To the Editor:
Our Vineyard Haven library is a vital community center. For kids of all ages after school, weekends, and summers, there are books, games, and fun, educational activities. Adults can be alone or together to read, use computers, join book groups or current affairs discussions, and enjoy current movies — all free of charge. But our Vineyard Haven library building desperately needs long-delayed repairs, and its existing program room is woefully inadequate.
Five years ago, community volunteers working with the library board of trustees created a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to raise funding privately in order to build an addition to create a multipurpose meeting room with much-needed storage space. Since then, hundreds of people in our community have donated the funds needed to build a comfortable, generous, flexibly furnished program room. And donations continue to arrive, because the community is strongly behind this project.
Fundraising alone, however, will be insufficient to address longstanding problems with the existing library building, including major issues with roofing, plumbing, heating, and air conditioning systems, and the integrity of the building envelope. Over the past several years the library board has worked with the select board, town administrator, planning board, and finance committee, and appointed a building committee on a plan for repairs. Funds were appropriated at the 2023 Town Meeting to hire CHA Consulting as owner project manager, and Maryann Thompson, Architects, to create the design and construction drawings for a comprehensive renovation.
Addressing these critical repairs while the new addition is under construction is by far the most cost- and time-efficient. Further delaying these repairs, and addressing them piecemeal at a later time, would add massively to the expense, as well as create great inconvenience for our staff and community in the future. The library needs our support now.
The town of Tisbury will hold a special Town Meeting vote on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 7 pm, at the MVRHS Performing Arts Center. The warrant will include an article to fund this renovation and expansion of the Vineyard Haven Public Library. This will be followed by a Special Town Election vote on Tuesday, Jan. 7, from noon to 8 pm at the Emergency Services Facility at 215 Spring St.
Please put these dates on your calendar. Please be present at the Dec. 17 meeting, and then vote YES on Jan. 7, to finally make these plans a reality — a gift from all of us to our community for now and into the future. Thank you!
Carolyn Henderson, trustee
Vineyard Haven Public
