Duane Hicks
As the town waits to hear back whether it will get a “Building Canada Fund” grant for the new Fort Frances Public Library and Technology Centre, council and the library board remain at an impasse as to what will happen if those extra dollars don’t come through.
While the two parties met Monday to discuss the project and try to move forward after council voted down the proposed contract back on April 13, Coun. Ken Perry charged in an interview yesterday that the library board has not offered any compromises regarding reducing the size of the proposed 13,622 sq. ft. building.
“The town council told them they would ante up a little more money if necessary, that we could work with them on the future budgets of the library, and other than them saying that they could freeze the operating budget, which is impossible because you don’t know what price of hydro is going to be tomorrow let alone three years from now . . . [they said nothing].
“Nearly everybody on council [Monday] night said we want to see a new library, and what we’re looking for in concessions is get the footprint size down to something that’s manageable to the town and acceptable to 7,500 people, not just the six people on council.
“We’re not building a library for 16,000 people. We’re building a library for 7,500 people,” Coun. Perry stressed.
“Nobody at the table from the council side said, ‘No, we are not going to build a new library.’ The library board says, ‘No, we’re not going to reduce the size of this library. It has to be this size.’
“Well, everybody else is building smaller libraries,” noted Coun. Perry. “The library board has to get their head around the fact they’re not going to build a 17,000 sq. ft. library.
“It might be 9,000, 10,000, maybe 11,000,” he added. “I am not stuck on any number, but something we can live with.”
Coun. Perry said even if the town gets money from the Building Canada Fund, he wants to see the footprint reduced.
“The Building Canada Fund will not give us any operating capital in year one or year 10 of the new building. They’re only going to help us build it,” he reasoned. “You want a Cadillac, you’re going to have to put a little more gas into it than a Volkswagen.
“You’ve got to pay the insurance on the Cadillac from year to year, as well,” he warned.
Library board chair Joyce Cunningham said yesterday that they and most of council seem “cautiously optimistic” about getting a Building Canada Fund grant, and if it comes through, she feels the new library project can proceed.
“If that doesn’t happen, then we’ll all have to sit down and figure out, ‘Where do we go from here?’” she noted.
She said she remains discouraged by the fact the majority of council still is only willing to contribute $592,000 (actually, $350,000 in “new” financing plus $240,000 already in dedicated reserves) towards a new library—adding “that’s exactly where we were a year ago.”
Cunningham also noted the board already has made compromises in reducing the footprint of the library and other features of the plans, “but they didn’t like the compromises that were made and therefore they wanted us to make different compromises.”
“We could go around in circles on that issue forever.”
Cunningham said it seems there are two issues at stake: how to pay for the library and the size of it. While some councillors are more concerned about the cost of building a new library, others are fixed on the square footage regardless of the town’s contribution to build.
Last year, council requested the board conduct a spatial analysis and they cut the size down by a total of 1,428 sq. ft. This was presented to council in a spatial analysis report last November.
“I am saying to them two things: We did what you asked a year ago, now you’re suddenly saying it’s not enough. And secondly, as a matter of courtesy, you should read the report, and if you want to comment on the numbers, deal with specifics that are there in our spatial analysis and tell us where it’s wrong,” said Cunningham.
“I think they are locked in,” she charged. “Are the two sides very far apart? Yeah, we are. Personally, I feel that if the grant doesn’t come through, the project is dead.
“But right now, I am hoping the grant will come through and we can build.”
Monday’s meeting also featured plenty of discussion of, but no consensus on, what might happen if the Building Canada funding does not come through.
Coun. Paul Ryan said his concerns are “strictly financial,” with the town having lost tax assessment from the mill this year and the grim economic climate, and questioned that if there are job cuts and lost pensions, how will people be able to pay higher taxes?
“Someday down the line, we may have to cut the services in this town, and if you look at the whole broad spectrum of soft services, number one would probably be the museum, number two would be the library,” he noted.
“I would stand by the $592,000. I voted for the resolution last year and I stand by it today,” he later added.
