Library building committee looks to finish project design
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

FILE PHOTO

The Forbush Library Building Committee met on Thursday, Dec. 20, to discuss the timeline for the project's bidding and construction, as well as any other changes or renovations for the building.

Maury Wolfe, the architect for the project, said he would like to issue the bid documents on Jan. 16, and have a five-week cycle for the bids to come in. Wolfe said the longer bid period is because so there is more time for the subcontracts, such as bricklayers, to submit proposals.

The renovation project includes creating a brick exterior to the new part of the building, reinforcing the roof and the ceiling panels, and other work to stop water leakage and mold issues that have plagued the building for the last few years.

Voters will be asked to approve the project at a special town meeting and at a town election in February or March. Voters will be asked to approve money based on the actual cost of the project instead of an estimated cost.

The trustees and the building committee discussed adding three alternates to the project that could be added if voters wanted to spend the money for those items to be completed.

Alternates are parts of the project that are bid separately so they can, or cannot, be accepted (usually because of cost) at the time the contract is awarded. State law states alternatives, if accepted, must be taken in order of their original requests if they are taken at all.

The first alternate is to remove the carpeting in the Children's Room and replace it with vinyl tiles. Library Director Margaret Howe-Soper said the carpet is looking old and is worn, but should be replaced because it holds the mold.

The mold remediation is one of the reasons

the renovation project was started. Trustees and Library Building Committee members want to make sure they present all of the options to voters because they don't want to be accused of not completing the project or giving voters all of the options.

The second alternate would be to repaint the interior-sides of the interior walls. This is becoming an issue because the interiorsides of the exterior walls are being painted with an anti-vapor paint as part of the renovation project.

Wolfe said the paint prevents air vapors for going into the walls, settling and cooling to create water, which leads to mold issues. This paint will be applied to the walls with an exterior face. A regular paint would be used to paint the remaining walls, if voters approve the expense.

"It's got to be their choice," Library Building Committee member Preston Baker said.

Baker said residents are going to have to decide if they want to spend the money to repaint the remaining walls of the library. The building committee and the library trustees should not be the ones to decide the library should not be repainted, because the walls may look odd with the partial repainting.

The third alternative is to finish the unfinished room in the attic.