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By Lynn Hotaling
and Carey King
With a capacity crowd on hand, county leaders Tuesday (Jan. 13)
voted unanimously to form a new library study group and to place
the controversial question of where to locate a public library
on the ballot come November.
The decision, an about-face from one last summer that formed a
group specifically to look at the feasibility of a shared-use
facility with Southwestern Community College that would be constructed
on the SCC campus, was a welcome one to members of Build Our Library
Downtown, the grassroots group that has lobbied to keep the public
library in Sylva.
A large crowd was on hand Tuesday (Jan. 13) for the first commissioners'
meeting in the recently-completed Justice Center addition over
the county's new jail. "It's a really nice facility," county Manager
Ken Westmoreland said of the L-shaped meeting room. "We had to
make a lot of adjustments due to the jail and Sheriff's Office."
The new space can "comfortably" seat 116, more than four times
the 25-seat capacity of the former boardroom. The extra capacity
was welcome Tuesday as almost 100 turned out for the discussion
of the county library's future. Listening during Monday's meeting
are, from left, Commissioners Joe Cowan and Roberta Crawford and
Commissioners' Chaiman Stacy Buchanan. Commissioner Brian McMahan
is not pictured, and Commissioner Eddie Madden was absent. - Herald
photo by Travis Bugg
"I'm delighted," said Joyce Moore, BOLD
president. "I'm very grateful for (the commissioners') willingness
to change direction. We will work with them to build a library
downtown."
After hearing from BOLD spokesman Jay Coward, Commissioners' Chairman
Stacy Buchanan proposed forming a county/town task force that
would consist of him, Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver, county Manager
Ken Westmoreland, town Manager Richard McHargue, an at-large county
commissioner and an at-large town board member. The new group
will identify and evaluate potential downtown sites for a new
20,000-square-foot library.
The second part of Buchanan's recommendation was to allow Jackson
County citizens to decide the location of the county's public
library through a referendum to be held with the November general
elections.
If state elections officials approve the ballot initiative, local
voters would be asked to choose between a 30,000-square-foot,
joint-use library at SCC to be built at a cost of $2 million in
local funds or a 20,000-square-foot downtown library at an as-yet
undetermined cost to taxpayers.
Buchanan mentioned the cost of a joint-use library as being a
factor in his Tuesday recommendation.
"For us to buy in on a library at SCC, we're looking at $2
million from local funds," Buchanan said. "That's more
than I could support as being such a great deal we can't pass
it up.
"The main goal is to improve library facilities and do so
in a sound fiscal way."
Prior to the commissioners' decision, Coward, a former county
commissioner, proposed county leaders commit Tuesday to creating
a museum and library in the old Courthouse and jail facilities.
"I think you commissioners can make a decision tonight to
locate a museum and library in the old Courthouse and jail,"
Coward said. "You didn't ask for a referendum to fund a Cashiers
library and you didn't ask for one when you decided to work with
SCC."
The Courthouse and jail have already been evaluated as a potential
library site by an architect, Coward said. Of six sites studied
(Grindstaff Cove, the Jim Gray tract on Railroad Avenue, Jackson
Plaza, Mark Watson Park, the hill above Sylva Fire Department
and the old Courthouse), the preferred location was the historic
Courthouse area, he said.
"That conclusion still stands," Coward said Tuesday
night. "The architecture of the old Courthouse and its location
and history presents an appeal no other site has."
Reminding commissioners and those present that the construction
of the Courthouse and removal of the county seat from Webster
to Sylva was a divisive issue 90 years ago, Coward urged county
leaders to embrace the idea of a library on Courthouse Hill.
"Let's rebuild it. It's the loveliest building on the most
picturesque hill in Western North Carolina. Let's make our children
as proud of us as we are of our forefathers. Let's make the Courthouse
a community beacon that will shed light on our past and help us
envision our future."
The time is right for such a decision because the jail is already
vacant and Western Carolina University has offered performance
space to Kudzu Players, the community theater group that holds
a lease on the former Courthouse, Coward said.
Chairman Buchanan presented his idea of a new study committee
and public referendum before responding specifically to Coward's
proposal.
"In answering Mr. Coward's proposal, we're taking all suggestions,"
he said.
Buchanan went on to comment on what he termed the "unfair"
nature of "personal attacks" leveled against the commissioners
during the controversy surrounding the siting of a new library.
"At no time will any of these board members receive any personal
gain. The goal was to improve library facilities and make fiscally
sound decisions," Buchanan said.
Commissioner Roberta Crawford asked what the boundaries of "downtown"
would be for the purposes of the newly-formed study commission,
and Buchanan responded that county commissioners and Sylva town
board members would define the area to be considered during a
joint meeting scheduled Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Commissioner Joe Cowan said he hoped the members of BOLD would
give the new committee its support, and mentioned that he envisioned
parking as a concern that would have to be addressed before deciding
to locate a library on Courthouse Hill.
"I do like this proposal," Commissioner Brian McMahan
said. "This has been an issue that has been so divided. This
motion tonight lets the people decide. It's fair and gives everybody
a chance to have a say-so."
Librarian Michael Cartwright, who directs operations at the Jackson
County Public Library, appeared to have mixed emotions about Tuesday's
decision.
"I think it's a valid approach to the dilemma we face,"
Cartwright said. "But I'm wondering why (commissioners) need
to explore downtown sites, because that work was already completed
a few years back."
Cartwright termed the commissioners' decision an "emotional
setback."
"We thought we were headed to a new facility by the end of
the year. We're very much concerned with providing library service,
and we have to do that in an inadequate facility right now."
With the formation of the new town/county library study group,
a previously-appointed five-member Joint Library Task Force is
apparently no longer active. Two members of that group - John
Bunn and Linda Young - resigned last month amid a disagreement
over selection of an architect to formally study the feasibility
of a joint-use library facility to be shared by the county and
SCC.
Appointed in June, that task force was a lightning rod for controversy
since its inception. County commissioners appointed the group
and gave it a budget of $50,000 to study the joint library plan.
That decision was made despite the objections of BOLD members,
who asked commissioners during a June meeting to hold that money
in reserve to help pay for a library in the downtown area.
Buchanan said Tuesday that the money originally budgeted to the
Joint Library Task Force will be used by the newly-formed committee
to pay for evaluation of potential downtown sites. The chairman
also indicated his willingness to "tie up" or option
the study committee's preferred location to ensure that it will
still be available pending the outcome of the referendum.
Though initial discussions of a joint-use library at SCC hinged
on eliminating the downtown library, Buchanan in June proposed
a "tri-library service area" that would have county
libraries in Sylva, Cashiers and on the SCC campus.
A key component of that plan, however, was a $55,000 annual contribution
from the town of Sylva toward the downtown library, but then-Vice
Mayor Audrey Tritt said at the time she didn't think town officials,
who in May went on record in support of keeping the library in
Sylva, could allocate that much.
During a May 22 public hearing, 33 of 36 speakers spoke against
moving the public library to SCC, and some 2,700 county residents
signed a petition in favor of keeping the library downtown.
Opposition to the proposed joint-use facility centered around
concern that the missions of a public and an academic library
would conflict and the negative impact the loss of a library would
have on downtown revitalization efforts.
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