Updated Jan. 8.
At Tisbury special town meeting on Dec. 17, voters approved a $4.8-million borrowing request to renovate and maintain the Vineyard Haven library.
The next critical step in the process requires voters to approve the spending request at a special town election on Jan. 7.
Voting will take place at the Emergency Services Facility on Spring Street from noon to 8 pm. You can see a sample ballot at bit.ly/LibrarySampleBallot.
Previously, the library board of trustees created a nonprofit organization, which raised $1.6 million for an addition to the library, but during construction, the older portions of the building continued to deteriorate. According to trustees, there are major issues with roofing, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and overall integrity of the building, and those issues have continued to grow.
“We raised $1.6 million to build an addition that is paid for, but in the process, the building continues to deteriorate. We need to replace the roofs so we can put solar on it, replace the bathrooms, fix ceiling water leaks, and the exterior is rotting,” said Arch Smith, chair of the board of trustees. “In short, we have water coming in from the roof, and water coming in from the ground, and we don’t want it in the building.”
If approved at the Jan. 7 special town election, bids for the construction project will be sent out to all possible contractors by late February, Smith said.
“Our goal is to use as many Island people as we can, but because of the bonding agreement, we have to include some off-Island companies as well,” said Smith. “Our goal is to use as many Island contractors as possible.”
If denied, the library will revisit the plan and go back to the voters in the spring.
According to the library’s board of trustees, addressing the repairs while the building is already under construction is the most cost- and time-efficient course of action.
“Getting it done all at once is the cheapest way to do it. At the end of the day, doing it over a long period will be more expensive and disruptive,” said Smith.
This story was changed to reflect the correct requested amount for the library construction project. It is $4.8 million, not $4.4 million.
