The Macon County Board of Commissioners voted June 9 to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library, beginning a “year of demonstration” which may result in the FRL dissolving in 2027.
The discussion surrounding withdrawal was a surprise for many in attendance, as dozens of library board trustees and community members attended the meeting on other library business, filling the board’s usual meeting room and opening an overflow room where visitors could watch the proceedings remotely. Most were there to watch the appointment of three members to the Macon County Library Board of Trustees.
The conversation started during the board’s budget hearing, in which the board approved a revised 2026-27 budget. (See related story in June 17 edition of The Franklin Press).
As the conversation turned to FRL, Commissioners Barry Breeden, Danny Antoine and John Shearl asked if it made fiscal sense to remain in the system. The conversation comes in the wake of the FRL asking for $1,628,276 for operations in this year’s budget – up $337,925 from last year due to added expenses stemming from Jackson County’s decision to withdraw its libraries from the system.
The approved county budget allocated $1,249,601 for the library. The budget document says this number is a $23,967 increase from last year’s contribution.
Breeden asked County Manager Warren Cabe if Macon County would be able to offer the same services as the FRL for the county’s three libraries at a cheaper cost than the $1.6 million. Cabe, who said he was unprepared for the question, said he could pull together a number for the board and believed the county should aim to offer the same services, clarifying later that he would run “anything” the board asks for, but the quality of those services would depend on the investment the board put into it.
Breeden requested during the budget conversation a separate item be added to the agenda to discuss withdrawal from the system. The item had not been discussed or placed on the agenda prior to the meeting.
As per the FRL’s interlocal agreement, the board would need to vote before July 1, 2026, to withdraw in order to leave the system before July 1, 2027. If the county waited until July or later, it would instead have to wait until July 1, 2028, to leave the system.
“I just want to say that I know this is an emotional, politically driven issue,” Breeden said. “I just want to let everyone know where I stand … it does not make sense to stay in the FRL and pay hundreds of thousands or more dollars. I just don’t see a benefit of what that would be. We’re spending $300,000, $400,000 more a year and we’ll prop up basically another library.”
“We sat up here and said we don’t have any intentions of pulling out of the FRL, we said that in our meetings. But the problem with that is, Jackson County has pulled out of the FRL which leaves us footing the bill for us and another library,” he said. “It would behoove us to at least start from the process of pulling out.”
Shearl said, “There’s no other way to describe it, chairman, a financial burden on the taxpayers of Macon County. For what? What is FRL going to provide for the patrons of the library that would create the additional funding? … We own the building, we own the contents, we maintenance the place. We take care of it. Why would we pay?”
Members of the public said they do not believe the county owns the contents of the library.
Antoine said the board would have a full year to research the costs, impacts and consequences of withdrawal and could change its mind if commissioners decide to remain in the system. Board Chair Josh Young said Jackson County had left the FRL in a tough spot by sticking to the withdrawal vote it made in June 2025, leaving Macon County shouldering a disproportionate share of the cost.
Bill McGaha, the board chair for the FRL, said a preliminary outline of the FRL’s member counties’ financial contributions for the past eight years places Macon County and Jackson County as shouldering the vast majority of the FRL’s expenses, with Swain County contributing just 6%.
However, Cabe said he has been unable to speak with Swain County’s manager about these contributions and Cynthia Womble, a Swain County trustee to the FRL, has said the county contributes rent-free headquarters for the system which is not reflected in the numbers.
“If you look at the math, if you look at the numbers, I don’t know how we can carry the surplus of a county that contributes 6%,” Young said. “I mean, I’m not throwing Jackson County under the bus, but Jackson County left us holding the bag right here. I don’t know what else to do. I think we have to start the process tonight.”
“We just didn’t approve $2.4 million for schools. We had ambulances, cop cars [left out of the budget], and now we’re asking for half a million or more to go to a library that we’re holding everybody tight as it is.”
The commissioners voted 4-1 to withdraw with Commissioner Gary Shields opposed, saying he did not have enough information to support the withdrawal.
Next steps
The commissioners’ vote begins a year-long process, similar to what Jackson County has been doing since its decision in June 2025 to leave the system.
