The Great Neck Library’s Board of Trustees were at odds Tuesday night on whether or not an incumbent candidate running for a seat on the nominating committee would violate the the library’s policy since she was appointed to less than a full term.

“On its face, the person has met the requirements of being a candidate,” board President Rory Lancman said. “If there’s a challenge in this person’s candidacy, that has to be made and that has to be established, but at the moment that hasn’t been established.”

Nominating Committee member Sabine Margolis was selected by the nominating committee as the running candidate. She faces independent challenger Joshua Ishal in the race for her seat.

Margolis was appointed in the past year to the nominating committee, Lancman said, and is seeking to be elected to a full term. But Lancman said that bylaws state a committee member is limited to serving a singular three-year term.

Lancman said it is unclear whether a member’s inability to serve two consecutive terms would apply to someone appointed to fill a vacancy for an abbreviated term.

Board Member Mimi Hu said it requires legal interpretation to determine what a term is defined as in the bylaw, whether it’s a full term or just serving at any moment for any period of time.

Lancman said the library’s attorney, who e had been communicating with, said that Margolis seemed able to run in the election but did not give a final answer. He said the attorney would get back to him “shortly” with a response.

Board Member Chayim Mahgerefteh said his interpretation of the bylaw would prevent Margolis from being eligible to run. Lancman disagreed with Mahgerefteh.

Library Director Denise Corcoran said this poses an issue for the library, which faced an impending deadline on the following day to print ballots.

The board was provided a report to vote on by the board’s Secretary Barry Smith naming the candidates who will be featured on the ballot. Smith and Mahgerefteh abstained in voting with the remaining members voting to accept it.

Also to be featured on the Oct. 28 ballot are a series of bylaw changes.

Board Vice President Kathleen Gold questioned how this would be presented to voters so they are informed when voting on the measure. Corcoran said that because the bylaws are lengthy, the library can’t afford to print numerous copies for voters.

Lancman said almost every page of the bylaw has a degree of changes.

Instead, Corcoran said the amendments will be posted online and postcards will be mailed to inform patrons of the proposed changes and where to find additional information.

“To mail out that entire packet would be an astronomical amount of money for us,” Corcoran said.

The ballot will include an abbreviated explanation of what changes are made.

Patron Rebecca Gilliar criticized this method, arguing that some voters come to the polls uninformed on issues and would need the bylaw changes in front of them at the time of voting to make an informed decision. She said this would adhere to the library’s precedence.

The library will be hosting a Meet the Candidate night Oct. 1, which will only feature candidates running in a contested election. This would be Margolis and Ishal, if Margolis is permitted to run, and Matt Klein and Neal Hakimi for a board of trustees seat.

The board voted during the meeting to change that policy and permit all candidates to participate in future events. That policy would not be applied to the forum for this upcoming election.