Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors, Amador County Library, and civic groups will be addressing the future of the Pine Grove branch of the county library, after dozens of people attended the Pine Grove Town Council’s monthly meeting last week.

Supervisors Ted Novelli and Chairman Louis Boitano said they could not commit the Board of Supervisors to return staff to the Pine Grove library branch, but Boitano promised an outside-the-box approach to get it done. Members of the Library Improvement Facilities Taskforce, and American Association of University Women said they also could not commit their groups, but stressed that they saw libraries as very important to the community.

Debbie Dunn of the Pine Grove Council said she realized the branch did not get as many visitors as Jackson, saying: “That’s not where most of the people are going but it is where most of the people are living.” She said 12,000 people live in the Upcountry, and urged the county to “let the people know we need to raise money to pay for a librarian and we’ll take care of it.”

One woman said Friends of Amador County Library raised $40,000 last year, though she could not commit her group. One man asked why Librarian Laura Einstadter did not attend the meeting, which drew about 35 people. Amadro County General Services Director John Hopkins said as her boss, he was there to address the issue.

Hopkins said he hired Eintsadter because of her master’s degree in library science, and she is out of options for Pine Grove. Hopkins said the only solution they had was to leave it open and run it with volunteers, which was criticized by several people.

Hopkins said Einstadter did not necessarily support the idea either. He said he has 30 years’ experience with volunteers, and “I don’t disagree that volunteers will not be the same as employees.” He experienced it before with the Museum, which now has no curator, and is being managed under an agreement with the Amador County Historical Society.

Hopkins said they could continue the branch as a drop off center, or move the former Pine Grove librarian back Upcountry, and backfill the Jackson Branch with volunteers. But he would only consider that if it had no extra cost to his department.

One woman asked if the county could give money to the issue of the Pine Grove branch. Hopkins said he could task Einstadter to “meet with you and work with you.” He said she knows most of you already. Pine Grove Town Council made the issue a recurring item on their agenda.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.