Should I stay or should I go?: Leaked email urges covert FRL dissolution
Just months after Jackson, Macon and Swain counties reached an agreement to approve a new version of the Fontana Regional Library interlocal agreement following more than two years of controversy, an email originating from the account of a Macon County Library Board member plots a path for dissolution.
“Leaving the FRL needs to be discussed by commissioners in Macon and Jackson behind the scenes with a ‘surprise’ decision to leave when the time comes just as Yancey voted unanimously to leave their regional system while the regional library director was conveniently out of town,” the email reads. “If this possibility of exiting FRL is being discussed in the open, the lunatic left will mobilize and come out in full force with all their tired lies to create huge controversy. It must be kept behind the scenes until action.”
The email originated from the account of Macon County Library Board member Leah Gaston but is signed by “jim” after the first two sentences in the email; Jim Gaston is Leah’s husband. The recipient’s name on the email, which was leaked by an unidentified source but verified by The Smoky Mountain News, was redacted.
Jim Gaston has been a vocal advocate for dissolving the Fontana Regional Library since discussions to do so began more than two years ago. He has also advocated for cutting ties with the American Library Association.
Neither Leah nor Jim Gaston responded to requests for comment.
Macon County Commission Chairman Josh Young was the first to publicly denounce the email.
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“Just for the record, I’d like to reiterate that we just signed a 10-year, bipartisan, good faith contract with Fontana Regional Library, and I don’t know where these emails are coming from; I hate to say I really don’t care,” Young said during a Feb. 11 Macon County Commission meeting. “We signed a 10-year good faith agreement, and I feel like that’s where we’re at with it, so I really don’t even put any merit to that email.”
The new Fontana Regional Library interlocal agreement, collaboratively workshopped and updated by all three counties in the system, was signed by Macon County in November .
“As liaison to the library, at this time I’d like to make a recommendation for the board to enter into contract with FRL interlocal agreement,” said Commissioner Danny Antoine during the Nov. 12 commission meeting. “Jackson County passed it, Swain County passed it, so if there’s no discussion on it, I’d like to make a motion to enter into that agreement.”
Antoine was the first commissioner to raise issues with the library back in March 2023, when he floated the idea of withdrawing Macon County from the Fontana Regional Library system due to his concerns with books containing LGBTQ content or themes. During a meeting at that time, Antoine said that he was working on pulling Macon County out of the system.
“For those of you who have stated about pulling out of the Fontana Regional System, believe me, I’m completely on board with that,” Antoine said at the time. “It’s not a simple process. It is a hard process that we’re definitely working super hard on, trying to figure out how to do this the best way because you can’t just pull out of that system and leave the library hanging by itself. We have to have a system in place to be able to make sure that the library is functioning correctly.”
But that process turned out to be complicated and could possibly cost the county more money than it was already spending on the library, so Antoine and members of the public with similar concerns, turned to the FRL interlocal agreement that governs the regional library system.
Fontana Regional Library formed in 1944 when the Tennessee Valley Authority sponsored a regional bookmobile to visit the most remote areas of Jackson, Macon and Swain counties.
Today, the system offers full library services to the three counties. By combining cataloging, human resources, finance departments and information technology services for libraries in the three counties, administrators say it is cheaper for each county than if they were to provide for each of those departments individually. The regional agreement is renewed every 10 years and can be dissolved or withdrawn from at any time.
In November 2023, Macon County commissioners released an initial set of recommended changes to the FRL agreement. Almost a year later, in August 2024, Swain and Jackson County commissions approved a new version of the agreement that contained some significant changes to the revision previously put forth by Macon County.
Among the changes approved in the final interlocal agreement is the authority for commissioners to appoint members to the Fontana Regional Library Board. The document says that county commissioners “may” select from recommendations made by their respective county library board, though it is not required.
The email from Leah Gaston’s account states that “exiting the FRL must be justified as economic reasons. Less blowback and leftist drama. It’s all about the financials. If a county leaves the FRL, it is going to require much work to coordinate; probably the county manager of the exiting county(s). If Jackson and Macon can both simultaneously pull out of the FRL, the FRL ceases to exist and all FRL assets are divided equally between the 3 counties. This seems to be the best route if Jackson and Macon teamed up and worked through the exit together and also provided cover for each other by both leaving for financial reasons.”
The FRL interlocal agreement stipulates that if a county were to withdraw from the FRL system, “furniture and fixtures purchased by the Friends of the Library within the withdrawing county will remain with their respective library, and books and audiovisual materials will also remain with each library.”
However, “assets located in the local library facility that were purchased by Fontana Regional Library with Fontana Regional Library funds and intended for Fontana Regional Library regional support services will remain assets of Fontana Regional Library.”
The author of the email appears to aim to circumvent that stipulation by orchestrating the simultaneous withdrawal of two counties from the system, thereby dissolving the system altogether.
