We are looking forward to seeing all of you at Town Meeting on Wednesday, March 13th!
After making significant progress towards a new library in 2018, the library has two Warrant Articles before the voters this year. We are delighted that the Selectmen support both articles.
Warrant Article 05, Additional Library Site Assessment, would support additional site investigative work necessary to reduce contingencies in the current project cost estimate and finalize the site layout. Although the Budget Committee doesn’t support this article, apparently because they object to use of the word “architectural”, we hope to be able to gain their support during town meeting because they do appear to support the planned 2019 work. The funding will allow for work to better understand some of the quirks of the site (wetlands, ledge) in order to finalize the site layout to identify exactly where the building, access road, septic system and parking lots will be. Having this detail will allow us to tighten up the project cost estimate by addressing unknowns that are currently reflected as contingencies. Once the engineering work is done, we expect to revisit the cost estimate with DSK, the project architect. As many of you know, the Town tract near Carleton Pond was purchased in 1997 as the future home of both the library and the cemetery.
Warrant Article 06, Library Capital Reserve, would contribute $10,000 to the Library Capital Reserve established in 1988. The Sophia G. Daland Trust has generously committed to match this contribution. Both the Selectmen and Budget Committee support this article.
Supporting these two articles will allow us to build on the amazing progress we made 2018:
- Completed updated Library Needs Assessment.
- Selected DSK Architects + Planners to design the new library following a formal selection process.
- Kicked off three months of stakeholder meetings, including the public.
- DSK delivered the new library vision and cost estimate. The image above depicts the results of months of work and collaboration – the perfect library for Mont Vernon.
- Town purchased the current library building from the Daland Trust.
- Established the Mont Vernon Library Charitable Foundation (MVLCF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, to raise funds for the project.
With your support, we will continue making progress. In addition to the work planned by the Library Trustees this year, the Mont Vernon Library Charitable Foundation also plans to conduct a formal Library Capital Campaign. The campaign will further minimize the need for future town funding.
See you at Town Meeting!
The Mont Vernon Library Trustees
Cindy Raspiller – Chairperson
Jane King
Jill Weber
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