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By Carey King
Two library task force members have resigned amid controversy
over the group's Nov. 25 recommendation to hire Harvard Jolly
Clees Toppe Architects to conduct a feasibility study for the
proposed Jackson County and Southwestern Community College joint
library.
During Tuesday's (Dec. 9) meeting of the Jackson County Commissioners,
board Chairman Stacy Buchanan indicated the contract with Harvard
Jolly had been put on hold for at least a month.
Buchanan announced that two Library Task Force members had resigned
but gave no details. Commissioners plan to discuss the future
of the task force with its remaining three members during their
Tuesday, Jan. 13 meeting.
Task Force member Linda Young submitted a resignation letter to
Buchanan Dec. 2, and John Bunn followed suit Dec. 3. Each called
it quits without knowledge that the other was resigning, Bunn
said.
The resignations stem from the task force's last
meeting, when architectural and consulting firms Harvard Jolly
of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Moseley, Wilkins and Wood of Charlotte
presented their qualifications and study proposals to the group.
Task force members then debated the merits of the two before voting
on which one to recommend to county commissioners.
During a commissioners meeting that evening, task force Chairman
Joe Rossano announced that the group selected Harvard Jolly. Rossano
later told The Herald that task force members had been split 2-2,
and he had broken the tie.
However, in his resignation letter, Bunn wrote, "The vote,
as I recorded in my minutes of the meeting, was 2 to 2. On the
final hearing of the motion (to select Harvard Jolly) as I recorded
it in my notes, the vote was 3 to 1, which would have defeated
the motion."
Task force member Diane Schallock initially voted for Harvard
Jolly, but then changed her vote, Bunn said.
"There was some confusion as to the voting, as one member
seemed to have voted twice," Young said in her letter.
However, Rossano, Schallock and task force member Don Williamson
have all stated since the meeting that they voted for Harvard
Jolly.
"Joe asked for a vote. Don made a motion, and I seconded
it," Schallock said.
"There's no doubt in my mind what went on. I was very clear
because I stated to Don Williamson at the time, 'Make sure the
record shows the vote was 3-2,'' Rossano said.
Williamson normally serves as secretary for the group, but that
day, Bill Mauldin of Mountain Mediation Services took notes since
Williamson was recovering from knee surgery.
When reached Wednesday morning, Mauldin said the minutes reflect
that the vote was 3-2 in favor of recommending Harvard Jolly.
After the vote, Rossano and Mauldin took the results to County
Manager Ken Westmoreland "to get on the agenda for that night's
commissioners' meeting," Rossano said.
"Westmoreland said it was funny that Harvard Jolly bid for
the same amount the task force had to spend ($50,000). I said,
'Let me go back to Harvard Jolly to see if I could shave some
off the price,'" Rossano said.
Rossano visited the architects at their hotel that afternoon to
negotiate the $50,000 asking price down to $40,000, Bunn said.
Those negotiations, Young said, were "without the consent
of the task force and without the knowledge of the public."
However, Rossano contends that he never negotiated any contract
because his only job was to make a recommendation to county commissioners.
Also of concern to Bunn and Young was the fact that most of the
public attending the regularly-scheduled 12 to 2 p.m. task force
meeting were unaware that a vote was to take place after the two
firms' one-hour presentations. At 2 p.m., most of the audience
left, but task force members stayed on for more than an hour to
debate and vote.
"So much for the Sunshine Laws," Young wrote.
Young said one reason she voted against Harvard Jolly was their
high cost. While the firm said a feasibility study would cost
$50,000, Moseley, Wilkins and Wood quoted a $15,000 to $20,000
price.
In addition, Young was concerned that Harvard Jolly's proposed
series of public forums were unnecessary since the task force
had already conducted its own survey and forum.
She also questioned the firm's ultimate motives.
"(Harvard Jolly) presented a public forum process that, essentially,
would be convincing the public to support a joint library,"
Young said.
The task force members who supported Harvard Jolly's selection
said they did so because of the expertise of the firm's library
consultant, Ruth O'Donnell. Yet, when Rossano negotiated the firm's
price down to $40,000, he did so by cutting some of O'Donnell's
services, saying that SCC and Jackson County librarians could
instead do the job, Bunn said.
Upon questioning, Rossano said that O'Donnell would still play
a role in the feasibility study and that only a few of her tasks
will be cut, in order to reduce travel costs from Florida.
In other library news, Sylva town board members agreed Dec. 4
to pursue a meeting with county commissioners to discuss keeping
the library downtown.
"I don't think we've been as visible in this quest as we
could be," said town board member Maurice Moody, noting that
the downtown library registers 96,000 visitors each year, while
SCC has 8,000.
"If we lose the library off Main Street, it's going to have
an effect on business. I think we should at least put up a good
fight," Moody said.
During Tuesday's (Dec. 9) county commissioners' meeting, Buchanan
announced a Tuesday, Feb. 3, joint meeting of Sylva's board and
county commissioners to discuss the library.
Editor Lynn Hotaling contributed to this report.
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