Library trustees ask Clarksburg for maintenance, ADA and staffing funds for Wallen Moore Building

Trustees of the Parkland Paris Public Library asked Clarksburg officials for continued funding to cover a staff salary and a series of building repairs at the Wallen Moore Building, saying the site functions as a central public gathering space for the city.

At a city meeting, Victor Polio, president and chair of the library trustees, described the Wallen Moore Building as “basically the living room” for Clarksburg and asked the council to consider several maintenance and accessibility projects the library cannot absorb in its operating budget.

Library representatives said the request includes continuing the salary the city paid last year for the building manager, operating costs estimated at about $8,000 a year, replacement of the front sidewalk adjacent to Pike Street, repairs to the patio and entrances, upgrading an ADA ramp that trustees called too short and steep, and cleaning gutters and downspouts that Public Works declined to handle.

Trustees also raised longer-standing building problems: an elevator with a historical fault they said dates to 1907, restrooms that are not currently ADA compliant and contain asbestos, and other items listed in a master plan the trustees submitted to the city. The trustees urged the council to follow the master plan rather than completing repairs in piecemeal phases.

Sarah Glosser, the Wallen Moore building manager, said the facility has served the public regularly: since October the building has recorded about 207 patrons using in-person, online or telephone services, and staff are working to digitize archival materials such as the McBarker collection so records remain available regardless of the condition of paper artifacts.

Library staff said they have applied for outside grants in the past. Shannon Dean, the library’s interim director, said the library applied last year for CES grants for the building but was not approved and that the library will reapply to forthcoming grant programs and to state historic-preservation funding sources.

Representatives warned that some historic grants include conditions that could require the city to repay funds if exterior work departs from previously approved historic treatments. The trustees said they have coordinated past interior work — including electrical renovations — with state historic officials and were advised not to remove certain historically significant features that those programs protect.

No formal vote or action on funding was recorded in the transcript provided; trustees asked the council to consider the requests and to provide oversight and clear job responsibilities if the council agrees to continue the funded position.

The trustees’ presentation referenced a master plan produced several years earlier and prior work done in coordination with Robinson Green; trustees said phased projects risk being stalled by changes in administration and urged a fully scoped approach for critical items such as the ramp, sidewalks, elevator and restrooms.