In a sharp rebuke to Fayette County, the town of Tyrone voted Thursday night to pursue a contract to remain in the Flint River Regional Library System.

In late December, Fayette County received notice that the regional library’s board had voted to remove the county from the system June 30. The controversy started swirling when Fayette County wanted answers for the more than $70,000 it contributes to the system every year.

But Town Manager Barry Amos said the town had never had a problem with the library system, and said the town could come out a loser if a new contract could not be renegotiated.

“We would lose the Galileo research tool, along with membership in the PINES system, which allows our patrons to get any book that’s in the system,” he said.

Amos said the town currently pays between $9,000-$11,000 a year for membership and he did not think the fee would increase.

“I just want to make sure that we wouldn’t have to make up any of the shortfall from the county not paying,” said Councilman Paul Letourneau.

Councilman Grace Caldwell also wanted to see what Fayette County plans on doing.

“As of last week, they did not have any plans or cost figures for how they would operate a library system,” Amos said.

Amos also added the town had never received any support for their library from the county.

login to post comments