Ringgold residents will have to travel to Benton Place campus beginning June 30 to check out a book.

Catoosa County Library Board voted after an executive session Thursday night to close the Ringgold Library, according to board member Nancy Ligon, PhD.

Ligon spoke to commissioners Tuesday night, May 18, about the possibility of closing the facility, opened in 1971 in a new building at the edge of the Ringgold High School parking lot.

She said after the meeting the county owns the building, and if commissioners want to use it for something else or sell it, then that is their decision.

My heart is there. I have told storytime there for 15 years. There are children there and citizens that use that library that without special care could not use the Benton Place library," Ligon said May 18. "We are looking at alternatives such as the bookmobile and Trans-Aid to assist in meeting those special needs."

Susie Helton of Woodstation said she has been driving her children to the Ringgold Library for storytime for the last 14 years.

“I am not happy about the closure at all,” she said. “I have taken my kids there the last 14 years. The library staff is not a baby-sitting service, but those ladies have been there for those kids in that neighborhood and helped them with their homework. I am really sad to see that it is going to be closed.”

Nina Mattox has worked at the Ringgold Library for 26 years and has served as manager for eight.

“Its been very rewarding for Audrey Collison, Linda Hollifield and I to have the privilege to work with students from area schools and children from this neighborhood,” she said. “We served a number of elderly patrons who have helped to make each day a joy.

“I feel blessed that we were able to stay five years since the opening of the new library,” she said. "A lot of people requested we stay here. Miss Mildred Ward, who served 44 years with the county library beginning in the Courthouse basement, was still a vital part of what we were doing here. At that time, the library board voted to keep us open as a learning center.”

Joe Forsee, director of the Northwest Georgia Regional Library, said the facility will stay open to allow for the summer reading program to be completed.

“It is fair to say they have been discussing the future of that facility for several years,” he said. “The decision was not unanimous, but a majority of the board supported it. No library board ever wants to close a library.

“I have a lot of confidence in the library board of trustees,” he said. “They will be looking at ways they can address those needs (of the community around the Ringgold library).”

Forsee said the closure will not lower the county’s contribution to library operations. The Catoosa County an-nual budget set aside $490,312 per year for libraries.

Foresee said that staff will be given an opportunity to continue with the other library and that items in the library will be reviewed and useful materials will be incorporated into the Benton Place library.

Chairman Winford Long said Tuesday that nothing has been decided regarding the sell of the building.

"We do not feel it is getting that much use," Long said. "We would not do anything we are not legally able to do. We own the building. We pay the salaries. We have no control."

Catoosa County officials contacted the Catoosa County school system in the past about whether it might have interest in the library building about a year ago, Catoosa County School Superintendent Beth Kellerhals confirmed two weeks ago.

She said no additional contact had been made at that time. She was unavailable for comment Friday due to graduations.

Despite the interest in selling the building, commissioners have no power over whether the library remains open.

Commissioner Bobby Winters said May 19 that he wanted the community to be heard on the issue before any action is taken to close the library.

Commissioner Jim Emberson said Friday the closure from an economic standpoint makes sense, but there are other considerations.

“There are any number of people in Ringgold, some who are old, who do not like to get on the highway and go to Benton Place,” he said. “I’ve had people call me and say they are afraid to try to get out on Battlefield Parkway from the library.