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10/19/09
Council postpones consideration of new library building to next year
The next chapter in rebuilding of the Thomas Memorial Library will wait until the next Town Council takes office.
A recommendation to postpone further consideration of the library's needs until next February or March was unanimously approved by the council at their meeting Oct. 14, 2009.
Council Chairman Jim Rowe presented a list of proposals concerning the library following receipt of the library study committee's report, and an on-site council workshop in September. The study committee, in consultation with library and architectural consultants, is recommending a new facility be built at the current library site to meet the needs of patrons for the next 20-30 years.
After meeting again with study committee Chairman Nancy Marshall, Library Director Jay Scherma, councilor and committee member Anne Swift-Kayatta and Town Manager Michael McGovern, Rowe developed a list of next steps, all of which were approved by the council:
- Disband and thank the Thomas Memorial Library Study Committee for their work. The library's Board of Trustees would be the primary contact group as discussions about the library's future proceeds;
- Delay further consideration of the library proposal until the new council, which will have at least three new members in December, begin their terms;
- Hold another workshop on the library proposal at the end of the first quarter of the 2010 council year;
- Develop a public-education program on the needs of the library and the details of the study committee report. "It was felt that there is a need for grassroots buy-in if significant change at the library is to be realized," said Rowe, in a memo to the council. Part of the education process could be an introduction to capital campaigns or other non-profit fund-raising;
- The Thomas Memorial Library Foundation should be contacted about how its position on the study committee recommendations.
Rowe and the council were particularly grateful to the study committee for its thoroughness and transparency in developing its recommendations. "I think the committee has done a great job in including the variety of people that they have," Rowe said at the October council meeting.
Swift-Kayatta added her appreciation for the committee's work. "I think, given their charge, the committee came up with some good recommendations," she said. "As to whether they will be implemented, time will tell, but I do want to thank them," Swift-Kayatta said.
More information about the work of the study committee, including
minutes, reports and archived website articles, are available on the Thomas Memorial Library Study Committee page.
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