Date: Fri 06-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Booth-Library-explansion-vote

Full Text:

Town Vote On Library Expansion Set October 12

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Sixty-three years after benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley built the Cyrenius

H. Booth Library, voters will be asked at a town meeting next week to approve

a $4.1 million expenditure to renovate and expand it.

A town meeting will be held at 7 pm on Thursday, October 12, at the high

school for a vote on bonding the project.

Benjamin Spragg, the town's finance director, has estimated that the cost of

project would amount to approximately four-tenths of a mill in 1997, or about

$41 in taxes that year for a property assessed at $100,000. The impact on the

mill rate would decrease progressively each year as the project debt is paid

off, he said.

Mr Spragg has based his projections on a bond rate of 6.5 percent but said the

actual cost could be lower.

A video presentation about the library project will be shown on public access

television, Channel 21, at 9 pm on Wednesday, October 11.

Last month the Legislative Council approved the project on a 9-2 vote, paving

the way for the town meeting. Joseph McGowan and Marion Stalk cast the

negative votes, saying they supported the library project but believed the

council should wait to consider all proposed capital projects at the same

time.

The other council members disagreed, insisting that they have known for three

years what the library expansion would cost. If the vote is not taken now, the

library could lose its $350,000 state construction grant, they said, and the

project also might have to be rebid because the deadline for awarding the bid

will pass.

"The library benefits people of all ages. I think it is the only project that

does," said Melissa Pilchard, the council vice chairman. "The town was never

asked to build a library and for many years we never contributed a cent to its

operation. The time for a vote from us is now."

Council member Earl J. Smith, Jr, who is running for first selectman on the

Democratic ticket, agreed.

"The town has had a free ride all these years," he said. "Now is the time to

make a commitment."

William Lavery, chairman of the library's building committee, said that since

the library was built in 1932, the only improvements that have been made were

restrooms and an elevator for handicapped accommodations in 1980.

"Every town board has approved this expansion project and the state has agreed

to give us a $350,000 grant because the library will meet the needs of a town

of our size for the next 25 years," he said.

The proposed 22,000-square-foot library addition includes a new reference

area, a children's library, young adults room, fiction room and a meeting room

plus parking for 80 cars in a lot behind the building.

The town already has spent $250,000 for the library architect fees. Although

procedure requires that the town vote to bond the entire $4.1 million,

$3,750,000 actually will be bonded because the town has been promised the

$350,000 state grant.

If voters approve the project at the town meeting, any resident who objects

still may petition to bring the proposal to a referendum. The town charter

requires petitioners to get the signatures of five percent of the town's

registered voters, or about 500 people, to bring it to a machine vote.

Edwin Baumer, who lives next door to the library, has filed lawsuits against

the Borough Zoning Commission over its approval of the project. The town's

legal counsel has said the suit should have little or no effect on the

project.