As Macon County weighs whether to leave the Fontana Regional Library System, FRL trustees continue to push for policy changes that would require taxpayer dollars for attorney review.
Such was the case during the Sept. 14 meeting at the Macon County Public Library, where Board Chair Bill McGaha recommended exploring a change to how overdue fees for books and other items are handled.
Such fees have accumulated over the last decade and a half, McGaha said, to the tune of over $200,000. This is a common issue for libraries nationwide. While the chair argued for a policy that would prioritize accountability, some systems have gone the other direction. Wake and Mecklenburg counties in North Carolina have done away with fines altogether. Others have instated amnesty programs, which supporters aver promotes the return of long-overdue items and increased library usage.
The different paradigms led to a debate between McGaha and Trustee Justin Greene, appointed to the board to represent Swain County after former Trustee Cynthia Womble left at the beginning of July.
FRL since 1944 supported libraries in Swain, Macon, and Jackson counties, but in July Jackson officially withdrew over concerns regarding LGBTQ+ content and the notion that it could run its own system using less taxpayer money. In June of this year, Macon County began the same process. If that comes to fruition in July 2027, it will trigger the dissolution of the FRL system. At the time Macon voted to provide a notice of withdrawal, Commissioner Barry Breeden requested that the system refrain from making any policy changes as the county navigates ramifications of leaving FRL.
Fontana has been further plagued by a pending lawsuit filed by Swain County related to the system’s attempt to redistribute “surplus funds” to member counties, including Jackson. A judge has already issued an injunction prohibiting the system from “taking any action whatsoever, directly or indirectly, in furtherance of, pursuant to, or arising from the FRL board’s May 12, 2026 action authorizing or directing the distribution, transfer, disbursement, allocation, or conveyance of funds or assets to Jackson County, Macon County, and or/Swain County.”
Ahead of the discussion regarding overdue fees, three people offered public comment expressing to the board that they didn’t think it was prudent to consider policy changes that require attorney review when the system is staring down a potentially costly lawsuit and dissolution.
“I would like to just remind members of this board, especially those that were appointed by our Macon County commissioners, that at the June 9 meeting of our board of commissioners, Mr. Breeden, who is the liaison for our library, said that it was his wish that FRL make no new policies during this transition period that Macon County is leaving the FRL as appointees of our commissioners,” said Heather Dombroskie. “I think that is something that you should respect his wishes on. I also don’t think that it behooves taxpayers to be spending tax dollars to ask the attorney on new policies.”
While the circulation committee is responsible for the overdue fee policy, it was McGaha who explained the impetus for the request. He was recently made aware of a $3 overdue feed he’d been hit with. However, he’d received no notice of the fee until he went to check out a different book. He said he was advised that his library card wouldn’t be impacted until his fees reached $25, so there wasn’t any reason to pay it.
McGaha wondered how many others were in similar situations, so he asked for relevant statistics and found that there are 9,405 people with outstanding fees totaling almost $234,000. The lowest fee was 25 cents while the highest was $920. McGaha considered that it would be difficult to get that money back, aside from perhaps the highest fees that collection agencies may find worth their time to pursue.
“Our policy doesn’t protect us against some types of folks who will do types of things like this,” he said.
McGaha asked the circulation committee to brainstorm with administrative staff to outline changes that could be reviewed by the board’s attorney, Austin Von Henner. He also addressed public that the board is wasting time and taxpayer dollars to craft policies for a system that may not be around in less than a year, arguing that an effective policy would carry over to Macon and Swain counties following dissolution.
“I really don’t think the counties want to have that kind of loss either, so whatever we can do now might be useful to them … and there are some things that it will take a little bit of time and effort,” he said.
Greene, who is also a district court judge, said that Swain County’s Mariana Black Library Board, of which he’s a member, firmly opposes such a move.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and ask this attorney for more money now when you all are walking out the door … and we’re already having trouble meeting budgetary constraints,” he said.
Greene mentioned other options, including amnesty and doing away with fees and fines. He also said enacting the new policy would be “contrary to the sentiment that Macon County” expressed. In addition, he argued that outstanding overdue fees simply aren’t enough of an “emergency” to pursue.
McGaha was taken aback by Greene’s fervent rebuttal to his suggestion.
“I’m not quite sure, Justin, what you consider an emergency,” he said.
“The lawsuit that we’re facing,” Greene clapped back.
“Well since it’s your county that sued us, perhaps you can get them to do something about that,” McGaha said.
“I think there’s one person standing in the way of that,” Greene said, seemingly referring to McGaha, who as board chair can drive a board conversation to drop the surplus-fund reimbursement plan.
Redirecting to the matter at hand, McGaha explained that the board had previously considered a stricter overdue fee policy and that there were some who considered eliminating fines and fees. At that time, McGaha was in the camp that believed that without accountability a lot of people would simply never return books, he said. Greene noted that he’s not entirely opposed to recuperation of fines and fees, he didn’t want to see MBL bound by the policy after the FRL dissolution.
“You’re trying to put something into play that is really unnecessary,” he said. “They’re not asking for it this morning. They would love to get it back, but there are other means to do that, whether it’s amnesty, whether it’s issuing letters that don’t cost money and don’t have to go through this review with this attorney, to draw another policy that that we don’t need and don’t want.”
Newly hired interim director Jeffery Hall, who brings 30 years of experience to the role, joined the conversation, stating that he wrote a chapter in a book on library collections that discusses overdue fees. He said many libraries across the country are in a similar position and that most of the time, it isn’t worth pursuing those fees. Even taking someone to small claims court can be an expensive endeavor, and the money often isn’t recouped anyway, even if a collection agency is brought in, he said. In many cases, it simply punishes families already struggling to get by.
“In my opinion, we might be punishing those who actually follow the rules … because there are families who have multiple children that might check out 50 items at a time, and I don’t think we can prevent people from being dishonest through this policy change,” he said.
Because McGaha was calling for the committee and system leadership to investigate potential solutions and a policy change wasn’t on the table, there was no vote on the matter.