Jackson County Commission Chairman Mark Letson said that there has been no discussion among Jackson County commissioners about pulling out of the Fontana Regional Library system.
“We worked really hard for a year to come to an agreement that all parties signed off on,” Letson told The Smoky Mountain News. “For me, it just doesn’t seem to be very responsible to then back out of that agreement… Right now, we’re not looking to leave. I think it’d be a detriment to our citizens if we did.”
Letson said that if those conversations did arise at some point in the future, “they’d be 100% public.”
“We’re not going to do something in secret,” Letson said.
The email references the June 28 departure of Yancey County from its regional library system which operated in Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties.
According to reporting from Carolina Public Press, Yancey County Board of Commissioners voted to separate from the regional library system it has been a part of for more than 60 years following a months-long political battle stemming from a Pride Month display at its public library.
AMY (Avery, Mitchell, Yancey) Regional Library Director Amber Briggs was at a conference in California when commissioners announced the June 28 special meeting in Burnsville during which the commission voted to withdraw.
“Yancey Co. is boldly exiting the AMY (Avery/Mitchell/Yancey) Regional Library System, but has received leftist drama since the Yancey Commissioners did not give reason for leaving,” the Gaston email reads. “Most assume it is because of LGBTQ cult activism at the library locations which brings out the controversy.”
The Mountain Xpress reported that more than 300 Yancey County residents marched in protest of withdrawing from the AMY system in July following the county’s decision.
“Commissioners from Jackson and Macon should have all their economic reasons well organized before the decision,” the email goes on to say. “There is always the possibility that some of the current library staff will give the community a big middle finger and just walk away and quit rather than become staff at a newly created independent county library. At the very least, judging by the FRL leadership’s past behavior, these activists will not want to cooperate. We must be ready to paint the FRL leadership as unwilling to serve the community and have proven they desire control and activism over service to the public. There are many, many more individual county libraries throughout NC and America than there are regional system bureaucracies.”
The email goes on to say that “the public needs to be assured than an independent county library will meet and exceed the quality of the current FRL system. A few well-worded statements from the Commissioners board or county manager’s office might offer reassuring insight as to why the county will save money and how the library experience will be better.”
FRL Director Tracy Fitzmaurice told The Smoky Mountain News that when she was handed a copy of the email, she shared it with the County Managers Kevin King in Jackson and Warren Cabe in Macon.
“I have been assured that the counties have not been talking about the dissolution of Fontana Regional Library,” said Fitzmaurice.
Several members of the public took to the podium during Macon County’s Feb. 11 commission meeting to similarly denounce the email, and question commissioners’ library board appointments in both Macon and Jackson counties. No one at the meeting spoke in support of withdrawing from the Fontana Regional Library system.
“The FRL has served Macon, Jackson and Swain counties admirably for 80 years,” said David Germaine. “Over the last several years there has been some controversy that started with the display at the Macon County Library that offended some of our residents and has continued with book challenges and some, I think, unfair allegations against library staff and the FRL leadership. Although the uproar has somewhat quieted down recently, the FRL detractors nonetheless continue their efforts and have seen some success. Not only have there not been any more displays at the library, there are the changes to the FRL agreement that were pushed through by this board, as well as appointments to the library boards in both Macon and Jackson county that have raised some eyebrows.”
In December, the Jackson County Commission appointed two new members to the library board despite requests from two incumbent board members for reappointment, and comments in support of the incumbents from the public.
“I would simply ask this board that if there is ever a consideration to exit the FRL, that it be done openly and honestly and allow the public to participate in that conversation,” Germaine continued. “I would strongly prefer to hear this board flatly reject any consideration of withdrawal and that the eight-decade cooperative arrangement continue into the future.”
Heather Johnson expressed her concerns about transparency regarding the election criteria and schedule for selecting the Macon County Library and Fontana Regional Library trustee members.
“Recently, the county commissioners denied the request for a second term of a Macon County Public Library board member. Then another application was pulled from over a year ago. There was no announcement of the opening, nor did they take the time to allow for applications,” said Johnson. “This coupled with the obvious inexperience or deliberate bad faith actions of those on the board shows why it is crucial that we have clear criteria for board appointments and applications are vetted properly for their ability and experience.”
Macon County is currently accepting applications for membership on the Fontana Regional Library board. The interlocal agreement states that a trustee must be a full-time, year-round resident. Terms are three years.
Betsy Baste took her time at the podium on Feb. 11 to remind Macon commissioners about sunshine laws, which prohibit public bodies from deliberating or making decisions privately.
“I know you know this, I know you don’t need reminding this, but I think some members of the public need reminding,” said Baste, before disseminating printed copies of the email to commissioners. “I just want you to have your own copy of that and know that the rest of us all have it and so we know that people are advocating for you to do illegal things and I trust you won’t.”
