Jackson County commissioners have taken a huge financial step toward withdrawing from the Fontana Regional Library system by voting to use $350,000 from the county's fund balance to begin purchasing equipment and services needed to operate a standalone county library — after passing a tax increase last summer and after the county’s auditor reported tightening financial constraints during a Jan. 20 meeting.

Unlike the other four members of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, John W. Smith did not take the basic ethics training within 12 months of election as required by state law, The Smoky Mountain News has learned.

Editor's note: this story has been updated with a statement from Cynthia Mason Womble, acting chair of the Fontana Regional Library system board. 

In a historic decision that will reshape the future of public library services in Jackson County, commissioners voted Tuesday night to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library system after months of controversy over content and control.

Finally face to face amid a simmering standoff over library governance and subjectively inappropriate material in a regional library system that’s served locals for more than 80 years, Jackson County commissioners spent nearly three hours in a joint meeting with the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees on June 19 learning just how much they don’t know about running a library.

Faced with a mounting backlog of infrastructure needs, Jackson County commissioners have failed to agree on a basic annual budget yet continue to insist they can accurately forecast the added costs to taxpayers of withdrawing from the Fontana Regional Library system.

Two weeks after the Jackson County Commission floated a possible withdrawal from the Fontana Regional Library system, residents showed up to speak at the May 20 commission meeting for more than three and a half hours of public comment, with the majority voicing their opposition to withdrawal.