KING WILLIAM — The King William County Board of Supervisors will reopen the discussion on its decision to withdraw from the Pamunkey Regional Library system this month following an ongoing public backlash.
The board unanimously agreed with a motion by Supervisor Bill Hodges to put the Pamunkey library issue back on the agenda on Sept. 23.
At the board’s meeting on Sept. 9, Chair Lindsay Robinson said she supported the move made by Hodges. Robinson had promised to reopen the discussion on Aug. 26 at a meeting dominated by supporters of the PRL.
The Board of Supervisors has faced pressure over its July 8 decision to pull the Upper King William branch and the library in West Point out of the regional library system. King William wants to set up its own library system.
The board will reopen the discussion in the light of a Library of Virginia study that indicates running two libraries in King William County would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the $600,000 the PRL currently charges the county.
The research — obtained by the Tidewater Review via a Freedom of Information Act request — suggests it would cost about $1.12 million a year in operational costs for the county to run a two-library system. County leaders have denied a claim by West Point Town Council Manager John Edwards, derived from FOIA information, that the county based its withdrawal decision on a financial case for running the Upper King William branch library alone.
The Library of Virginia study contains some “speculative figures based on experience.” It assumes salaries and benefits of more than $420,000 a year.
During public comments on Sept. 9, Fran Freimarck, a retired director of the PRL and a King William resident, urged the board to rescind its decision to withdraw from the library system.
She took issue with a claim made in a media release by the board, excluding Hodges, that accused opponents of an independent library of creating “division without any communication from this Board or the facts surrounding our decision to move to an independent library system.”
“I am persistent because I am concerned that you as a board made the decision to leave the Pamunkey Regional Library without complete and accurate information about the financial and service implications of that decision,” Freimarck said. “I’m committed, like you say you are, to financial responsibility and to good government.”
Resident Laura Johnson said King William residents have access to over 200,000 books through the PRL system.
“What we are talking about is 170,000 books that will be lost to this community because of your decision and not all of those are books you don’t like,” she told the board.
David Macaulay, Davidmacaulayva@gmail.com
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