System in limbo after county contract halted by FRRLS board

The Peachtree City Library might continue receiving services from the Flint River Regional Library System, even though the FRRLS board has voted to halt a contract to deliver services to Fayette County.

City officials are due to meet today with state library officials to determine if they can continue to receive regional services even if county officials elect to form a separate “regional level” system for Fayette County. Randy Gaddo, director of leisure services for Peachtree City, said the city would certainly prefer to continue working with the Flint River Regional Library System.

For $15,000 a year, the city has all its books barcoded, prepared to be placed on the shelf and entered into the PINES computer network, the latter of which can only be done by a librarian with a master’s degree, Gaddo said. Also, FRRLS maintains the necessary financial reports that must be filed with state officials in addition to providing book delivery services.

Although FRRLS has a centralized ordering system for books, the city purchases its own books, officials said.

The library has eight full-time and 12 part-time personnel.

Peachtree City officials worry that it would cost far more than $15,000 a year to perform the services that FRRLS provides, Gaddo said.

“It’s an incredible amount of work,” Gaddo said.

Ultimately, the city is also worried about maintaining quality of service also, he added.

“It’s excellent service, and we’ve worked very hard to get to that level,” Gaddo said.

The Peachtree City library is the only one in the county open seven days a week; it opens on Sundays while the libraries in Fayetteville and Tyrone are closed.

The decision by the FRRLS board to cut ties with Fayette County was in part due to questions about finance posed by Fayette officials. County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn has said he thinks the county overpaid FRRLS because the county was charged per person for all county residents including those in the cities while the cities also paid FRRLS yearly fees under the 1982 contract at the same time.

Gaddo said there are some issues the city would like to improve with a new contract with FRRLS, but overall officials are “extremely pleased” with the FRRLS services.

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