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Library leaders confused about fund-raising roles
By Carey King and Lynn Hotaling
While funding of this year's $400,000 library budget proved to be a hot topic at the Nov. 16 Jackson County Library Board meeting (see related article), there was an even bigger dollar amount that loomed over board members' discussions.
That figure? Five million – the estimated price for the new county library at Jackson Plaza.
Concerned about the size of that fund-raising goal, board members were also uncertain as to their role in coordinating fund-raising efforts.
"What we need to do is find out what those that control the county checkbook have in mind. We can then look and see what the task is before us," said board member Vance Davidson.
Chairman Howard Allman suggested forming a committee to meet with commissioners in order to "clarify our role."
"We just need to go to them one time and say, 'Do you know what you're talking about? Do you know what you're asking us to do?'" said board member Ethan Staats.
Davidson volunteered to head a delegation of board and Friends of the Library members to attend commissioners' Dec. 14 meeting.
Had board members attended commissioners' Sept. 21 session, they would have known county leaders charged the library board with forming two committees, one to coordinate fund-raising and the other to work on library design.
The fund-raising committee is to be facilitated by grant-writer Art Ellick, and the design group by Sylva architect Odell Thompson, Commissioners' Chairman Stacy Buchanan said Monday.
The two committees are to be up and running by January and complete their jobs by January 2007, Buchanan said.
Using information from both groups, a real price for the project will then be determined, Buchanan said.
County Manager Ken Westmoreland, charged with communicating the commissioners' committee plan to the library board, said he met with county librarian Michael Cartwright twice to discuss the matter.
"I met personally with Michael, and I met with members of the Friends and members of the library board to explain the commissioners' decision," Westmoreland said Monday.
He said he later received e-mails revealing there was confusion among the various groups and made a point of speaking with Cartwright to clarify the commissioners' position.
"I met with him on at least two occasions a month ago," Westmoreland said.
Cartwright has said publicly that the library board will need to raise $2.6 million toward the final tally, but both Westmoreland and Buchanan have said that no dollar amount has been set. Cartwright said the $2.6 million figure is an estimate based on the costs he knows will be involved in property acquisition, site preparation and construction.
Cartwright said he considers the Davidson-led delegation that will attend the next commissioners' meeting to be fulfilling county leaders' request that the library board name two committees.
However, board Chairman Howard Allman said Monday that commissioners' two-committee request was "completely new" to him.
A final confusion could have been cleared had board member Staats attended commissioners' March 18 meeting. At that time, Buchanan announced the county would send a letter to officials at Southwestern Community College stating that SCC should proceed with its plans for a new campus library and forego the idea of a joint county-college facility.
Staats seemed unaware of this development in his statements to the library board last week.
"If it's impossible to raise this money, you're passing up an opportunity at Southwestern Community College," Staats said.
Bringing up the idea of a joint library is beating a "dead horse," Sylva resident and Build Our Library Downtown member Veronica Nicholas told the group.
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