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Public Forum Provides Way Forward
(The date may not be current, however the information is.)


Community Planning Meeting
Tuftonboro Free Library
April 14, 2007
10:00 a.m. - Noon

Plans for a new library having been defeated by a vote of 333 to 196 at Town Meeting 2007, various members of the community and the librarians and library Trustees met on Saturday, April 14th, to discuss the future direction of the library. Trustee Chair Carolyn Sundquist started the meeting by listing some possibilities for future use of the existing building. It was noted that many townspeople didn’t understand why the Trustees were committed to a new building instead of the addition that they thought they authorized at the 2006 Town Meeting. We need to make this decision more clearly understood before next year’s meeting.            

At the time the plans for the addition to the existing library were drawn up, there had been no wetlands survey done of the area. After the 2006 Town Meeting the Trustees used some of the authorized money to hire North Country Soil Services to delineate the wetlands.  It was discovered that in addition to the wetlands known to be on both sides of the building which dictated that the expansion be toward the back, there were also two wetland areas directly behind the library which precluded any addition there.

Adding a second story to the current building has the disadvantage of being the most expensive way to expand, and we don’t know if the bearing walls are adequate.  A second floor also brings up ADA (elevator), plumbing, maintenance, supervision,  staffing, and line-of-sight issues.  Total library service and resource space would still be inadequate (less than 8,000 sq. ft. when our building plan calls for 9,475 sq. ft.), and so would parking. 
 
Since there is only a +/- $400,000 cost difference between an addition and a totally new building and we would then have the old building to use for another community need, the Trustees decided to support the building of a new library.

The Selectmen will be appointing a Capital Improvement Committee to study future town projects and priorities, but since that will take a while to get up and running, we are proactively looking at options for the old building now. The building, once vacated, will no longer be under the Trustees’ control or supervision. We will make a proposal to the Selectmen, and the decision ultimately rests with the voters.  The following possible options have been suggested to TFL staff over the past year:

            1. Community Center

            2.  Day Care Center

            3.  Nursery School

            4.  Police Station

            5.  Post Office

            6.  Selectmen sell the building

The first three options could be a combined use, and the last one was rejected as contrary to the idea of keeping centrally located property within the Town’s control. Forum attendees felt that residents would not like to have their post offices centralized at this time.
 
This leaves 2 options: the community center/day care/nursery school  and the police station. A community center like Ossipee’s or Sandwich’s could be used by many groups, both during the day and evenings, and there would be little cost for repurposing the building in this way.  

It was noted that the fire station and police station do not really need to be in the same building, and if the police moved into the old library building they could run wires under the road to share computer resources (or use a wireless network). The equipment that both departments need to share would be close enough to get to quickly.

It was agreed that bank financing or bonding was a better method for paying for the library project than a capital reserve fund, because it shifts the cost to the future taxpayers who will be using its services. Payback would probably be over 15 years. 

Families with small children who are strong library supporters found it hard to attend this year’s Town Meeting, so perhaps next year we could help to provide child care or babysitting at the library or school.

The Trustees have established a Building Team to help guide us toward a new facility. Members are:  Cindy Barnard, Dave Lee, Linda MacDonald, Lois McLean, Joyce Munsey, Mary Ann Murray, Patty Nisbet, Ruth Smith, Terry Smith, Joan Theve, Sarah Barnes Whelchel, and Barbara Widmer, along with the Trustees and librarians.  Call the library at 569-4256 for more information on how you can help, even if you don’t want to serve on the committee.

The meeting was positive and optimistic, although we have a lot of work ahead of us in the next year if we are to succeed in remedying Tuftonboro's increasingly inadequate library facilities.
 
Respectfully submitted,

Ann Robinson

Ann Robinson, Secretary

TFL Trustees