County commissioner Billy Powell told the Hall County Library Board Tuesday night that the county's administrative staff will be making that recommendation to the county commission. Talk of using the site for a clinic surfaced late last year. But, Tuesday night, as expected, library director Adrian Mixson presented the board with an operating budget and floor plan, which it had requested, on using the space for library purposes.
Mixson has proposed reopening the library on a limited basis by providing only computer lab services - which are in high demand by the public. He also wants to shift the library system's Technical Services and Processing staff to the site.
"By moving our entire Technical Services and Processing staff to the building we could turn the meeting room into a computer lab for the public and use the computer and processing staff to keep the lab open while doing their 'back room' work," Mixson said last month. (See earlier story. Link below.)
(See earlier story.)
The East Hall Library was shuttered several years ago when the county was in the midst of a severe budget crunch.
The library board also discussed the proposed new state funding formula Georgia Public Library Service intends to implement July 1 and was told the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee for Higher Education told the Chancellor of the Board of Regents he had concerns with the formula.
Mixson told the group that under the new formula Hall County would lose $80,000 with the money being sent to smaller, rural library systems in Georgia. The Governor's Office has not recommended any cuts in public library funding for FY2015 and this formula was just a redistribution of state funds.
The library board was to have met a week ago but the meeting was postponed a week because of last Tuesday's snow storm.
Billy Powell (File photo)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/2/270759