After again hearing out an offer from the Rainy River District School Board last night to build a new public library in conjunction with the new Robert Moore School, the library board likely will stick with its current plans to build next to the Memorial Sports Centre.
Library board chair Joyce Cunningham said the matter will be discussed—and definitively decided upon—at a meeting next Wednesday (May 28), but discussion at last night’s meeting indicated the stand-alone library option will remain the preferred one.
During the meeting, school board chair Dan Belluz presented a long list of areas where potential cost-savings could be realized if the new public library was built next to the new Robert Moore School, with the two groups sharing a children’s department.
These costs-savings could range from utility connection charges, land surveying costs, a fire alarm system, a shared parking lot, and sharing common walls and a roof to splitting operating costs like gas, sewer, water, and electricity charges and maintenance.
But Belluz conceded it’s impossible to know at this point exactly how much savings could be realized without the input of an architect, and the school board will not have an architect hired for the Robert Moore project until September (the new school is expected to be open in the fall of 2010).
“It was an interesting meeting,” Cunningham said. “The school board is still behind us in terms of where they are, and they’re dealing in concepts.
“We would have to have more than concepts of potential, possible savings in order to make such a radical change in our plans,” she stressed.
“The other thing we’re starting to hear from people is, regardless of cost, they want a stand-alone library with the freedom and services a stand-alone library can offer,” Cunningham added.
She noted the concept of restricted hours (which, at one shared library in the Thunder Bay area, sees public access restricted from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on school days) “would definitely not be supported by members of the public.”
While a shared facility with different hours may work in some smaller communities, in a town this size, with the number of services both the school offers and the public library here offers, that’s not an option, said Cunningham.
“Our day is very, very busy, and the reason for that is obvious. We have a very, very strong children’s program—that is an emphasis.
“And we also have, as everybody keeps reminding us, a large population of retirees, and the hours during the days are important to them.”
Cunningham also said it’s important to get any uncertainty of what’s happening with the library project out of the way because it is adversely affecting the “Building for the Future” fundraising campaign.
“People stop me on the street they say, ‘What’s happening? Is it going ahead or is it not?’” noted Cunningham. “And more and more, the people that are talking to me are people who have not made their donation, and are saying ‘I intend to do this.’
“We have to be able to say, ‘This issue is off the table and we want to move ahead.’
“When we take on a $750,000 commitment, we have to work our butts off to get there. So we have to eliminate any uncertainty in the community,” Cunningham stressed.
Education Director Jack McMaster noted the offer stills stands, but added the public school board will support the library project no matter what form it may take.
“We got the letter from you, and I read the article in the paper, saying that you have decided to go on your own, and we certainly respect that,” McMaster said.
“If you are, at all, in the next few months, inclined to come and discuss with us the possibility of a project, we would certainly be there as a willing partner,” he remarked.
He added the school board is hoping to have an architect for the new Robert Moore School building retained by September, and if over the next few months the library board changes its mind, it wouldn’t be too late to be involved in a joint-library venture.
“But I want you to understand we respect your decision to go alone,” stressed McMaster.
“We’re all one community,” echoed Belluz. “Basically, what we want is a new library. How it comes about doesn’t really matter.”
McMaster said the school board and library have worked together in the past, and, regardless of what form the new library takes, there will be a continued partnership.
One example is the school board offering, in-kind, its expertise with Internet technology when it comes to setting up the new library with computer technology.
Coun. Andrew Hallikas, who sits on the library board, said the offer of support from the school board was a “generous offer.”
“I personally am very appreciative of it,” he said. “It really shows good community spirit.
“I know the library board is putting a lot of thought into which way they’re going to go,” he added. “But it’s nice knowing that we will have support from the school board, regardless of which way we go.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
