Lexington County Library requests senior deputy director; council approves use of library fund balance to pay recurring cost

Lexington County Council approved a request from the Lexington County Public Library for a senior deputy director position, with the library director telling council the position will help oversee ten branch librarians, manage facility and personnel matters and provide program and HR support as branch turnover and retirements accelerate.

Library Director Kelly Poole said the system has 10 locations and 53 staff, and that five branch librarians had turned over in recent years with four more employees now eligible to retire. Poole asked for a senior deputy director to help manage branches on operational, security and personnel issues; she identified the recurring cost of the position at $114,615 and said the library plans to use existing fund balance to cover the recurring cost.

Council action: Councilmember Brigham moved to approve using the library’s fund balance to fund the position; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Why it matters: Poole said the library added services and programs in recent years — digitization of local history, a “library of things,” additional grants, increased cardholders (14,000 new cardholders last year) and more than 1.6 million total circulations — and that branch-level oversight is increasingly time-consuming. Poole also noted 60 code-of-conduct incidents over 10 years that resulted in no‑trespass bans and said additional management would support staff handling of disruptive behavior.

Next steps: The library will place the position in its payroll structure and proceed to hire using fund-balance support; the director indicated the fund balance has been stable and can sustain the position for the next budget year but acknowledged council and administration will revisit long‑term sustainability if fund balances change.