Mountain Regional Library System appoints new director

HIAWASSEE, Ga. – On Feb. 18, Towns County Public Library Chair Barbara Hale announced that a new director of the Mountain Regional Library Board would be formally appointed the following day at a meeting in Fannin County.

“The Mountain Regional Library Board will be having a meeting to officially select, or appoint, the new director,” Hale said. “The person is presently branch manager in Ellijay. It’s a man by the name of Heath Lee. I have not met him but the president of Friends of the Library of Towns County and I are going to that meeting tomorrow and we’re going to introduce ourselves to him together because we’re going to be working with him.”

The Mountain Regional Library System maintains and operates four public libraries located in the counties of Fannin, Towns, and Union. The libraries are in the towns of Hiawassee, Young Harris, Blairsville, and Blue Ridge. The four branches service a population of just over 58,000 people.

“It was very necessary for us to have a new director. Let me tell you, things were not in good shape and we’re very fortunate that we have a new set of officers in the regional board and I confess that I had a little bit to do with making that happen although I’m not on the regional board,” Hale explained. “There’s three officers; the president or chair, a vice-chair, and the secretary and all three of them are from Towns County. So I’m proud of that because they’ve gotten things done. I’m so grateful because the situation was so impossible. So many of us knew it but there was nothing that we could do to make it better, and now things are better.”

The Mountain Regional Library System is governed by the Georgia University Board of Regents and is managed locally by the Mountain Regional Library System Board of Trustees. The Board meets a minimum of four times per year.

Featured Image: Towns County Public Library Chair Barbara Hale (left) announcing the upcoming regional chair appointment at the Towns County Courthouse.