Gwinnett commissioners call on library board to reverse decision

By Patrick Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Three Gwinnett County commissioners have instructed the library board to reconsider its decision to restructure the library system.

Commissioners Kevin Kenerly, Mike Beaudreau and Bert Nasuti sent a letter to the five-member board and library executive director Nancy Stanbery-Kellam threatening to take measures into their own hands unless they halted plans to dispense with community libraries and set up a regional system.

That plan, approved by a 3-1 vote of the board Sept. 22, would divide the county into three regions, each with a regional library with expanded hours, three community branches and one computer lab.

"That board is completely and utterly out of control," Beaudreau said Thursday. "The letter is meant to be an ‘or else', a last resort before having to take irreversible action."

Beaudreau called the plan to dismantle the community library system a "crazy notion," at odds with the county's official comprehensive plan. He also said the measure was approved without any public input.

If the matter is not reversed, Beaudreau said, the county commission could strip funding or officially dissolve the library system and reconstruct it with a new board.