The Columbia County Library System board held its first meeting on Thursday, Nov. 4.
At the start of the meeting, County Manager Scott Johnson spoke about how the Columbia County Library System came to be. He said the Columbia County Board of Commissioners made the decision to become its own region when it comes to the library system, but will still be involved with the state.
“We’ve been in constant communication with the state. We’ve talked to the state librarian many times over about how we would do this,” Johnson said. “So this is the first step in moving toward Columbia County being its own region. Really what that it boils down to, Columbia County will just now be a single county region in the state system, everything else remains the same as it relates to PINES.”
Johnson said that in making the county a single-county regional system, the Board of Commissioners are having the system run by the library board of directors. The board of directors is appointed by the commissioners and the District 2 seat will be filled once the Nov. 4 election results are certified and Commissioner-elect Jim Steed is sworn in.
“The county is very much interested, again in allowing the board to really run the library board operations,” Johnson said. “This board is going to be responsible for hiring a regional library director and then some other employees as far as the state is concerned. Then the board will also ultimately oversee all library operations as it is the county’s plan to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with this board for the board to be completely in charge of all the employees in the library, all decisions, all the things that are going on around the library.”
The current library board members and their initial terms are:
- Connie Melear, countywide representative, Dec. 31, 2026 (Melear is currently the Board of Commissioners District 1 Commissioner)
- Rusty Jarrett, District 1 representative, Dec. 31, 2026
- Vacant, District 2 representative, Dec. 31, 2028
- Secelia Brown, District 3 representative, Dec. 31, 2028
- John Luton, District 4 representative, Dec. 31, 2026 (Luton is currently the Community Services division director)
Following the initial terms, all future board members will be appointed to four-year terms.
During the meeting, board members voted Connie Melear, countywide representative, as chair and John Luton, District 4 representative, as vice chair. The board elected to have the future regional director act as the secretary/treasurer once he or she is appointed.
The board approved the constitution and bylaws, which were sent to them prior to the meeting, with no discussion.
Community members voice their opinions
During the public comment portion of the meeting, several community members spoke at the meeting, with several voicing their concerns about the county forming its one system.
One of the speakers was Karin Parham, CEO of the Freedom to Read Coalition of Columbia County, who questioned having Melear and Luton on the board, citing a concern that they’re both with the county.
“It may be legal and no offense to Commissioner Melear and John Luton, but when we have a sitting commissioner as the chair and then we have a county employee who technically works for you, it leads to this not seeming like it’s a very independent board,” Parham said. “Because we can assume Mr. Luton is not going to want to make you (Melear) mad, he’s going to do what you tell him.”
She also said that the commissioners creating a single-county library system felt like a “power grab” because, as Parham claimed, the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library Board wanted to amend or change the library guidelines that were adopted in September 2024.
Susan Warren also questioned having Melear and Luton on the library board, along with voicing concerns about the recent changes to the library.
“I really do feel that it’s not in the county’s best interest to have a sitting commissioner and a county employee as board directors. Especially when they start appointing each other for various positions. That just doesn’t sit well with me.”
Kaitlin Giddens asked the board members to not bring the guidelines into the new library system. She added that the county librarians should be left alone to do the jobs they were trained to do without micromanaging from others.
“We have lost a significant amount of amazing librarians due to the actions of the previous board and this county,” Giddens said. “I can say that from experience from my time in the children’s section at this library, going to story time. Lizzie leaving was awful and I sincerely hope that each of you take time to reflect on that and decide to move forward in a different manner and in could faith. Please note that holding up adult books and calling them pornographic children’s picture books in order to push an agenda fueled by your own biases against people that are not bothering you in anyway is not an example of moving forward in good faith.”
Anna Muza asked for some clarification on the constitution and bylaws about the reconsideration process since the bylaws have the board meeting at least once a quarter. Melear said that the once a quarter meeting was the minimum they would meet, but they could have more meetings as needed.
Luton also commented on the reconsideration process, stating once a regional director is hired, the board and director will work to develop the collection development policy and the reconsideration process will be included in that document.
Before the meeting ended, Secelia Brown, the District 3 representative, said she sees and hears everything that the community members had to say at the meeting.
“I think it’s important to say that… we see you, we hear you, and I would hope and pray that everyone’s opinions also would be seen and heard moving forward,” Brown said. “I think it’s all of our hearts and intention to make sure that everyone feels seen and heard, at least it’s mine. So, I hope we can make you guys feel that way as well.”
