As Monday’s, July 15, Athens City Council meeting was nearing its end, Roy Mattson, a two-year Athens resident, took the mic during the open discussion segment of the meeting to talk about his displeasure with the makeup of the Athens-Limestone County Public Library Board.
An issue that had seemingly only been reserved for the Limestone County Commission during the past few months, has now spilled over into the council’s regular meeting.
“I know the library policy/board has become a controversial and uncomfortable topic,” Mattson said. “It’s a joint library, it’s jointly funded and jointly owned. The fact that the library board doesn’t include county representation is basically inappropriate.”
The County Commission has been dealing with the library issue for the past few months, hearing from concerned residents who have voiced their opinions on the materials allowed in the younger sections of the library.
In their meeting on Tuesday, June 4, commissioners voted unanimously to approve a resolution that will allow for the creation of a joint library board with the city.
According to the Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly, the goal of the commission is to work with the council to have at least two of the five board members be appointed by the county.
“As it currently stands, there are five members of the library board because the county commission vacated two seats years ago,” Dana Henry, president of the Athens City Council, told The News Courier after the meeting adjourned. “There is activity in motion towards changing that, and we’ll look into the situation.”
Henry confirmed that the council will be working toward a resolution on the situation with the commission, but could not say much on the appointments as they are still early in the process.
“Before it was a seven member board, and now it is five,” Henry said. “So, we will have to look at the numbers in terms of the makeup and how many members will be there. We have not worked out those details yet.”
Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks did not say much on the matter, but he did say that a resolution is certainly in the works between the two groups of elected officials, noting the judicial side of the issue.
“Our city attorney and the county attorney are working to bring a resolution to us, or a recommendation,” Marks told The News Courier on Monday. “We’ve been working on this for months.”