Meeting Minutes 9/25/2011

Meeting Minutes - Approved 11/14/2011
Hatfield Public Library Building Committee
Hatfield Public Library
9/25/2011

Present: Dodie Gaudet, Harold Green, Susan Gaughan, Stephen Hale (arrived 11:15) and Eliza Langhans (librarian and recording secretary) and Mary Williams
Not Present: Jim Phaneuf, Bryan Nicholas

Call to Order: The meeting commenced at 11:00

Approval of Minutes: MOVED, SECONDED, APPROVED: Minutes from November, January and February.

MBLC Grant: The MBLC grant was rejected but we have been strongly encouraged to make changes and resubmit. Stephen Hale and Eliza Langhans met with Patience Jackson and Rosemary Waltos of the MBLC at Bolton Public Library on September 14th.

While waiting for Stephen Hale, the Committee discussed the Holy Trinity Church. Several community members have suggested the Church, which may soon be up for sale, as a potential library. The Church would need a new HVAC system and elevator. Committee members who have been in the Church noted that is a fine building and has potential as a library. However, time is extremely limited as we have to resubmit the grant by January 19th and this option was determined to be unfeasible at this time.

The main reasons the MBLC gave us for rejecting the grant were the size and complexity of the building and the safety and security issues created as a result. The large presence of the historical museum was also a major factor. More details about the grant review can be found in the document Grant Review Meeting Notes distributed by Eliza at the meeting.

The Committee determined that possible paths included resubmitting the grant using the current building with adjustments, or switching to a separate, one-story building next to the current library. Options were discussed at great length and no clear consensus was formed, though there is strong desire among Committee members to resubmit the grant in some form. However, we only $8,000 remaining and need as much as $30,000 to extend our contract with Stephen Hale and have him redesign the plan. Stephen will get us a more exact cost estimate. In order to get the money, we will need to ask the Town at a Special Town Meeting. MOVED, SECONDED, APPROVED: Harold will draft an article asking for $25,000 and attend the next Selectman’s meeting and see if we can get on the warrant to request the money at the Special Town Meeting on October 18th, 2011. If the Selectman do not put us on the warrant we need 100 signatures by October 4th to get on through petition. The Fall Festival will be a good time to get signatures and advocate among voters. As talking points we will emphasize that:

We have been encouraged to reapply - we have a very strong overall application and need is very clear
Withdrawal of museum forces us to redo design
Designing a smaller, single-purpose building will significantly lower project cost and lower long-term operational costs


We will meet again as soon as possible.

Meeting adjourned: 2:00PM
Next Meeting: Thursday, September 29th at 9:00AM at the Library