The Fontana Regional Library has held part of Tracy Fitzmaurice’s heart for over half of her life, and now she must consider what to do without it.

Fitzmaurice, 60, first came to the region during a March 1985 vacation. While in the region, she visited Western Carolina University. After returning home to England, she applied to attend college in the place that instantly captured her heart, and in August 1985, she made the move. 

The palpable undertones of tension felt at the last several Fontana Regional Library board meetings seemed to have subsided at last week’s trustees meeting, but the system’s challenges continue to mount. 

For months, Jackson County commissioners have been making material decisions to advance a costly and widely criticized plan to pull its two libraries from the Fontana Regional Library system.

Nonetheless, in 2025, the Jackson board proposed three amendments which, contingent on passage by fellow FRL-member counties Macon and Swain, might convince commissioners to change their course. 

To the Editor:

I want to address the financial issues involved with the decision by the Jackson County commissioners to leave the Fontana Regional Library System. 

This past June citizens of Jackson County experienced a significant tax increase. The commissioners made a show at the June meeting of “lowering” the tax rate.

Fontana Regional Library Director Tracy Fitzmaurice has tendered her resignation letter.

Amid growing financial concerns, Jackson County’s four Republican commissioners have spent the last few years fighting a culture war. On March 3, Primary Election voters will weigh in on their priorities. 

Over the past four budget cycles, Jackson County commissioners have overseen a steady expansion of county government, with the general fund growing from $71.7 million in fiscal year 2021-22 to $106.9 million in 2025-26, an increase of roughly 49% over five years.

The seeds of chaos sown into the fertile soil of the embattled Fontana Regional Library system over the last few years have sprouted. 

The FRL Board of Trustees has struggled to function over the last year, but things have come to a head the last couple of weeks as trustees, local media and a former librarian all received anonymous emails riddled with misinformation and threats. All the while, the board is still without an attorney, and now, that lack of representation is holding up crucial decisions.

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.

While some originally hoped — and continue to hope — that a series of amendments to the Fontana Regional Library System proposed by Jackson County commissioners might ameliorate enough of their concerns to allow them to remain in the decades-long partnership with the FRL system, a questionable pamphlet and an academically dubious “list of inappropriate books” being circulated by FRL opponents suggests otherwise, even as FRL supporters report troubling visions of Christmas future if commissioners don’t turn back soon. 

To the Editor:

For nearly 100 years, the Fontana Regional Library System has reflected the traditional mountain values of literacy, truth and community responsibility. These values guided our grandparents who built the first libraries in these mountains. They guided our parents who supported them. And they guide many of us today. Yet these long-held values are now at risk.