Director Tabitha Guarnieri. Guarnieri had resisted Miller’s attempt to censor an award-winning book that a relative few in the community deemed inappropriate on the basis of some explicit graphical content, and had been subjected to what was widely perceived as inappropriate public badgering by Miller. Guarnieri had replaced long-serving Director Lynn Steinmeier, who had resigned to take another position.
Questions of Authority
Carusillo did not attend an August 15th Emergency Meeting, called just hours before his departure on a prepaid trip. It is unclear, with temporary staffing already arranged, what constituted the emergency. The three remaining library employees had volunteered to work overtime so that the library could remain open.
At that meeting, Miller challenged Carusillo’s authority to fire Benedict, characterizing his actions as “decisions that went over the authority of the board.” But as recently as the May 21st Library Board Special meeting, a motion made by Miller herself to amend the Director’s job description was passed, including the following:
- The First Selectman of Goshen shall be the sole immediate supervisor of the Library Director. Strike supervisory function from Library Board President.
The Board of Selectmen adopted the recommended change on May 30th. Nonetheless, at an August 18th Special Meeting Miller continued to claim: “No, she reports to the board, that never changed.” She then cited a state statute regarding default roles that includes a proviso, “in the absence of any other provision”. The statute’s relevance seems doubtful, given the actions taken to redefine roles. The Town’s official job description for the Library Director lists the 1st Selectman as the immediate supervisor.
Selectman Dexter Kinsella, who was in attendance, interjected: “…the way I read it and the way I understood it, the library board was ceding its authority over the Director, which would include hiring and firing. There's nothing in there limiting the powers… You ceded the authority to Todd. Todd chose to exercise that authority, and that's where we are at.” Kinsella had abstained on the vote to adopt the role change at the May 30th Board of Selectmen’s meeting, citing concerns over library independence.
The Library Board then went into executive session for further discussion and later adjourned without resolution.
The August 20th Regular Meeting included another executive session. Carusillo told The Goshen News that Miller confronted him during that meeting, “and attacked me verbally…” He then threatened to call the Attorney General to have Miller removed from the board, though it is unclear under what authority or for what cause an elected board member can be removed.
After returning to public session, a motion was made and approved “to hire [former director] Lynn Steinmeier as the interim library director for up to 15 hours a week, not to exceed six months.” While Steinmeier is reportedly happy with her current job elsewhere, she agreed to return temporarily, in the public interest.
Threatening
After rehiring Steinmeier, Carusillo said, “I called up Lynette Miller and I said ‘you have the passcodes for the laptop’, because she wouldn't give them to the town hall.” Miller’s husband John delivered the codes that afternoon.
Carusillo claims John Miller then threatened him. “[He]…points his finger in my face and says, ‘you better watch yourself’”. While leaving, “he points at my face again and he goes: ‘You better watch yourself, boy’.”
“So I called the state police on him because that's threatening an elected official. So state police came, took my statement, and went over… and had a little talk with John Miller and Lynette Miller.”
In a telephone call from The Goshen News to State Police Troop B in Canaan, the officer on duty confirmed that police had spoken with the 1st Selectman and later talked with the Millers. “Nothing came of it”, the officer said. “There’s no investigation.”
Carusillo has further stated that Lynette has been threatening him over the past 2 years on other matters. “If I don’t do what she says, I won’t be on the ballot…Constant, constant for the last two years.” Carusillo did not win the Republican endorsement for re-election at the July caucus and is now running as an unaffiliated candidate.
Lynette Miller did not respond to a request for comment on these matters.
