Vote "Yes" to Article 6!
Letter to the Editor Submitted to the Hudson-Litchfield News:
As many of you know the library suffered from water intrusion on a number of occasions in 2003. The library has already addressed the ground water issue with the warrant article that passed last year. The library trustees have signed a contract with a firm and will have this work completed this spring. Once this work is finished the Board of Trustees would like to have work completed to reopen the Florence Center Young Reader’s Room in the lower level.
The library has received insurance money to restore the children’s room to its original state. However, both the Board and the civil engineer that we have hired do not believe that we should do this. The previous floor was built as a raised platform floor, which allowed water to be trapped underneath, and mold to grow. When the children’s room is reconstructed, the design calls for a concrete cap to be poured over the sub-floor, allowing for easier clean up and no mold. The disadvantage to this plan is that it requires more money than our insurance settlement allows for. In addition, the water intrusion destroyed the lead paint encapsulation that was completed prior to opening the children’s room. Unfortunately, the insurance company would not pay for the re-encapsulation. The library also needs to have a water diverting installed at the north end of the building. Both of these add to the cost of the project. Therefore, we are asking the voters to help us fund our project.
It is important to me, both as vice chair of the trustees and as a citizen of our town, that we reopen the children’s room. When this August comes around, our children’s room will have been closed for 3 years. That means that there were 3 years when no Storytimes were held, three years without make and take projects, three years without kids club. It also means that only half of the children’s collection and half of the adult’s collection have been available. In these three years our library staff has been very creative, rearranging the upstairs to fit as many books for each age category as possible, changing make and takes into take and makes, and holding smaller scale programs. I applaud them for their efforts, but to me it’s not what a library should be. My children and yours should have a room that they can read in, use a computer in, do a project in. There should be space for a child to sit at a table and do research or do a puzzle.
On behalf of the Library Board of Trustees, I ask that you support warrant article # 6 and help to reopen the children’s room.
Sincerely,
Michele Parzych
Aaron Cutler Memorial Library
Vice Chair, Board of Trustees
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