Library Expansion: "Revised Project Budget Projection"

These are the numbers I spoke of recently.

Earlier, I had pointed out that we the Gorham-MacBane Public Library Board had met to hear from the architects with regard to the Library Expansion project. Specifically, we received some preliminary figures.

I had hoped to provide you with a cost breakdown. Here is that breakdown through Kaatz, Binkley, Jones & Morris Architects:

Revised Project Budget Projection

Addition & Renovations at Gorham MacBane Public Library

May 5, 2011

A. Construction

1. Building Construction Cost                                                 $          4,261,225.00

(Based on estimate provided by R.G. Anderson)

2. Computers/Technology                                                                   90,000.00

3. Library Furniture Allowance                                                           300,000.00

Subtotal Construction & Allowances                        $          4,651,225.00

B. A/E Fee

(per article 3.4.19, 10.2.1 & 11.2.1 of Owner Architect Agreement)

1. Basic services 5% (remaining)                                                $              70,500.00

2. Civil Engineering including landscape

architect required by Springfield Planning                             $              17,000.00(1.5) 25,500.00

3. Reimbursables (renderings & interiors mock-ups)                            6,500.00

4. Reimbursables (printing bid documents)                                            5,000.00

Subtotal Fees & Reimbursables                                                $              107,500.00

C. Survey                                                                                                    $              1,300.00

D. Geotechnical Survey                                                                           $              2,360.00

Total Project Projection                                                                         $             4,762,385.00

Please note that the Library Board will be scheduling a meeting with the City of Springfield and the Robertson County Commission to present these plans. That meeting will hopefully be scheduled sometime in June.

The capital campaign has kicked off, so it will be great to hear the amount of progress that has been made towards this project.  

Quick Library Expansion Update

Just a quick update on the Library Expansion:

There was a meeting with the architects on Tuesday, May 3 at 4:00pm. This meeting was with KBJM architects. Recall that they were going to go back to the proverbial and literal drawing board to develop plans that would provide better analysis of costs estimates.

We heard back from them on Tuesday.

When I am able to obtain those estimates, I will post those here. The price estimates for this project are coming in the $5,000,000.00 range. I hope to provide more details as they become available.

MY Minutes: 2011.3.11 - Gorham-McBane Public Library Board of Directors Meeting

The Gorham-McBane Public Library Board of Directors met on Friday, March 11^th.

I was glad that I was able to attend this meeting. As you may or may not know, these board meetings are held every other month.

With that said, I do not want to belabor you with the month-to-month operations that were discussed. But, something of interest is that the Board will be expecting plans from the architects of KBJM in the next several weeks. Recall that these are the same plans discussed here. The plans are to take these plans to the City of Springfield, Robertson County and other entities for consideration of a funding request for the expansion project.

MY Minutes: Gorham-MacBane Public Library Board Meeting – 2011.1.16

Last Friday morning marked my second meeting with the Gorham-MacBane Public Library Board of Directors as a member.

What a packed agenda, and it is exciting to see a board with such energy. Too many times you see entities or groups that have no energy, and this is definitely not so with the Gorham-MacBane Library Board.
With that said, this packed agenda included a new direction for the Board's finances, an update from Regional Librarian, and a general update on the steps towards expansion.

Audit Report / Financial Direction –
Though I am not privy to the relationship before, the new finances/accounting are being modernized for the position the Board is in with the community. Meaning, the standing that the Board has with the community makes this a natural step. Singleton Financial Services will be taking over. Though I have not ever worked with Jamie Singleton and his folks, there reputation and standing within the community puts the Board in good hands.

The Library Board was presented with the findings from a recent audit, and given recommendations in moving forward.

As it was pointed out by several Board members, this housekeeping puts the Board in a better position to sell-itself to potential donors as the Capital Campaign moves forward (for the Library Expansion Project). On its face, I would certainly concur, and anything that the Board can do in this regard is certainly welcomed.

Regional Librarian Report –
I have not heard from the Regional Librarian before so I welcomed the opportunity to hear from her as to the state of the state & region.

She presented a memo that is in the works with the Tennessee Secretary of State. Apparently, there has been an evaluation firm that has presented findings with the understanding that there will be some major changes throughout the state. Once the Haslam Administration is settled, we should know more.

