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County, board disagree over library

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

The latest power struggle in Coweta County does not center around political shenanigans.

Instead, the Coweta County Commission and the newly appointed Eastside Library Board are engaged over the size of the proposed new library near Thomas Crossroads.

Originally, the county intended to use $6 million of voter-approved SPLOST money to build a 22,000 sq.ft. library.

But, according to county administrator Theron Gay, the board is now looking at asking for a 35,000 sq.ft facility because of a $2 million grant from the state.

“We’re still looking at this grant, because we know we don’t have enough money to build that big a facility,” Gay said.

When the voters approved the SPLOST that included funds for the library, gay said the county was very specific in how the money would be allocated.

“We said $6 million would go for the new library, $1 million for the existing library in Newnan and $500,000 each to the libraries in Senoia and Grantville,” Gay added.

gay is currently compiling a library report to send to the County Commission and said the trend is to build smaller libraries.

“In Gwinnett and other areas, they’re all building libraries around 20,000 sq. ft,” he said.

Gay plans to submit his report to the commission next week, and said they will ultimately have the final say on the size of the building.