A Dacula business group pulled out some heavy hitters Friday to help in its fight to stop reorganization of the Gwinnett County library system.
At a special meeting at Dacula City Hall, representatives of the Dacula Business Association met with state and local officials to map out a strategy to reverse a decision made Tuesday by the library board. That decision, passed 3-1, calls for changing the county’s neighborhood library model into a regional system, with three regional libraries, nine neighborhood libraries and three computer labs.
Chad Parson, president of the business association, said the group included state Sen. Renee Unterman, state Rep. Donna Sheldon, County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau, Dacula Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks, former County Administrator Charlotte Nash and library board member Phillip Saxton.
“Our goal is to preserve the community-based library system,” Parson said.
Parson said plans still call for filing for an injunction to halt the board action before it is implemented.
“We have a problem with one unelected official, Nancy Stanbery-Kellam [the library system’s executive director], making a systemwide change that affects 800,000 people in Gwinnett,” Parson said.
The restructuring was approved by the library board at a meeting in Lawrenceville that drew more than 70 people. Most were on hand to protest an earlier board decision to close the Dacula library and transfer its resources to the $7.4 million Hamilton Mill Library Branch, set to open early next year.
While the board action keeps the Dacula branch open, the restructuring plan calls for it to be converted into a computer lab with no books in stock. Similar conversions will take place at the Lilburn and Snellville branches.
The decision drew the ire of most in the audience, as well as about two dozen residents forced to wait outside the packed meeting room.
Beaudreau said he was outraged by the library board action, calling it “reckless.” He said it was an insult to those who donated property for the library.
“It’s an abomination,” he said. “We’re going to get this thing under control and have some accountability.”
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