Library repairs take to the ballot on Tuesday
By Caitlyn Kelleher

The building's second floor meeting room remains closed as sagging is evident in the roof structure causing fear of collapse. Voters will review potential funding sources to fix the problem at Tuesday, June 26, town meeting.

Advisory Board members got a chance to ask architect Maury Wolfe about the proposed repairs to the library's roof, which will appear on a Town Meeting warrant on Tuesday, June 26.

The board met with Forbush Memorial Library Trustees, members of the building committee, and Wolfe on Monday to discuss the cost of the repairs. Voters are going to be asked to approve a temporary shoring structure that will sit in the Eloranta Room of the library to support the sagging roof.

The shoring structure is going to cost $39,000. The selectmen and the state Department of Revenue have approved emergency spending of the money so the Town Meeting vote is to identify a source for the money through transferring money, said Town Coordinator Karen Murphy.

Voters will also be asked to fund the engineering and design work for the final repairs for the roof. Wolfe did not have a final number on the cost of this because of electrical work that was required. He expected to have that final figure available after press time.

Wolfe explained that the cracks in the ceiling of the upstairs meeting room have visibly grown over the course of the last few months. He said the beams in the roof have been cut and therefore the roof is unstable.

"For a long time it didn't make a bit of difference," he said.

But the continual snowfall, the added pressure of the roof of the library addition and other stressors the roof has become unstable. He said that the visible sagging of the roof is "not an optical illusion."

"If you delay the shoring now, you're going to pay for it later," Wolfe said.

He explained this is because the shoring is required before anyone can access the area for construction work.

"The building is not unstable, it's just the roof," Wolfe said.

Former library Director Barbara Friedman said she is unsure why this has become such a pressing issue.

"This has always been a building that sags," she said during the meeting. "That is part of the charm of the building. It has been doing that since 1901."

The repairs are a separate problem from the exterior envelope repairs that are also being considered for the building and are expected to go before voters this winter. The goal of the building committee and other officials is to combine the costs of the final repairs to the roof and the exterior envelope in a single construction project.

Voters will be asked to approve this funding after contract bids are received for the project so the price does not change.