The Fontana Regional Library, which is made up of six libraries across Macon, Swain and Jackson Counties, is governed by an agreement signed in 2013.
For more than two years, heated debates in Macon County about the need for a politically “neutral” library resulted in the county commissioners proposing a new regional agreement for the Fontana Regional Library System. On Tuesday night, the issue will return to the commissioners’ desks as they review a new version of the regional agreement at their monthly meeting.
Macon County Commissioners sent a new proposed regional agreement to the other two counties in November 2023. The agreement needed to be approved by Swain and Jackson Counties boards of commissioners as well as the Fontana Regional Library Board in order to be changed.
Two years into the library debate
The local libraries in Western North Carolina make books available to patrons but also offer many more services such as access to computers, free resources and children’s programs.
Much of the debate about the regional agreement focused on what would happen if the regional library system was to be disbanded. These discussions came to a head in April 2023, when Macon County commissioners voted on whether or not to leave the library system.
“It was unanimously agreed that the regional agreement is beneficial to all three counties and their citizens but improvement is needed in the areas of parental empowerment and governance of the Fontana Regional Library System,” Chairman Paul Higdon said.
Higdon said the new agreement would focus on giving parents greater ability to set restrictions over what materials their minor children can check out and reevaluating the structure and authority of the local library boards and the regional board.
Children under the age of eight are not allowed to be in the library without supervision under the library’s safe child policy. Anyone under the age of 16 must have a parent or guardian sign to receive a library card.
The library’s circulation policy states that parents or guardians are responsible for the reading, listening, and viewing of library materials by their minor children as well as any fees or damages to items checked out by the child.
Jackson and Swain County leaders discussed the agreement over the last year.
In January 2024, Jackson County commissioners expressed concerns about some of the changes in the regional agreement. They also discussed whether changes should be made without directly discussing the document with the other two counties and the Fontana Regional Board.
Commissioner Todd Byson recommended at the January meeting that the three counties meet together.
“I don’t know how we do this but wouldn’t it be smarter if we could have like a joint meeting or something with the county. Because if we pass something here and then we send it back it’s just going to drag on and on and on,” Bryson said.
In early May, Jackson County Attorney John Kubis told the county commissioners that he had met with the Swain County attorney to go over the agreement. He said they agreed that all parties should be present to discuss the regional agreement.
Representatives from all three counties and the FRL were invited to a joint meeting on May 29.
Kubis said that it was not a public meeting. Each commission sent just two commissioners, keeping any board from forming a quorum, Smoky Mountain News reported.
In August, Jackson and Swain County Commissioners approved an updated version of the agreement.
Jackson County Commissioner Mark Jones said that he had previously not been in support of the new revision but that he was happy with the changes that had been made. The other commissioners agreed.
“It’s not a win for everyone, it’s not a loss for everyone. It’s a meeting in the middle to do what is best for our counties and the surrounding counties,” Chairman Mark Letson said.
In September, the Fontana Regional Library Board approved the new version of the regional agreement that was sent by Jackson and Swain. Fontana Library Board Chair Margaret Carton shared the new draft at the meeting.
“It's been a process and I think it really started to move forward more rapidly when all three counties got together, the county managers, commissioners for Macon County, the lawyers, Tracy and I all got in a room together and walked through the agreement,” Carton said at the meeting. Carton also thanked Regional Library Director Tracy Fitzmaurice for her work at the meeting in a video shared with BPR by a community member and confirmed in the board's minutes.
If the new agreement isn’t adopted, then the library system would continue to operate under the current agreement. The amended agreement states that the agreement needed to be reapproved because it had been a decade since it was signed. The document automatically rolls over if it is not updated.
In January 2023, the regional agreement rolled over and is good for another decade until 2033, Fontana Regional Library confirmed to BPR.
The board approved the revised resolution unanimously.
What does the new amended regional agreement say?
One of the most significant amendments in the document was who could be appointed to the Fontana Regional Library Board.
Previously, board members were chosen directly from each county library board who are appointed by county commissioners. In the revised document sent by Macon County, county commissioners will also directly appoint the regional board members. There was not a requirement for previously serving on the local library board. The version on the agenda removed the ability to appoint members from the community at large.
The new document also reinstates public comment with no less than 3 minutes allowed per speaker. The comment period will be limited to 30 minutes. It removed the previous stipulation by Macon County that the board chair would have to answer direct questions in the meeting.
In March 2023, the Fontana Regional Library board ended public comment at its meetings. The board said that public comment was not required in its by-laws after heated public comments at their meetings.
“We feel that we have a lot of things to do and actually we are a governing board and we just need to move forward without the public session,” Snodgrass said in the meeting.
“Because we can’t address public comment but we can address written correspondence,” Fitzmaurice explained.
The agreement states that the facilities of each library are owned by each respective county but the resources and equipment inside the library are owned by the Fontana Regional Library System (with the exception of the Hudson Library in Highlands). It also updates the language around disbanding the three county partnership to allow two counties to agree to leave the system.
The November 2023 draft regional agreement sent by Macon County also updated the mission of the library and how much each county would fund the library. Here’s how the revised agreement amends that:
“Each county will pay the Fontana Regional Library an adequate amount of money necessary for the Fontana Regional Library to carry out its primary mission of providing the public of Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties with excellent service and convenient access to resources for their educational, informational, and recreational needs. being a caretaker of resources. These funds will allow the Fontana Regional Library to pay for library materials and for operating expenses for libraries within that county. Funds from each county will also be used to contribute to joint operations.”
This article has been updated for accuracy.
Here is the full document:
