A fight over $45,000 this week exposed a much bigger question: who gets to control Anderson County’s public libraries?
For years, Anderson County’s libraries have been pulled into fights over books, policy, staffing and what a public library is supposed to be. This week, that fight moved into the chain of command.
When County Commission met Monday night to approve the county budget, $45,000 that had been set aside for part-time employees at Briceville, Clinton, Norris and Rocky Tophad been moved into a line for a new supervisory position.
The Library Board had never voted to create that position. And this was not just another hire. Under the proposed structure, the supervisor would have been under County Mayor Terry Frank, giving her direct authority over the library directors, including the power to fire them.
The money to create that position was coming out of the staffing budget.
At Monday’s meeting, library employees and residents warned commissioners what that could mean. Gina Long, then a part-time employee at Rocky Top Public Library, explained that libraries are places where staff try to say yes: yes, we can help you; yes, we can hold that program; yes, we can get that book.
Take away enough staff, she said, and eventually the answer becomes no.
Then commissioners started asking how the $45,000 got moved in the first place.
Commissioner Robert McKamey asked whether losing the money could cost part-time employees jobs or hours. Finance Director Robby Holbrook said he could not say for certain, but libraries would probably have to cut hours.
McKamey’s answer was simple: put the money back. If the Library Board wants an executive director or supervisor, let the Board decide that first and then ask for the money.
Commissioner Shain Vowell, who also chairs the Library Board, defended doing it in the opposite order.
“We felt it okay for the Budget Committee to go ahead and set aside those funds, transfer those funds,” he said. Once the money was available, the proposal would then go before the Library Board.
“In this particular case,” Vowell said, “it doesn’t matter if you put the cart first or the horse first.”
But when the proposal changes who has power over the people running our libraries, the order matters.
Even Mayor Frank acknowledged where the authority rested.
“The ultimate authority … belongs to the Library Board,” she told commissioners.
“Commission cannot tell the Library Board to hire somebody.”
County Commission ultimately voted to restore the $45,000 to part-time staffing.
The next night, the Library Board met.
Early in the meeting, the Board’s treasurer confirmed what Monday’s vote meant: “There will be no cutting of part-time staff at this point.”
Then Vowell faced a challenge for another term as chair. He survived 5–4.
Almost immediately afterward, a trustee began reading the duties of the chair aloud. The chair presides over meetings. The chair appoints committees. The chair performs the duties of a presiding officer.
Then:
“What the chairman doesn’t do is take things to County Commission before they’ve been discussed and voted on on the board.”
“So let’s keep that in mind.”
That one exchange gets to the point better than anything else said over those two nights.
The question is not whether Anderson County can ever change the way its libraries are administered. Maybe there is an argument for a systemwide supervisor. But that argument should happen before the money moves.
And Tuesday night showed why the money matters.
The Board accepted the resignation of Rocky Top Library Director Kelly Harris. A trustee noted that Briceville’s director is currently working without an assistant.
Then the Board discussed bonuses and raises County Commission had approved for county employees and ran into another problem: the library budget apparently could not afford them.
“Can we afford the bonus?” someone asked.
“No,” came the answer. “We can’t afford either.”
Board members discussed having roughly $15,000 available while the bonuses alone would cost more than $16,000. They tabled the issue while seeking more information.
So while libraries are short-staffed and struggling to find enough money for the employees they already have, $45,000 had been carved out of part-time staffing for a new layer of management.
And none of this is happening in a vacuum.
For years, Anderson County’s libraries have been at the center of a political fight over books, access and who gets to decide what a public library should be. Sitting members of this Library Board have openly questioned the role libraries are supposed to play. The Board is now dealing with a lawsuit, fights over challenged books, conflicting lists, state requirements and its own internal procedures.
Tuesday night, trustees acknowledged that the Board has “gotten away from” following some of its duties. Vowell also accepted responsibility for a Policy Committee meeting that could not be held because it had not been properly posted.
Against that backdrop, a proposal to move direct supervisory power over library directors into the mayor’s orbit deserves more than a budget-line transfer.
If Mayor Frank or anyone else believes the system needs a supervisor, put the proposal on an agenda. Spell out exactly what the job would do. Say who would hire that person, who could fire that person and who that person could hire or fire. Let the Library Board debate it in public. Let the directors speak. Let the employees speak. Let residents hear the case.
Then vote.
What happened this week was backwards: the money moved before the Library Board had made the decision.
County Commission stopped that Monday night.
But it did not end the fight over who controls Anderson County’s public libraries.
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Watch the full August 18 Anderson County Library Board meeting here.
