By Ryan Lewis
Correspondent
JASPER, Tenn. — Since at least 1988, the Jasper Public Library has been closed during the Christmas holidays, but its employees have been paid for the time off, officials said.
“The gist of it is, you have employees that were taking off and getting paid for it, which is not right,” said Alderman Steve Looney. “It’s not right to our other city employees or anything else.”
On Monday, the Jasper Board of Mayor and Aldermen passed a resolution stating that, in the future, Jasper’s librarians will be governed by the personnel policies of the town, effectively ending the practice of getting paid during Christmas holidays.
Jasper City Attorney Zach Kelley said the library system in Marion County is controlled by the county’s library board, which is appointed by the County Commission.
However, he said, “It’s gotten to where the town of Jasper contributes a sizable amount of money to the library, and (the workers) are treated as city employees.
“They’ll get the salary that’s established and approved the way they’ve been doing it,” he said. “It won’t affect their pay.”
Librarian Carolyn Stewart said she’s “not opposed” to the changes.
“With the business we have, we do not need to be closed during Christmas vacation. That’s a little nuts,” she said.
Ms. Stewart said her co-workers agreed with the city’s plans.
According to the resolution, the county library board will continue to set library employees’ pay, even though funding is provided by the town.
The city needs the library board to take action and state that those employees will be governed by the personnel policies of the town, the attorney said.
Mr. Kelley suggested that a copy of the resolution be sent to the county library board with a request that board members take action on it.
“The way the thing is set up, (the library board) is the one that controls and establishes (the library’s) holidays,” he said.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.