|
Library officials discuss design ideas with county commissioners
By Derek Hodges
Despite recent confusion among county officials, Library Board leaders told commissioners Jan. 12 they do know what kind of building they want for a new library.
“We’re in need of library based on national averages,” Sylva architect and Library Board Design Committee member Odell Thompson said. “We do know about how big it should be and about how much it should cost.”
According to documents presented by Thompson, the Library Board’s Design Committee has suggested the new library be 25,000 to 30,000 square feet. Those numbers were based on studies of libraries across the nation serving populations similar to Jackson County’s, Thompson said.
The bill for construction of such a facility would be between $3.75 million and $4.8 million, Thompson said. Add to that $1.5 million to $2.1 million for furnishing and equipping the new facility and the tab could run as high as $6.9 million, based on 2004 averages.
While the Design Committee has already established what it believes is a suitable size for the new facility, the group still wants to hire a professional design consulting firm. Such an organization would hold meetings with community members to determine what the county needs in a new library, Thompson said.
“It seems like you already know what you need,” said Commissioners’ Chairman Brian McMahan. “What would be the scope of the work these consultants would provide?”
The firm would work to gain public input on the project through a series of meetings, confirm the committee’s findings to this point and work with the design architect to ensure the building meets the community’s needs, Thompson said.
Thompson requested commissioners, who had agreed the week before to meet with Library Board members and the two consulting firms being interviewed, set a date for the meetings. However, with only three commissioners present – McMahan, Roberta Crawford and Joe Cowan – McMahan suggested the decision be postponed until Commissioners Eddie Madden and Conrad Burrell could be involved in the decision.
“I’d just hate to give you a date and have something come up,” McMahan said.
Library Board members plan to interview two firms, MSB Consultants of Tampa, Fla., and Baltimore, and Dubberly Garcia Associates of Atlanta. At least one firm would require advance notice of the meeting to secure travel reservations, Thompson said.
“The longer we wait to get them in, it pushes the whole schedule back,” Thompson said.
In other business Jan. 19:
– Commissioners heard a proposal from WRGC General Manager David Skinner on the radio station’s “Be smart, buy local” promotion.
The station is asking local government bodies to sponsor on-air advertising encouraging listeners to shop at area stores, instead of spending money out of Jackson County, Skinner said.
Commissioners postponed voting on the issue.
– Commissioners voted to allow the Board of Elections to use grant money from the state’s Help America Vote Act to upgrade the county’s voting machines.
The grant money will cover the cost of adding paper receipt printers to the county’s current machines. The print outs are now required under N.C. Senate Bill 223. Since county voting machines are already accessible to handicapped voters and need only minor upgrades to comply with the new law, the grant should cover the entire cost of the work, Board of Elections Director Lisa Lehman said.
“I think it says a lot about the work (the Board of Elections) has done that there are 100 counties in this state and Jackson County is the only one that was ready for this new law,” McMahan said.
Despite the county’s preparedness, commissioners voted to send a letter to local legislatures requesting implementation of the law be delayed. The delay would allow other counties in the state, many of whom are struggling to be ready by the May primary as the law requires, more time to update their equipment, Lehman said.
– At commissioners’ Jan. 12 meeting, Timm Muth, coordinator of the county’s beneficial landfill gas project, presented a list of possible names for the project. Organizers want to give the project a positive name that avoids using words like “landfill” and helps place the project in a larger context than just Jackson County, Muth said.
Commissioners reviewed the names Jan. 19 but postponed action.
“I don’t like any of these names,” Crawford said.
“I’m not wild about any of them, either,” McMahan said. “I’d like one that really identifies this project as being in Jackson County.”
Among the names suggested are Smoky Mountain Green Energy Park, Jackson County Landfill Gas Recovery and Crafts Project, and Dillsboro Green Energy Park.
McMahan suggested county officials bring their own lists to commissioners’ Feb. 6 meeting.
– Commissioners approved a resolution that requests the N.C. Department of Transportation add a portion of Alvin Deitz Road to state maintenance.
– County leaders approved a resolution that, if approved by the N.C. Sediment Control Commission, will give the county’s Planning Department responsibility for inspection and enforcement of sediment control measures in the towns.
The action came at the request of leaders in Sylva, Dillsboro, Webster and Forest Hills, McMahan said. Normally county inspectors would not work inside the towns.
Crawford expressesd concern that the county’s inspector, already overburdened in his workload, might not be able to handle the extra responsiblities.
The county has requested an additional erosion control officer, county Manager Ken Westmoreland said.
“We feel pretty confident that is, in fact, going to happen,” he said.
While Crawford said she was “still skeptical,” the resolution was unanimously approved when Westmoreland assured her commissioners could rescind it at any time in the future if they need to.
– Westmoreland presented bids from five contractors offering to do work at the Webster Complex. The work would include creating pads for new facilities at the site, installing utilities to serve those new buildings and building a retaining pond for run-off, Westmoreland said.
Phillips & Jordan of Robbinsville was the low bidder, at just more than $1 million. That figure is about $300,000 below an engineer’s estimate of what the project would cost, Westmoreland said.
Several commissioners expressed a desire to see county construction completed by local companies. While two Jackson County contractors – Buchanan & Sons of Whittier ($1.288 million) and Parker Excavating ($1.7 million) – bid on the Webster Complex work, their figures were the two highest.
|
