<< Back 12/17/03 Resignations splinter library task force By Sarah Kucharski December marks a pivotal month for the Joint Library Task Force, as two of its five members resigned and Chairman Joe Rossano has said that the group’s future is uncertain. John Bunn and Linda Young quit the task force Dec. 2 and 3, respectively, citing a dispute about the group’s Nov. 25 vote to select an architectural firm to conduct a feasibility study. They also said there was an underlying sentiment that the task force exists only to convince the public of a joint library’s virtue. Jackson County officials and library users are embroiled in an ongoing debate to decide the location of a new library. County leaders support building a joint facility with Southwestern Community College on its Webster campus, and they argue that combining their resources with SCC will lead to much better library. Many library users — and Sylva town officials — want to keep the library downtown. The county is the primary funding agent for the library. The task force had selected two firms — Harvard, Jolly, Clees and Toppe of Florida and Moseley, Wilkins and Wood of Charlotte — to give presentations about their ideas for planning a joint library between the county and SCC. The Tampa firm had taken on four such projects in the past and included librarian Ruth O’Donnell as a project consultant. The Charlotte firm had no prior experience with joint library ventures. According to meeting minutes taken by task force member Don Williamson, the task force voted 3-2 to hire Harvard, Jolly, Clees and Toppe was selected 3-2. Members Diane Schallock and Williamson voted for the firm, members Bunn and Young voted against, and chairman Rossano provided the tie breaking “yes” vote, according to minutes. However, in a resignation letter to Jackson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Stacy Buchanan, Bunn wrote that he had recorded the vote differently. While the original vote was 2-2, a final hearing resulted in a 3-1 vote, which would have defeated the motion to award the contract to Harvard, Jolly, Clees and Toppe. “In my notes I indicated (and I felt certain this was the case) that committee member, Ms. Schallock, had voted against the motion on the second hearing and in favor on the initial hearing,” Bunn wrote. Another dispute erupted when task force members found out that Rossano had personally negotiated a cost with the firm that was $10,000 less than originally proposed, taking the cost from $50,000 to $40,000. Competing firm Moseley, Wilkins and Wood’s bid was between $15,000-$20,000. Rossano took on the negotiations “without the consent of the Task Force and without the knowledge of the public” Young wrote in her resignation letter. Nevertheless, Rossano took the vote awarding the contract to Harvard, Jolly, Clees and Toppe and his $40,000 price tag to county commissioners. The move angered Young, who wrote that the Harvard firm supported a public input process that would attempt to convince the public to sign onto the idea of a joint library. “First, we already had a survey and a forum, and secondly, I do not believe that the public would enjoy forum after forum,” Young wrote. “I thought that an architectural consultant would be concerned about location, geological acceptance and easement, monies funded and available as a part of the desired building components, design, and community space needs.” However, county librarian Michael Cartwright said that this statement is in direct contradiction to Young’s earlier demand for public input gathering. Young had insisted that the task force’s charge of undertaking a feasibility study include a segment on public opinion and whether the community would be in support of such a joint facility, Cartwright said. It was this desire for input that led to surveys being placed in local newspapers and handed out at Wal-Mart, Ingles and Harold’s Supermarket, Cartwright said. Approximately 500 responses were collected; however, the information was “pretty much what you would expect,” Cartwright said. During Harvard, Jolly, Clees and Toppe’s presentation, Young requested that the findings be included in a feasibility report. But library consultant O’Donnell said that while she could possibly include the survey findings, it would only be with a disclaimer stating that the findings were not her own work, Cartwright said. With Bunn and Young’s resignations, two positions are left open on the task force — two positions that most likely will be hard to fill. “I really hated to lose those two,” Rossano said. For now county commissioners, who made the first round of appointments to the task force, have left the task of finding replacements in the hands of the remaining members. At the commissioners’ meeting Dec. 9, Buchanan filled in his fellow commissioners about the matter. The commissioners agreed to request that the task force appear at the next meeting, scheduled for Jan. 13, with recommendations for persons to fill the openings. Rossano said that it was doubtful that he and Williamson would be there, as they both were planning on being out of town. Rossano could not speak for Schallock. “A lot of it is not based on any sort of logical process. It’s more of an emotional, gut reaction,” said Cartwright, who has drawn heat for supporting the joint venture. Usage has been on the downturn at the Sylva library for the past two years, but in general the library registers about 100,000 users per year and only has 19 parking spaces. Usage would be expected to increase by virtue of a more accessible location — 300 parking spaces just off N.C. 16 near SCC. Cartwright said that he had no problems with maintaining the downtown branch, as he would like to see increased Internet offerings, children’s programming and possibly the Friends of the Library bookstore moved into the building. While the compromise is appealing to many, it doesn’t seem to be a reality since it would take about $250,000 to renovate the downtown library and $55,000 per year to operate it. The county has laid the building’s future at the town’s feet, Cartwright said. “I don’t see any way the town is going to make that happen,” he said.