CROWN POINT | Those wanting to read the next chapter in the Gary Public Library dispute are being put on a waiting list.

Lake County Council members indefinitely postponed a decision about their representative to the Gary library board Tuesday after finding themselves undecided.

A coalition of Gary residents is asking the County Council to remove Cynthia Watts as their representative on the Gary library board, where she has served for 15 years. The request came after she voted with a 4-3 majority last year to close Gary's Main Library at 220 W. Fifth Ave. in January and reopen it later this summer as a cultural center.

Watts didn't speak on her own behalf at the public hearing Tuesday in Crown Point.

Instead, council members heard Gary library board President Tony Walker speak in support of Watts. Eight opponents of the library closure spoke against her.

Douglas Grimes, a former Gary city judge, said Watt's vote closed Gary's "symbol of literacy."

Ben Coleman, a former Gary library board president, said the community was not involved in the decision to close the main library.