Duane Hicks
After years of planning and fundraising, the library board is ready to see the shovel go in the ground for the new Fort Frances Public Library and Technology Centre this spring, but now it’s up to town council to decide if it wants to pay its share.
At a budget meeting Monday, the library board recommended council enter into a contract with Aurora Construction of Thunder Bay in the amount of $3.7 million to proceed with construction of a new library and technology centre at the corner of Reid Avenue and Second Street East.
The total project cost, including professional fees, furniture and equipment, is $4.7 million.
According to the project budget submitted to council Monday, the municipal share of the cost is estimated to be about $1.3 million—$240,000 from a dedicated reserve, $50,000 in in-kind services, and $1.09 million in long-term debt.
Library board chair Joyce Cunningham said the process to build a new library here started back in 1995, and since then the library board has done everything the town has asked it to.
Now it’s time for council to make a decision.
“The time has run out,” Cunningham stressed. “We can number crunch, we can project, we can go on forever. The time is now.
“You have to make a decision.”
Cunningham said plans for the new building “will provide sufficient space to provide the services and programs that are part of a library-technology centre in the 21st century,” and it is “a facility that is accessible to all persons with disabilities,” not only to access the building but also all of its resources and services.
Cunningham noted the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act came into being in 2005, and that a major reason for having a new library is to meet these new accessibility standards.
If council chooses not to go ahead with the new library and technology centre, not only will the grant money and the funds donated by the public have to be returned, and the professional fees have to be paid out (about $300,000), but the town still will have to spend money to upgrade the current library on Church Street.
This also will involve removing resources and shelves from the library in order to make space for an elevator, washrooms, and other features, which only compounds the current site’s problem of not having enough space for its resources, Cunningham said.
“By the time you are finished, you will have spent well over a million dollars to get a smaller library than the one you have now, and you will not be able to reduce the staff now like you can in the new library because it’s still on two levels,” she argued.
“To me, it’s a no-brainer.”
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft said he supports having a new library and technology centre built here, adding the town can either spend a million dollars to refurbish the old library or spend a million-plus to to get a brand new one.
“It is very clear we should go ahead with the new building because it’s going to be there for a hundred years,” he added. “This one [the current library] may fall down in a few years.”
“I can’t sit here and assume it is going to cost a million dollars [to fix the current library]. There’s no firm figures on that,” countered Coun. Paul Ryan, adding he’s not convinced at least some of the grants in place for the new library couldn’t be used to renovate the old one.
He noted the economic climate is not good, with the town having lost $500,000 from its tax base due to reassessment of the mill, not to mention dwindling reserves and other financial commitments.
He also estimated the town’s share for the new library to end up being more than $1.5 million.
“I am looking at the whole thing, and the burden we are going to have to put on people, and their ability to pay if that mill goes down,” remarked Coun. Ryan. “Our taxes right now are very high and they are going to go higher.”
But Coun. Andrew Hallikas felt the library is going to be an economic boon the town.
“We need to look ahead and we need to be reasonably optimistic,” he remarked. “This is a once-in-a-longtime shot. Everything’s come together, we have the ability to go together now and get a state-of-the-art brand new library and technology centre.
“I think that technology centre alone has a lot of potential for economic spin-offs in the future, and it will be the hub for the district for technology, for sure,” Coun. Hallikas added.
“Again, we’re looking at spending a million-plus—I am sure we’ll get more fundraising once the shovel goes in the ground—so we spend a million-plus now, have a brand new, totally-accessible building, no accessibility worries, state-of-the-art, or we don’t spend the money, we go back to the old library, and again I am not sure what it will cost to retrofit that, but I know putting in washrooms, elevators, doors, changing the height of the shelving, and the technology necessary to make it accessible for hearing-impaired and visually-impaired is going to be a lot of money.
“When you look at the two options, the optimistic option, the positive option is to go forward and build a new library,” he stressed.
“I really think we need to finish what we started,” Coun. Hallikas added later. “The library board has been coming to us on a regular basis giving us reports, as we keep saying, ‘Go ahead, go ahead, come back, come back.’
“If we were going to kill this project, we should have done it several years ago, but I think we’re beyond that now. We really need to go ahead.”
“We have to make a final decision because the price is going up and up and up,” agreed Coun. John Albanese. “Either we do it or we don’t do it, and that final decision has to be made very shortly.”
Some members of council expressed concern over the likelihood the town’s share will be greater than $1.09 million if, for example funding from FedNor does not come through as hoped, the old library building is not sold, and all the money pledged into the “Building for the Future” is not paid up.
As well, the building committee negotiated with Aurora Construction to reduce the bid by about $500,000, with Coun. Ryan pointing out certain aspects of the project that were trimmed for costs, such as paving the parking lot at the new library, still will have to be done in the future in order for the town to be compliant with its own property standards.
He felt that should be brought into consideration now when talking about the municipal contribution to the library project.
Mayor Roy Avis said that last year, council had agreed to contribute $592,000 towards a new library—and now that amount has more than doubled.
He also questioned aspects of the project budget, which presumes the sale of the old library ($150,000) and FedNor funding ($170,000), which has been applied for but not received, not to mention unknowns, like how much it will cost moving to the new library, and who will take care of the old library if it’s vacant and how much it will cost.
Coun Ken Perry agreed, adding $592,000 council was talking about last year is a far cry from the $1.5 million or more he estimated the town may end up paying when all is said and done.
But Cunningham noted the town’s portion of the project amounts to about 29 percent (or one-third) of the total cost, which is not unusual in projects like this.
“The point is, I have been saying, and I think the rest of the library board has been saying for several years, it is unrealistic to expect you will be able to build a library and technology centre if the town contributes only 14 percent,” she said.
“If that’s all you’re ever wanting to do, I think we all have to face the reality that the project is dead—that’s your decision, not my decision.”
Several library building committee members also weighed in.
Arlene Georgeson noted the building committee has done everything council has wanted and expressed due diligence in planning for a new library that will meet the community’s needs.
“I can’t believe you would consider not building the library and technology centre now,” she remarked, adding she felt council would lose credibility.
“You say you are dealing with taxpayers’ money, and I know you have to be fiscally responsible . . . but when you told us to go out there and prove people want it, and do our fundraising, we had an overwhelming response from taxpayers, right?
“These people are taxpayers, they put their money where their mouth is. They said, ‘We want this.’ To me, that’s what they said,” she stressed.
Georgeson added everyone is concerned about the economy and downtime at the mill, but it’s often in hard times that libraries are needed and used most.
“I think that if town council turns this down, I think they’re making a big mistake. I really do,” said Alan Zucchiatti.
At the direction of council, treasurer Laurie Witherspoon noted that if the town got $1.5 million in long-term financing from the bank (at the current interest rate of 3.33 percent), it would cost the town $102,827 a year to pay it back over the next 20 years.
This would equal a 1.1 percent levy increase for residential taxpayers.
Council is expected to make a decision regarding the new library and technology centre at its next regular meeting on Monday (April 13).