Coun. Perry noted he still believes the current plan for a 13,622 sq. ft. building is “way too big” for Fort Frances—even if the town gets Building Canada funding since those funds won’t help cover the higher operating costs of a facility as large as the total ice surface at the curling club.
He added that he’s researched many recent library projects in North America, and nearly everywhere they are being scaled down in size or scuttled because their communities simply can’t afford them.
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft suggested council match the $852,000 raised by the “Building for the Future” campaign, and then look at reducing the footprint from 13,622 sq. ft. to a size the rest of council would be happy with.
He added the library board has to compromise its plan, and come up with one that maintains functionality and features sidewalks and a paved parking lot, but does not include cutbacks like old furniture and lesser-quality building materials.
Coun. Andrew Hallikas agreed that if the Building Canada Fund doesn’t come through, matching the funds would be a good idea.
Coun, John Albanese said he would like to see a new library, but felt the library board has not presented council with final plans and a final cost for the project with all its amenities (paved parking lot, etc.)
He also believes that with the current economic situation, the town simply can’t foot the bill.
“We have to look outside and see the reality, see the news, see the papers,” he stressed. “The reality is we cannot afford to go ahead with this new library.”
In response to concerns over operating costs of a new, larger library, Cunningham said the library board would try to “freeze” the library’s operating budget for several years and keep it under control if a new facility was built.
Several councillors noted, however, it is “impossible” to put a freeze on that due to the ever-changing costs of electricity and natural gas.
Library board member Arlene Georgeson said she believes a new library and technology centre continues to be needed and holds much potential for future opportunities (webinars, education, videoconferencing, etc.).
She added if council could give them “concrete numbers” regarding their contribution and the square footage they want, the library board could go ahead with changes.
“$592,000—that’s your concrete number,” replied Coun Wiedenhoeft.
Library board member Alan Zucchiatti noted the $592,000 council has identified as the amount it will contribute in actuality consists of $240,000 already in reserve, and only really represents about $350,000.
He questioned how council could approve spending that same amount of money on Phase Two of the Heritage Tourism project, which will bring in little or no revenue to the town, when they could help building a new library—a project which many people want?
As reported in yesterday’s Daily Bulletin, the town has applied for $1.17 million in “Building Canada” funding for the project and should hear back within the next month, Community Services manager George Bell reported.
Cunningham said the many individuals, businesses, and service clubs that contributed to the “Building for the Future” campaign made it possible to apply for the grant.
The town has to prove it can pay one-third of the project it’s proposing when applying, and the $852,000 pledged by the public makes up the bulk of third.
“It’s the success of that campaign that allows us to apply for that grant,” she noted. “We were able to apply through the generosity of the community, and I appreciate that very much.”
If the town does get “Building Canada” funding for the $4.7-million project, the local share would be $1.513 million, consisting of $592,000 from the town (including $240,000 from a dedicated reserve) and the remainder from library fundraising dollars and the interest from them.
Coun. Hallikas said he recently was speaking with local MP John Rafferty, who indicated that if the library board wrote him a letter stressing the importance of getting the “Building Canada” funding, he would support the town’s application and bring it to the government’s attention.
Council and the library board also got an update Monday regarding the awarding of the tender to build a new library and technology centre.
The tender process usually involves a 60-day window, and previously it stood that agreements must be in place and a contract awarded to Aurora Construction by May 16 if the project is to proceed this year.
But councillors and board members learned Monday that the prospective contractor has extended the tender package for another six weeks—giving council until July to make a decision for this year.
Under the terms of the grant, which is aimed at “shovel-ready” projects, the town would have until March, 2011 to complete the library and technology centre project.
The town and library board also recently received a letter, dated May 1, from Culture minister Aileen Carroll indicating the $1.6-million grant the library board received from the Ministry of Culture in 2007 can be used towards a new library, whether that is to build one as it is depicted in the most recent plans, a scaled-down version, or even to renovate and upgrade the existing one.
This answers the question brought up several times in the last year as to whether that funding has to be used towards building a new library.
