Commissioners press for drawings and a funding plan before committing more money to South Cheatham Library

The county's discussion of the South Cheatham Library dominated the workshop's budget conversation. Staff and commissioners reviewed outstanding architect invoices and noted that construction estimates rose during design work, prompting debate about whether to proceed to bidding or pause once construction documents are complete.

"We're asking the budget committee if they could bring us the drawings so we have something to look at so we know, you know, what they're drawing," one library representative said, urging the commission to review the actual plans before committing more county funds. Commissioners flagged architect fees that staff characterized as roughly 77% through construction documents and discussed a $750,000 figure cited for completing construction drawings; building cost estimates mentioned in the discussion ranged from about $2.5 million (north end) to $7.5 million (south end), or about $10 million total depending on scope.

Multiple commissioners argued the county should obtain final construction documents and a funding plan, including library fundraising or donor commitments, before the county advances significant additional expenditure. Several suggested the county could pay through the construction-document phase and then pause, or direct the architect to stop after drawings are complete so the county would own the documents while the library pursues donations. The budget committee did not make a recommendation to fully fund the full build-out, instead returning the item so the full commission can weigh drawings, revised cost estimates and a funding plan.