The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees decried missed opportunities to secure grants at Tuesday night’s meeting, after failing to submit requests for assistance to the Nassau Library System.
Board President Marietta DiCamillo and Trustee Josie Pizer attended the Nassau Library System monthly meeting on Monday, at which 16 libraries were awarded grants. But no grants, some of which exceeded $100,000, went to the Great Neck Library – a lapse criticized by DiCamillo.
“I feel like we missed an opportunity,” DiCamillo said. “We were not under the impression that we were able to file because we had been told so, but apparently that’s not the case.”
Interim Director Laura Weir said that the Nassau Library System required specific project proposals and cost projections from a professional estimator, and that the library did not have those available before the application deadline.
DiCamillo said the board should have ensured that grants were requested, and pledged to have applications ready in the future.
“That should never be the case again,” DiCamillo said. “If we need to get numbers then the board needs to provide these numbers and we should never ever miss another opportunity to file.”
Pizer said she also feared the library had missed deadlines to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency and Long Island Power Authority assistance made available after Hurricane Sandy.
“We could easily have gotten money,” Pizer said.
Audience member Ralene Adler, a former library trustee, expressed frustration with the failure to apply for grants.
“We should have submitted applications,” Adler said. “As a taxpayer, we pay taxes to New York State so they can give us back money.”
DiCamillo also announced that the Great Neck school board had approved the ballot placement of its Nov. 19 renovation referendum.
“It went very smoothly and we’re very pleased that it went that well,” DiCamillo said. “If only the voting goes as smoothly, we’ll be a very happy board and staff.”
The resolution would authorize a $10.4 million bond to fund a renovation of the library’s Main Branch. If passed, the bond would be paid out over 20 years and require an extra $875,000 in annual tax revenue for the bond period.
The proposed renovation, which would include a revamp of the library’s interior and millions in infrastructure spending, is a scaled down alternative to a 2011 proposal for a $20.8 million expansion of the Main Branch.
That plan was soundly defeated at the ballot box after a campaign by residents and former library trustees who criticized what they saw as an excessive tax hike.
The renovation would increase community space, open the design of the library, condense book storage and update the building’s infrastructure, according to Russell Davidson, president of the project’s architectural firm KG&D.