Update from Cindy Sneed on Library Expansion –
 We can expect plans to be available in the next two weeks. There were the plans that were discussed several weeks ago.

My Minutes: Gorham-MacBane Public Library Board (2010.12.7)

I wanted to follow-up with you regarding the Library Board meeting I had informed you of earlier this week.
This meeting was called by the Chairperson Cindy Sneed as a follow-up from the request that the County Commission fund the project. I had discussed this in a previous post.

There had been several informal meetings amongst members of the Library Board and the Board's Capital Campaign Committee since the RCC considered the funding request several weeks ago. Yet, this was the first Library Board meeting since that time, and thus my first opportunity to sit down with them as a member of the Library Board.

The LB heard from David Brown, a representative of Kaatz, Binkley, Jones, Morris Architects, Inc. in order to hear what the "next step" would be for the design process of the Library Expansion Project.

Thus, this presentation being called with the purposes as to how the project is to move forward.

"Bid Ready" -
Succinctly, the next stage would be getting "bid ready" plans together which would allow for a better realization as to how much this project will cost. (Recall: the plans as proposed were not complete enough to determine a realistic figure and they were some 2-3 years old)

Part & Parcel -
Further, these plans will take the project part and parcel. Meaning that that the several areas of expansion will be separated into individual groups. What this will do will allow for certain part and parcels to be determined needed, wanted and the like. It will allow for the project to be assessed in whole or part. I thought that this was crucial because I did not want these poor economic times in which we live to dictate what we wanted to do when the economy picks up.

Mr. Brown said this phase would take approximately 2-3 months in order to put together these plans. It was generally understood that when these plans were put together that a presentation would be coordinated setting out the consultant's recommendations for these plans, a formal presentation of the plans as well as a joint-meeting of the City of Springfield and Robertson County.

Meetings of Import: Library Board & Budget Committee

I received an e-mail just the other morning that the Library Board will be meeting on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 5:00pm.

(Recall that I am a member of the Library Board as apart of my committee assignments with the RCC)
The agenda will include discussion on which way for the Board to proceed in seeking funding for the library expansion project. I will keep you posted as to the direction the Board is choosing to go.

The Budget Committee is also meeting this week, on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 4:30pm.

YEAs & NAYs

For those interested, here is a link to the Robertson County Times coverage on the Library Funding effort.
This is the first story I have seen that has the break down of YEAs and NAYs.

The Verdict

Well, as you have probably heard by now, the resolution of floating $2,000,000.00 in bonds (debt) for the Library Expansion Project failed this evening at the Robertson County Commission Meeting.

I must say that I am not happy in the outcome.

Yet, I am happy that the leaders of Robertson County are forging forward in a new direction. A direction in which debt and taxation are NOT the first and second options for funding projects.

I do not want to belabor the point that I have made in prior posts, but there is a third option here, and it must be found.

It will be found:

I was already encouraged by the discussion held immediately after the vote wherein the process of coming back to the table to find a way to make this project work is already taking form. The discussion is not over, and it should not be.

As I said to Robertson County, I look forward to these challenges. These are the same challenges that you and I face each and every week, each and every month when we take a look at our family budgets. Our first option is not to immediately mortgage our future, or look for other income, it is finding a way to make what we need work within our means….

If this project is worthwhile, and it is…then there is another way in which to make it work.

Library Expansion: Heading Into Monday

The proposal on Monday's agenda is for a $2,000,000.00 request submitted at the Robertson County Budget Committee Meeting.

Due to several of the questions posed, and the overall sentiment of Commissioners of the Budget Committee – in my humble opinion, it was not a vote of confidence as much as it was allowing the full body to be involved with the decision whether to fund the expansion project.

In this post, I hope to provide you what I have learned "Heading Into Monday."

City of Springfield

It has been an understanding that the City of Springfield would match what the County Commission allocated.

Recent discussion has indicated otherwise.

It would look as though the City of Springfield may not be in a position to contribute an additional $1,000,000.00 so that their total contribution reaches $2,000,000.00.

It has been understood that the City of Springfield ("City") would match the effort of the County Commission ("CC") and the Gorham-McBane Public Library ("GMPL").

