Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Library Relocation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges council not to move library, warns proposed site is 'out of character'
Summary
A resident speaking during public comment urged the council to keep the town library in its current building, criticized a proposed office-space relocation as architecturally out of character, suggested a multi-year capital campaign instead of a quick sale, and proposed interim options such as Rush Commons.
During the public-comment portion of the meeting a resident and Friends of the Library member (S7) spoke against a proposed move of the town library into rented office space.
The resident said the current library building is owned by the town and “attractive architecturally,” urging the council not to move into a rental that could become more expensive over time. “I don’t see that it makes any sense to move into a rental that could be increased over time,” S7 said, adding that most of the library staff and “mostly everyone in the community” wants to keep the existing building.
S7 criticized the proposed new site as “literally inside of an office building” and said the design is out of character with the town. “It’s so out of character with the rest of the town and looks something suitable for the West like Arizona or Nevada,” the resident said, later adding, “All it needs is a sign that says Red Lobster.”
The resident questioned the rush to sell the current building, arguing the town could pursue a longer capital campaign to raise the estimated $6,000,000 for renovation over five to ten years instead of moving immediately. She suggested interim options — including using Rush Commons for teen or children’s activities while preserving the library building — and said selling the library to a private owner would be “a travesty.”
S7 also asserted the developer seeking tenants has substantial personal stock holdings (the remark in the transcript is that the developer has “personal stock holdings of 8,000,000,000 with a b”); the speaker prefaced the claim by saying, “I could be wrong.” The council did not respond to or verify that financial assertion during the comment period.
The resident concluded by asking the council to pause plans to relocate the library and consider a longer-term fundraising strategy and interim site options.
