With disaster potentially one huge rainstorm away, the Board of Finance approved modifying the 2021-22 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to include $420,000 for library roof repairs, down spouts, shutters, and gutters.

Outgoing BOF member Ned Simpson at the BOF’s November 8 meeting was looking to make the approval conditioned on the understanding the library use its own fund balance to cover the costs.

The 2021-22 CIP plan was approved last year and this new approval is a modification to it, because any capital project over $200,000 has to be included as part of the CIP. A total of $360,000 is now earmarked for the roof, and $60,000 will be allocated for the gutters

The finance board, during the same meeting, approval the five-year, 2022-23 through 2026-27 CIP, and moved its recommendation to the Legislative Council (see related story in this week’s edition).

As finance officials learned at an October 28 meeting, the roof of the CH Booth Library is in “imminent danger of failure” according to David Schill, the library board building and grounds chair, and the library board is looking to replace it this year, hopefully before there is a major snowfall.

Schill said a contractor could not investigate a leak in the northeast corner of the building due to the 80-year lifespan of the roof and current deterioration. The roof currently has a 3,000-square-foot area that is 80-year-old slate tile and a 20,000-square-foot area that is 30-year-old asphalt tile on an addition built in 1998. The contractor determined there was no way to access the area that is leaking because even just touching some of the old slate reduces it to powder.

Schill said they looked at the option of replacing the slate, which would be an “expensive endeavor,” so they also looked at fake slate before settling on asphalt shingles for the entire roof.

The library reached out to Tramco, which is currently working on the Edmond Town Hall roof, in hopes of piggybacking on the public bid for the town hall and not having to go through a time-consuming new bid process.

The original estimate came to $470,000, which was “considerably more” than the library was hoping. Representatives from the library met with representatives from Tramco, and discovered that there was an error in the estimate, and further negotiations reduced the estimate to $300,000.

Currently the contractor is doing a “complete breakdown of items” to see if there are more reductions that can be made in the estimate, said Schill.

Fund Balance Concerns

At the November 8 meeting, BOF member Chris Gardner expressed concerns about what would happen if the library board declines to use money from its fund balance toward the project. The library’s fund balance is earmarked for capital improvements, and, according to First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, have not been utilized in approximately ten years.

It has been coming from a combination of unspent money from its municipal allocation for year-to-year operations, as well as money from the Paycheck Protection Program, and donations, grants, and fundraising.

Rosenthal said the library could decline to use the money, but he did not imagine “they’d say ‘no.’”

“They can, but are they going to leave a leaky roof when they have the money to pay for it?” Rosenthal asked. “Why should the taxpayers have to borrow for that if there’s money sitting in a savings account that could be used?”

While BOF Chairman Keith Alexander did agree with the idea that no matter what plans were, when something comes up like a leaky roof, plans change. However, he said he felt that the library was a town-owned building and the town should have some obligation to fix it. The library’s fund balance was earmarked toward long-term projects that would benefit patrons. One such project the library board has been considering is buying a neighboring house and converting it into a museum so that it can display its collection of historical artifacts. Alexander said he had served on a number of boards and a common thread was that it was often felt that town agencies with their own budget should spend for building maintenance out of their own budgets, but he felt it should be the town’s responsibility.

BOF member Sandy Roussas said time was of the essence on the project, and it was an urgent thing that had to be dealt with before things got icy. She did not disagree with some of Alexander’s sentiments but the time factor “trumps some other concerns.”

BOF member Chandravir Ahuja said the resolution the BOF was considering would give the library board the option to spend money from their fund balance, and if they decide not to they can come back to the BOF to present a plan for alternate ways to pay for the roof.

The BOF approved the change to the 2021-22 CIP with a 5-1 vote, with Alexander voting against.

Reporter Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.