It would appear that the City is holding firm with the initial commitment of only $1,000,000.00.

Robertson County

There is simply no cash on hand for this project. This was known well before the Budget Committee Meeting. And, with what was reported/discussed by the Financial Advisor at the CC Budget Committee Meeting, Robertson County MUST address one, if not more, of the following options (Much of this discussion will be reserved for a future post, but here is a summary):

• cuts to the overall budget;
• a re-financing / re-structuring of the current debt;
• a sizable property tax increase.

Robertson County is deficit spending.

Not just changes, drastic changes will be addressed in moving forward.

For the project to move forward as it is proposed right now, Robertson County would be forced to borrow $2,000,000.00.

What is NOT Known:

Here are the questions that need answers before a vote on Monday, November 15, 2010.

These questions are many of the questions commissioners have asked, and my own constituents have asked over the last several weeks. The "answers" in italics are the partial answers I have heard thus far.

• What are the operating costs once this project is completed? The presentation at the Budget Committee set out that there would be a 20-30% increase. I have heard estimates of it even tripling.
• What entity is going to pay for the operating costs?
• Is there a third option?
• Who actually uses the Library? There is a healthy balance between County and City and figures reflecting this will be provided on November 15, 2010.
• What if the full $6,000,000.00 is not there?

Monday

What is going to happen?

More importantly, what should happen?

As it stands, the City's apparent twist definitely throws that many more variables and questions into the discussion.

Further, with the posture of the presentation of this project: the proposition of it being "either/or" - there is not much room as it stands for compromise, or my "third-way." This "third-way" was what I alluded to in my prior post. I am afraid that the "either/or" has caused much of the reservation in fellow commissioners for any momentum moving forward.

Overall:

We cannot ignore our economic environment.

We cannot ignore our financial outlook.

Many, if not all, of the constituents that I have spoken with have started their statement with one of the following phrases: "Jonathan, we have GOT TO do this project, BUT…

• ….we do not need more debt."
• ….if the money is not there, then we can't."
• ….we cacan't afford it right now."
• ….the timing is just not right."

I agree.

Without question, this is a worthy endeavor. It is an endeavor that is long, long overdue; BUT, we cannot ignore the financial prognosis of Robertson County.

So, we must forge a way to make this work.

I know this because my family uses the GMPL on a weekly basis. Your family uses the GMPL on a weekly basis.

BUT, this "way" is going to be different than that which is currently proposed.

Library Expansion: At a Glance

On November 15, 2010, the Robertson County Commission will likely vote on funding the expansion of the Gorham-MacBane Public Library.

This proposal moved through the Budget Committee for further discussion by the entire County Commission.

Thumbnail:

What we have before the County Commission is a $6 million project for upgrade and expansion. The project encompasses much more than just brick and mortar buildings and expansion. The project encompasses much more than more shelves for more books. The project encompasses so much more in that it is boot-strapping the Gorham-MacBane Public Library from a facility that was last substantially upgraded decades ago.
Many of the concerns that have been shared with me have to do with the "need" of the expansion and upgrade. Candidly, I think this is out of the question in that the expansion and upgrade is long overdue. Whether Robertson County "needs" this expansion is an entirely different question.

Finances:

The project will require $2 million from the County. The remaining $4 million being matched by funds raised by the Gorham-MacBane Public Library, and the City of Springfield, respectively.
Though, it is not as simple as allocating the funds. For the County to contribute, it would first be required to borrow more money since we are currently operating on a deficit.
Also, the City of Springfield has not completely guaranteed that they will match. Likely, it will be the County's leadership that will determine what the City of Springfield will do in this regard, though this is not guaranteed.

Questions:

What I would like to see is a tiered plan that would allow this project to be undertaken over some length of time.

This question was posed at the presentation to the Budget Committee on Thursday, November 4^th. It was discouraged since it would pose difficulties in operating the library during protracted construction projects over periods of time.

Candidly, I can sympathize with representatives of the library since this project has been discussed and bantered about for the better part of ten years. Nevertheless, many smart people failed to predict or see this economic downturn that is affecting us all. I think with the resources we have, we have to develop some responsible means through which we approach this or any other project.