SALAMANCA — It may be a few months later than she expected, but library manager Kirsten Woodin said construction for a renovation project at the Salamanca Public Library should begin this fall.
After originally being awarded a $256,296 grant in 2016, the library’s board of directors planned to hire an architectural firm to prepare drawings and plans for the work and help with the bidding process, which had its setbacks early on.
“We had to re-bid it because the original bids came in so high and it was over budget,” Woodin explained in a conversation with The Press.
However, the project’s latest bid came in at $219,900, she said, several thousand dollars below the original grant amount awarded by New York state.
Woodin said they were able to slightly scale down the project for a second bidding. A new bidder who didn’t try for the original contract was recently awarded the revised project during the second bidding process, she said.
“I don’t know how long it will be from the awarding of the contract to the start of construction, but the architecture firm told me it should take about three months for the actual renovation,” she said.
Thanks to the state’s grant, which was included in the 2016-17 budget, Woodin said nearly all of the project would be covered by state funding. An initial $230,666 from the state, 90 percent of the grant, would be available upfront with the remaining 10 percent awarded after the project is completed.
“With such a low base bid, we should be able to do some of the things that we thought we had to cut when those original bids came in,” she explained. “But (architecture firm) Clark Patterson Lee put together some alternate bids for us, so we should be able to add some of those things back in and still be under budget.”
Most of the needed work would be done in the meeting room, bathrooms and kitchen area, which will all receive complete renovations, Woodin said.
“I’m looking forward to having ADA compliant bathrooms and changing tables,” she said. “We don’t have baby changing tables, and people bring their babies here.”
Further renovations include the walls in the children’s area, an updated main entrance, new lighting and new ceiling tiles throughout the building, which was converted into a library from a grocery store in the early 1970s. Although some design aspects, like newer furniture, may not be part of the project, Woodin said much of the cosmetic work will be wonderful and very inviting to library patrons.
“When it’s done, come in and visit because it’s going to be great,” she said. “It’s going to be a much more modernized and welcoming space.”
Salamanca’s Common Council approved in September 2016 a resolution accepting the NYS Department of Library Development grant. The city also provided $60,000 over the course of two city budgets, the 2016-17 and 2017-18 fiscal years, which will be available in the library’s budget.
Under the terms of the state grant, construction was supposed to start within 180 days and be completed in 2018, but Woodin said continuous contact with the state has allowed them the extra cushion needed to have everything set before work begins.
“We’re still following regulations, but it’s just not happening as fast as it should have,” she added.
Although there isn’t a timeline yet, Woodin said she expects construction to begin within the next couple months with the project completed in early 2018.
While work is being done, the library is scheduled to remain open, Woodin said. She said the meeting room is booked ahead often enough that any groups scheduled to use the meeting room would be notified as soon as the library knows when they’d have to go somewhere else and how long that would be.
“For the most part, they said they should be able to work around the hours that we’re open, maybe working when we’re closed,” Woodin explained. “So there’s options for us. We want to keep everything open as much as possible, but I can’t guarantee everything will stay the same.”
(Contact reporter Kellen Quigley at kquigleysp@gmail.com.)