In order for the Jackson County’s withdrawal to become effective on July 1, 2026, the Jackson County commissioners had to notify FRL trustees, the Macon and Swain County Boards of Commissioners and the State Library of North Carolina by July 1, 2025, according to the three-county agreement signed in 2024. The intervening time began a “year of demonstration”’ where the county had to prove its ability to fulfill the requirements to receive state aid.
Jackson, Macon and Swain counties learned by March 1, 2026, they met the requirements to receive state aid for the 2026-27 fiscal year. According to the State Library of North Carolina, these requirements include having a full-time library director with or eligible for a N.C. public librarian certification, securing operational funds comparable to those of the previous three years, securing local funding at least equal to the state aid applied for and keeping up with state library reporting requirements.
The FRL currently does not have a full-time director and is managed by McGaha, who is acting as an interim director following the departure of Tracy Fitzmaurice earlier this year.
Macon County commissioners may rescind the decision to withdraw during that period of time. However, if June 30, 2027, arrives without a change, the FRL will dissolve and the assets purchased by the Fontana Regional Library will return to Macon and Swain counties. In the meantime, the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees will continue to act as the governing body over the Marianna Black, Nantahala Community, Macon County Public and Hudson libraries, minus the Jackson County trustees.
The impact on library services across Macon’s three libraries due to the withdrawal is presently unknown.
Deferment of appointments
The published agenda for the June 9 meeting included the three appointments to the Macon County Library Board of Trustees. The commissioners decided to defer appointments to the for the time being.
The board would retain six of its nine members, enough to establish a quorum, and give the county a chance to “restructure” the board to better suit the needs of a potential one-county system, Breeden said. Breeden added he would like to see a library board more representative of the county, as the current board overwhelmingly is made up of Highlands representatives with no Nantahala representatives.
The seats were previously filled by Leah Gaston, Diann Catlin and Justin Bohner. Eleven total applications were made for the seats, including the incumbent trustees, Linda (Suzi) Cabe, Kelley Curtis, Heather Dombroskie, Abigail James, Margaret Pickett, Serenity Richards, Angela Walker and Sondra Wolfe.
Breeden also mentioned during his statements he would like to see the FRL refrain from implementing any new policies for the time being but did not take action on the request. The FRL board will meet Monday, Jun3 15, to vote on a circulation policy amendment and has a meeting scheduled on June 22 to discuss a new collection and development policy.
Public Comments
Few of the public comments mentioned the decision to withdraw from the FRL by name, though most commenters had no notice of the decision prior to the meeting, and the decision to withdraw was not discussed outright until after the public comment period had concluded. Of the more than 15 members who spoke, several discussed the importance of the library to them and to the community.
The majority of speakers recommended the board appoint qualified, experienced staff members to the board or specifically spoke out against the reappointment of Gaston, Catlin and Bohner. The first pair of speakers, Macon County GOP chair Patti Trick and treasurer Bill Trick, both recommended the trio be reappointed. Patti Trick likened changes to the library and regional system as renovations which should be seen through by the current trustees. Bill Trick also requested commissioners withdraw from the FRL.
John Deville discussed the history and tradition of the Macon County Public Library, saying the original institution was started in the 1890s by a group of girls. The building was later moved to the old Masonic Lodge next to the Macon County courthouse downtown, before eventually landing at its current location on Siler Farm Road.
“I heard a reference a minute ago about taking up the carpet and getting into the subfloor about what’s going on the at the library,” he said. “For the last four years it has felt far more like a demolition, and we’re seeing discussion of further demolition tonight. Given 130 years of work that has gone into creating this tradition that we have in these counties, it is heartbreaking to hear cheering for demolition.”
Amy Medlock discussed how her experience growing up in an extremely strict religious group made the library essential to her education.
“The library for me was freedom. I learned the answers to my questions about my body and my own personal views on sexuality. No matter what I read, they didn’t change who I was. I learned about other religions and faiths that weren’t like the ones I was born into. I learned what a cult was,” she said. “The library stacks are where I dreamed of college, a career that I wanted and places I [sic] to see … and as an adult, the library is where I learned about my baby and how she was growing because I couldn’t afford to buy the books I desperately wanted to read as a first-time young mom. The most amazing thing about our library is that it's neutral ground.”