Ross residents may get a chance to decide whether they want to continue to support the Northland Public Library.

Commissioners last night voted to draft a ballot question that would let voters decide whether the township should withdraw from the regional institution.

Commissioners President Daniel DeMarco and Commissioner Chris Eyster will draft the referendum question that will be reviewed by solicitor Bonnie Brimmeier.

Mr. Eyster proposed the citizen vote on whether Ross should stay in the library system, which serves five North Hills communities. The other members are McCandless, Franklin Park, Marshall and Bradford Woods.

Mr. Eyster said he favors continuing to support the library, but he wanted taxpayers to make the final decision. Residents would vote on whether to give the library board the required four-year's notice that the township wished to withdraw from the system.

Commissioners last month approved the library's $2.4 million budget for 2010 on a narrow 5-4 vote. Ross's contribution next year will be $415,078. That vote came after the library's board agreed to continue to support weekly bookmobile stops in Ross and Marshall. Several Ross commissioners protested the loss of bookmobile service, saying it was the main contact some residents had with the library.

Northland Library's building is on Cumberland Road in McCandless.

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