The long sought after expansion of the Picton Library is moving forward.
Council unanimously approved a request on Tuesday night during their regular council meeting to go ahead with the expansion project and accept the construction bid for over $2 million.
Councillor Ernie Margetson felt the library board had covered all their bases.
“They’re proposing a building here with the space requirements that they feel the community needs and they need for the programming that the library offers. So I take that, that they understand what they are doing and what they need and that it costs more than what was originally anticipated.”
The construction tender for the expansion project is $2.3 million and businessman Michael Hymus has pledged to fulfill any shortfall up to $480,000.
Council told the board in September 2019 to make a plan for an expansion that fit within $2 million.
An artist’s rendering of what the Picton Library will look like following its expansion.
Library Board Chair Devon Jones addressed council and said they took those comments into consideration and the board felt the needs of the community could not be addressed within the $2 million limit asked for.
Chair of the Finance Committee Alexander “Sandy” Murray assured council they have a number of donors who have pledged their monetary support to this project and that money will appear once shovels are in the ground.
Mayor Steve Ferguson said the board has done a wonderful job of thinking this through.
“It seems to me that with the additional funding, they have now ticked all the boxes to move this project forward and I am very much supportive of ticking the last box, which is giving them the approval to do so.”
The expansion will make the library 13,000 square feet once complete.
The total cost of the expansion is expected to be almost $2.8 million.
