Fontana library trustees get bogged down on small changes
The November FRL board meeting was held in Jackson County.
File photo
The Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees is again struggling to implement changes as it trudges forward without legal representation.
At the Nov. 12 meeting, held in Jackson County, Cynthia Womble, who in September resigned her position as board chair but remains on the board, again expressed concern that Rady Large, an attorney who worked with the board on a pro bono basis, took a new job and couldn’t continue that service.
Now, as Jackson County prepares to withdraw from the library system, there are important policy, personnel and financial decisions that must be made, and there is still no one analyzing crucial decisions that could potentially lead to litigation.
“It is worth it to find the right firm, not just someone who’s willing to do it [even though] it’s outside the scope of what they usually practice,” Womble said.
There were two relatively small issues where board members struggled to agree and fell into circular discussions.
First, Trustee Deborah Smith offered a brief speech ahead of a motion — a speech that created a feeling that something of substance was about to be discussed. Smith made her point as informed by both her position on the board and her career as a mental health professional. She said she has counseled numerous couples where each person thinks they’re the “injured party.”
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“This seems much like the divide in our nation and community,” she said.
FRL trustees have been caught up in numerous debates that focus little on services or finances but are more so a reflection of national culture wars. In that debate, Smith claimed that both sides seem to have lost their willingness to listen to the other side, and now the debate has become disrespectful on a personal level. She was even more concerned by what she considers a lack of desire among those who criticize her and other members of the board to even hear what they stand for.
“Not one single person in the last 10 months has asked me that question,” she said, noting specific disappointment with local leadership and media.
Smith clarified that she doesn’t want to ban or remove books; she wants to move certain books “where the main theme is human sexuality” to “an adult section.” While such a move isn’t tantamount to banning materials, it is a form of soft censorship that has come under increasingly intense debate. Smith denied that moving certain books would be a veiled attempt to marginalize the LGBTQ or any other community.
While Smith said she doesn’t consider efforts by libraries to promote such books “grooming,” a term commonly used by those with most extreme arguments against LGBTQ content, she considers what may be a noble purpose to promote inclusivity as potentially dangerous for impressionable minds not yet able to grasp mature content.
“My position is that children under the age of puberty are not mature sexually, emotionally or psychologically,” she said.
Smith pivoted to her main point, questioning whether the Fontana Regional Library system should “affiliate” with certain community organizations, from those that support marginalized members’ groups to entirely noncontroversial entities like county Rotary clubs. Her main concern regarded Sylva’s Cornbread and Roses . According to CBR’s website, it is a “2SLBTQIA+ led and focused nonprofit dedicated to creating an inclusive and affirming space for individuals from marginalized communities in rural Western North Carolina.”
“Our mission is to foster community, celebrate diversity, and provide holistic therapeutic support to empower personal growth, resilience, and healing,” CBR’s mission statement reads. “We exist to fill vital gaps in service and to create community in the tradition of our Appalachian heritage with love, joy, pride, solidarity and good food.”
On its website, the nonprofit maintains a “Rainbow Directory,” a list of organizations and businesses in Sylva that are “LGBTQ-affirming.” On that list, Jackson County Public Library is included among the likes of MANNA Food Bank, NC Harm Reduction Coalition, Pisgah Legal Services and The Community Table. Smith took issue with the library’s inclusion on that page. She noted with palpable concern that she’d seen that CBR had hosted a workshop for “queer witches and spiritualists” that encouraged participants to bring “an item of significance” to be placed on a community altar.
She was further worried that she’d seen a photo of FRL Director Tracy Fitzmaurice — an increasingly frequent target of scrutiny for some newer board members — in a photo with CBR members.
“Should the FRL be doing that?” she asked, adding that the workshop had a “religious vibe.”
“But the FRL won’t offer anything as an acknowledgement that Christmas is a Christian celebration,” she said. “That would be proselytizing, we’re told.”
Smith didn’t suggest trading one worldview for another; rather, she advocated against promoting any world view whatsoever at any facility. She moved to no longer affiliate with CBR or “any other community organization unless [the library system] affiliates with all, thereby being nondiscriminatory.” It was seconded by Marva Jennings, a board member from Jackson County who also thanked Smith for her words, calling them “very enlightened and very bold.”
