Heading for Construction!

Last night the four town board members present (Moe was out of town) voted unanimously to accept the low bids on the four primes for phase 1 of the new library. I want to thank them for their unified action to move the project forward! Bring on the shovels!

The town board voted with the recommendation of the library board of trustees that the signed contracts include four “alternates,” which the bidders priced out separately to help the town make a decision on whether to implement them. The approximately 8,000 sq. ft. building to be constructed in phase 1 will include:

• Eight operable sash windows: The would provide energy savings from opening windows instead of running the air conditioning at times.
• A fireplace: This feature was important to residents attending the public design forums. Plus, it may have the potential to draw in private sponsorship (It’s already part of the capital campaign “naming opportunities”–anyone interested in donating and putting their name on it?  I’m actually serious, e-mail me if you are.)
• Two study rooms: It is expected these rooms will be heavily used by patrons, including young people for school projects, adults studying for night school, people who come to the library to work using the free Wi-Fi, and small groups holding meetings.
• A stone faced exterior landscape wall facing Main Street. That’s the hip high wall in front of the building in this rendering.

Thanks also to the town staff who will follow through behind the scenes on making all this contract stuff happen!

Talking about the ‘Alternates’

This week the library board of trustees, library director and library steering committee chair are working diligently on considering the “alternates” for phase one of the new library, a new building of approximately 8,000 sq. ft. An alternate is a description of work for which the bidder calculates a separate cost to help the owner make a decision. This description of work can either be an additional item (add alternate) or a deletion of some item (deduct alternate).

The bid documents included these alternates:

• Add (4) skylights above the book stack area.
• Add stone faced exterior landscape wall facing Main Street with signage. (The hip high wall in front of the building in this rendering.)
• Add built-in cabinets, computer desk and book return desk.
• Add cost to change (8) fixed windows to make operable.
• Deduct double-sided fireplace and related interior stone veneer in main reading room and senior reading room.
• Deduct (2) study rooms 8’ x 12’ size.

The trustees’ recommendation on which alternates to adopt will be presented to the town board during its regular meeting on Monday, July 12, at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.

‘Tour’ the New Library

You can already take a ‘tour’ of the new Mendon Public Library. Look closely at the orange spray paint in the current library parking lot. You may find that you’ve parked in the future reading room!

You can also get an idea about space inside the new building (Phase 1 of the project) and some views of the outside in this drawing.