By Seth DuChene
Editor
Lennox and Addington County council voted to keep its Camden East library branch open at least a little bit longer than planned.
At its regular meeting last night, county council passed a resolution to keep the branch open until the future of the Yarker library branch could be determined. Council will revisit the issue again in May 2018.
The Camden East branch was slated to be closed along with with Odessa and South Fredericksburgh branches this past April, but the decision to close the branch was deferred at that time in light of the potential closure of the Yarker Family School, which shares the same building as the Yarker library branch. A staff report presented to council by Community and Development Services Manager Stephen Paul suggested that, based on usage statistics at the Camden East branch, the county should proceed with closing it and consolidating it with other branches.
Yarker Family School is scheduled to close next spring after the 2017-18 school year, although the Limestone District School Board’s decision this past June to close the school is currently being challenged by concerned citizens. If the school is ultimately closed, it is not clear what will happen to the school building moving forward.
Before council’s deliberations on the issue, a group of concerned citizens from Camden East urged the county to at least delay the closure of the Camden East branch until the future of the Yarker library branch could be solidified.
“Given that the Yarker Library branch’s continued existence is very uncertain, does it not make sense and good policy for the strength of our communities to extend the life of the Camden East branch until the Yarker branch’s future is known?” said Kathleen Kennedy, who spoke on behalf of the group. “If the Camden East branch is closed before the decision is finally made concerning Yarker, we in southern Stone Mills face the possible prospect of being left without any library branch should Yarker be forced to close or its use to change. What is dismantled before this situation becomes clear cannot be retrieved.”
Kennedy said that she and fellow resident Carol Nacu collected just less than 70 signatures on a petition urging county council to keep the branch open.
“We are not advocating building new libraries in small villages; the economics aren’t favourable for that. However, when small libraries already exist and are well-used, proportionate to their population, why is their approach to destroy what we have, thus further gutting rural Ontario?” she said.
Greater Napanee Mayor Gord Schermerhorn floated the idea that, instead of waiting for clarity on the Yarker branch, services should be consolidated at the Camden East branch. Paul indicated, however, that the facilities at Yarker were more modern, larger, and had been the subject of significant investment in recent years.
Ultimately, council opted to hold off on closing the library branch to allow the status of the Yarker building to become more clear. Greater Napanee Deputy-Mayor Marg Isbester introduced the motion, which was seconded by Addington Highlands Deputy-Reeve E. Helen Yanch.
“The Yarker school is apparently scheduled to close, and the library building status is uncertain. I think, therefore, we should continue to keep Camden East branch open at least until such time as we’re certain about Yarker,” said Stone Mills Deputy-Reeve John Wise.