Public use of the Jackson County Public Library’s community room could be significantly restricted under a proposed policy presented to county commissioners last week.
The new policy states the room would be limited to library and county government uses only. The move is a part of the larger effort by Jackson County officials to establish new policies for the county’s two public libraries since its official exit from the Fontana Regional Library system that went into effect July 1.
“Policies that make people feel unwelcome don’t just discourage room reservations, they discourage community participation,” said community member Rachel Huffman during the public comment period at last week’s commissioners meeting. “If business is taken elsewhere because the library community room is not seen as something for everyone, the cost will be measured in far more than dollars.”
Huffman was one of several community room advocates who spoke during the public comment period, urging commissioners to allow the public to continue to rent out the space.
The large community room was touted as one of the new JCPL Complex highlights during the capital campaign for the project between 2007 and 2009. Friends of the JCPL volunteer and retired school librarian Antoinette MacWatt said the room restrictions sting particularly hard given how integral the community was in fundraising for it. In total, community members raised over $1.8 million for the JCPL Complex project, while the county provided the remaining $7 million needed to renovate the historic 1914 courthouse.
“That’s something that’s been, really, a point of pride for this community that we were able to raise that much money,” MacWatt said. “It feels a little bit like a slap in the face.”
Commissioners agreed to table a vote on the new policy to allow for more time to review the changes, but Chairman Mark Letson said he expects the board will pass the new room usage restrictions.
The Smoky Mountain News has reached out to Jackson County’s four other commissioners for comment on the policy change, and none, apart from Letson, responded before this article’s publication.
Commissioners did not comment on the new policy at last week’s meeting, and the county has not publicly explained the proposal. However, Letson, along with many attendees at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, believes it is part of a broader cultural backlash against LGBTQ+ materials and events at the library.
“I’m opposed to it. I think it’s a public space, and everyone should have access to that,” Letson said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a church, if it’s an LGBTQ event, if it’s a band, if it’s a high school group, I don’t care. We’re here to provide services for the community, and those services may vary.”
Part of what is so puzzling about the new restrictions proposed at the JCPL is that no such restrictions are proposed in the draft policy for the community room at the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library that was also presented to commissioners at last week’s meeting.
In the proposed Carlton Cashiers library policy, there are no restrictions on who can rent out the community room for any permitted uses, including meetings, private celebrations, art shows and “other similar and appropriate uses approved by the county manager,” though library and county government employees would be prioritized over other groups.
Sylva resident Chris Hamlet spoke during the public commenting period at last week’s meeting and raised questions as to the legality of the proposed policies.
“Counties are not legally allowed to geographically discriminate access to public meeting spaces within a county, which includes public library meeting rooms,” he said. “Banning local groups from using the local library meeting room in one part of the county while allowing it in another part of the county crosses into discrimination at the state level.”
William Shelton, former Jackson County Commissioner who championed the JCPL Complex project during his tenure in public office, called the county’s move to exit the FRL and its subsequent consequences a travesty. He said the proposed policy change for the JCPL community room contradicted its intended use.
“It should be there for the public, and whatever group or whatever people, if they book it and pay whatever they pay to use it, they should be allowed to do it,” he said. “That is America. That’s the First Amendment. That’s freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and that’s a public space that’s there for public use, and that’s my feeling.”
Letson said the proposed library policies are a rough draft and starting point modeled after similar policies in place at the Department of Aging. He’s weary of possible legal risks if the policies are accepted, especially given that a recent FRL decision to disburse some $1.3 million in surplus funds to Swain, Jackson and Macon Counties is being held up in court following a June Superior Court temporary enjoinment restraining order.
The uncertain future of the $1.3 million surplus FRL funds, along with the larger uncertainty surrounding the additional costs the county will incur as a result of managing the library outside the FRL system, make the new policy all the more puzzling.
“Jackson County has underestimated the financial cost of separating from the FRL, and there is uncertainty about whether we will receive any funds through the dissolution process,” Huffman said in her public comment. “At a time when every taxpayer dollar matters, it makes no sense to impose restrictions on a public space that should be serving as many community members as possible.”
Though the JCPL community room isn’t a large revenue source for the library, room rental fees, which range from $12 to $400, total to around $34,000 from 2012 to 2025 according to library data.
To MacWatt, who has volunteered at the Friends of JCPL bookstore raising funds for the library since 2004, that is no small amount, and she and other library lovers have united around the community room issue.
“It makes me hopeful and proud that there are people that care about a public entity that serves everybody and should serve everybody without restriction,” she said. “We’re all different people. We all react differently. I, for one, can have a pretty foul mouth, and some people get upset when I do, and none of that seems to be important when we can be galvanized around supporting a library.”