KILLALOE – The council of Killaloe-Hagarty-Richards (KHR) hosted a special meeting on January 9.
The meeting was held with the library board present, in order to discuss various items relating to the new library.
Carl Kuehl’s birthday was celebrated with a small cake and the singing of Happy Birthday.
The roles of council, the board and everyone involved in the construction and maintenance of the new library were discussed.
Roy Reiche, lawyer for the township of KHR, was present in order to answer questions, and discuss the points that need to be addressed.
“Where we are at, we have to develop a structure so that the project can go through smoothly,” he said.
There were three portions to the meeting, with the first being where the project is currently standing, the second being the items that need to be addressed, and the third being the steps required to move forward.
CURRENT INFORMATION
Mayor Janice Visneskie confirmed that the land and building would be owned by the township, and utilized by the library.
The board stated during the meeting that they are hoping to apply for grants and receive donations, but they areworried that the lack of legal documentation, stating that they are guaranteed the property may be a set back.
The grants and donations are the main source of funding for the project.
Reiche stated that a long-term lease, which is what council is proposing they do, would be the most appropriate in this situation.
“In order to give confidence to donors that a subsequent council will not change its position regarding the library, a long-term lease has been identified as being an appropriate document,” he said. “The lease would be between the township and the library board.”
The library board has established a planning committee specifically for this project.
Within this committee there are three subcommittees.
The first is the advocacy and outreach, the second is fundraising and the third is building.
When donations are made, receipts are required to be issued for income tax purposes, which have been decided to be the responsibility of the Friends of the Library.
“We never discussed this in our conference, but the planning committee advised me of the process,” Reiche said.
The first step in this process is the investigations revolving around the soils and other items. The second is the public input concerning the design. A preliminary design will be next, followed by the estimated budget, final design, final budget, building permit and finally the tendering/construction contracts.
“There is a concept laid out, but it still has to be discussed, and then there would have to be a contract,” Reiche said, continuing to describe how there would need to be two contracts, one being the lease and the other being the contract itself.
“That would control the flow of money and also set up terms of reference for the various subcommittees and what their roles are,” he said.
“The concept of the lease would be… If the construction and building permit, does not start by a certain date, then the long-term lease is invalid,” he said. “To get the public confident, there is going to have to be a long-term lease, and then the commitment would be, the library board is going to start construction by a certain date.”
Reiche had previously spoken to council through a telephone conference, and it was during that conference that the need for a commitment to the library, not just the property it will be sitting on, would be required.
“You need the lot commitment to construct… Then that particular lease, turns into a long-term lease so that the library board can operate the library… With these two documents, the planning is upfront,” he explained.
Visneskie then told the board that this is for the benefit of the library board, and not council.
“If you want to work your butts off, you want to make sure that that is going to be a library,” Visneskie said. “You should be hoping that council will agree to a long- term lease that…we as a community can have that building.”
A lease is not required, but is recommended in this situation for the benefit of the library.
According to Reiche, if a long-term lease is not in place, future councils will have the ability to use the building for whatever purposes they wish.
The lease will be completely binding, and will not be able to be altered unless there is an agreement on those changes.
“If the library board was ever dissolved, but other than that it is binding,” Reiche said.
Story continues in the January 16, 2013 issue of The Valley Gazette.