Excerpt: Town councilors Tuesday unanimously designated Town Manager Perry Ellsworth as the project manager for the new library’s construction and authorized him to sign a contract to begin its official design and development phase.
Ellsworth said Tuesday the town has been in the “conceptual/schematic phase” for several months now, and needed to now sign the $40,000 architectural services contract in order to actually move forward with the project and “narrow down” the final numbers associated with its cost.
“If we don’t get to this stage here, we won’t know what the final numbers will be,” he said. “We can’t ask contractors to bid without knowing the scope. We can’t do this until we get through this stage.”
Ellsworth said the plan is to have the construction document ready by May 15 so the town can solicit bids between May 15 and June 1 and receive the bids by mid-to-late June.
He said the town “likely won’t be ready to start” construction on July 1 as hoped, although he said they may be able to start on Aug. 1, and the plan is to still have the all exterior work and have the “building encapsulated… so it can survive the winter” by early fall.
The decision to proceed with the contract as well as Ellsworth’s appointment as project manager was met with public praise during Tuesday’s meeting.
Norma Tutelian, a resident and former town councilor, said before the meeting she welcomed both moves because the project has been lingering. Tutelian also made that stance known during the meeting through a brief public comment before the council took action.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” she said. “Maybe it will get the ball rolling.”
The library project entails renovating and building up the St. Michael’s Church building on Young Street to turn it into a library.
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