Buncombe County library advisory board asks staff to draft missing resolution to clarify its role

The Buncombe County Library Advisory Board spent most of its meeting searching for the foundational documents that define the board's role and powers and asked county staff to draft a new resolution to clarify its advisory status.

Suzanne Avette, a county staff member assisting the board, told members she could not find an operations manual or a clearly documented resolution that established the advisory board: "I do not believe it's in existence. I can't find anywhere any type of operations manual," she said. The board identified a 2017 document (Resolution 17-12-04) that contains duties copied from state statute, but staff and members said a follow-up clarifying resolution that would model advisory duties after other county advisory boards appears to be missing.

The absence of a clear county resolution has practical consequences, members said. Several board members noted that the 2017 language aligns with the state's enumerated duties for a governing board of trustees, while the county's public-facing pages call the group an advisory board. That distinction matters for authorities such as budgeting and formal decision-making: "There's a separate statute that authorizes advisory boards," a member said, noting advisory boards do not necessarily retain the enumerated powers of a governing trustees board.

Suzanne Avette told the board she will draft a new resolution modeled on the county's parks-and-recreation advisory-board resolution and incorporate guidance from the State Library of North Carolina. She said she would send a draft to Jason and then to the board for review. "I'll start with what I think makes sense from a legal perspective," Avette said, adding that she would give the board opportunities to propose changes before any submission to county leadership.

Members also discussed bylaw fixes that would permit virtual or hybrid meetings and allow the board to define quorum language inside its bylaws rather than having quorum prescriptively set by a resolution. Avette recommended excluding quorum language from the new resolution so the board can adopt language in the bylaws that suits its operating preferences.

The board asked staff to also locate any historical emails, files or prior meeting records that could help reconstruct earlier changes. Tammy Silver and other members said they would reach out to past chairs and participants to gather institutional memory.

The meeting ended with the board directing staff to draft the resolution and circulate proposed bylaw revisions; no formal resolution or bylaw change was adopted at the meeting.