The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees moved on from the defeat of the $20.8 million library construction referendum by voting to form a resident-driven advisory committee to look at possible upgrades to facilities.
As part of it regular meeting on Tuesday at the Parkville Library Branch, the board unanimously approved a resolution to create a 15-member advisory committee, comprised of a majority of residents working with board members and Library Director Jane Marino, to address construction issues within the library.
“We clearly need to still renovate the building,” Marino said. “The building is still in need of work, so we have to figure out how best to proceed. We feel, the board feels and I feel, that having the public engaged in this process is the most transparent and the most efficient way to do it.”
Marino will appoint four board of trustee members and two library staff members, who will work with eight residents on the committee. Of those eight community members, four will be “professionals” who specialize in some sort of construction and will help “discuss the renovation and how best to proceed,” Marino said.
The committee will present a report to the board of trustees on July 1, 2012.
“I think one of the things that is going to make the building project successful is to make the public have ownership in the process,” Marino said. “I think the most effective way for the public to have ownership in the project is to be involved on a real basis, on an active basis.”
“Not just to answer a survey,” she added, “not just to sit at a meeting, but to actually sit around a table with those people who are going to make decisions about how the building will be renovated. I think that’s the only way that we can most effectively move forward.”
Last month, more than 4,200 residents turned out to overwhelmingly vote down a library construction bond referendum, which would have allowed for a $20.8 million renovation and expansion of the Main Branch of the library at 156 Bayview Avenue.
If the referendum had been approved, the Main Branch renovation and expansion would have lasted up to two years and added 8,600-square feet to the Main Branch.
As part of her director’s report during Tuesday’s meeting, Marino offered a list of construction and renovation issues with the building for the board and future advisory committee to consider.
Marino said the most important renovations dealt with the library’s outdated electrical and mechanical systems. The library has been dealing with issues over the age of its boiler, HVAC, fire alarm and its roof and storm water systems.
Problems have also arose with the library’s domestic water system, plumbing fixtures, elevator and front door, along with the building’s lack of a fire sprinkler system.
“The systems in this building are the most important thing to deal with,” Marino said. “We need to do a gut renovation. We need to do everything at the same time. That’s my personal opinion. I don’t know if that’s what this advisory committee will end up deciding, but that’s my personal opinion.”
During the course of her work analyzing the renovation issues, Marino reviewed engineer reports presented to the board in 2000 and 2009.
Along with system upgrades, Marino presented a list of areas of other concern, which spanned from the need to renovate the library’s community room to issues with space in the history room.
“All of these things have to be done,” Marino said. “This is not news, everyone knows this. Everyone knows that these things need to be done. We have been told time and time again that these systems are at the end of their useful life. Basic things that any modern buildings have, we don’t have. We need to have them.”
In other business, the board of trustees voted down a resolution, which would have paid the Nassau Library System an increase in funds over the next two years.
“The Nassau Library System is the consortium,” Marino said. “They coordinate databases and other services that they give out to the member libraries. They include book delivery services among all 54 libraries. They are mandated by the state, created by the state and are supposed to be funded by the state.”
Board members originally approved a $19,800 contribution to the Nassau Library System for its services in 2012. The board’s vote rejected a request to raise their contribution to the consortium to $33,127 in 2012, and $46,912 in 2013.
“Although (NLS is) mandated to provide these services, the state funding has been reduced very drastically in the last couple years, which had prompted them to turn to the member libraries for more support,” Marino said. “We’re going to stay in NLS,. We want to stay in NLS.”