Fitzmaurice noted that FRL doesn’t put any money or resources toward any of those organizations, although it had paid one former staffer’s rotary dues at one point, and any organization is free to rent library facilities. But support can come in many forms like the Rainbow Directory, for example.
“We didn’t put ourselves there. They build their directory and put us on there,” Fitzmaurice told trustees.
The concern shifted to a sticker showing support for CBR that is on a window near the front door of the Jackson County Library. Fitzmaurice noted that the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce also has a sticker in the same area as CBR’s. Smith said she thought that chambers of commerce aren’t usually protested for their politics.
“There aren’t going to be groups picketing the chamber of commerce because they don’t like their social, political or cultural perspective,” she said.
Womble challenged that claim, saying that chambers of commerce in some areas have come under scrutiny for promoting certain ideologies or groups over others. There’s one “in our area” that “had to think long and hard about what the theme was going to be for their Christmas parade because they were afraid that certain groups in the community would misinterpret it as backing something religious or cultural,” Womble said.
Jennings opined that there could be a “one-for-one” situation where a sticker from one kind of group can be paired with a sticker representing a group that believes the opposite.
“So if there was a pro-LGBTQ group, you’d want to endorse an anti-LGBTQ group to balance it?” Womble asked.
At this point, Board Chair Bill McGaha broke into the conversation in an attempt to direct traffic and refocus the board. However, as the dialogue continued, it became clear that little was actually understood about the issue or what ramifications Smith’s proposal may have. Jennings recommended digging deeper, including into whether someone from the library ever filled out any kind of paperwork stating their support for CBR.
“If an application was made, we need to know it,” she said. “If an application was not made and they are putting us on their website or anywhere else that we are endorsing them, we need to know.”
“We are not endorsing. We are linked on many websites. I don’t know how many websites link to the library. I have no control over what websites do,” Fitzmaurice said, adding that the photo Smith was concerned about that included her was taken at an “afterhours event downtown,” that wasn’t specific to CBR.
Either way, most on the board seemed to agree that the prudent thing to do would be to seek removal from the list, something Womble again challenged.
“You are removing us as a community resource for people,” she said. “Just wanted to make sure that’s in the equation when the choice is made.”
“This is about trying to create an environment in our libraries, all of them, so that any person with any worldview, ideology, can walk in and not be triggered by something that they see that looks like the library is aligned with this group or that group with which I do not agree,” Smith said.
Trustee Tony Monnat took this logic to a possible conclusion.
“I worry that we’re going to end up having a blank library,” he said. “We’re wanting to be neutral, which means zero. I think the library needs to be for all. That could mean the [fraternal order of police], this cornbread organization, Mainspring. All of these worldviews can come to the library, which is the opposite of zero.”
There was some disagreement over whether the move would need an official policy, and ultimately a committee was formed to explore the issue, something that is becoming commonplace at each meeting for issues — big or small — that crop up.
Getting rid of professional dues, which has been brought up at the last few meetings, was also discussed. These dues pay for staffers’ or libraries’ memberships in organizations that enhance their development in the field, provide resources and come with discounts on materials like books.
Trustee Lori Richards proposed a budget amendment that would move money from each library’s professional dues into books, an idea she said was catalyzed by her interest in the board’s fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers. The move would total $1,440, or 0.03% of the library system’s total budget.
Womble asked whether some of these funds were from restricted donations and not taxpayers, making them untouchable. She also questioned whether moving those funds would impact any upcoming membership renewals with any professional organizations that may affect library staff or operations.
“What are we really trying to do here?” Womble, who appeared more exasperated as the meeting wore on, asked.
Fitzmaurice noted that it would eliminate her membership in the North Carolina Public Library Directors Association, which is up for repayment in December.
Despite outstanding concerns and unanswered questions, the board voted 5-3 in favor of Richards’ motion with Womble, Monnat and Trustee Marsha Moxley voting against the measure.
“So we just voted on something we don’t understand,” Womble said, to no response.
