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Commissioners praise library plan - By Carole Cloudwalker
This document was published online on Wednesday, March 15, 2006
An enthusiastic county commission unanimously approved the preliminary drawings for the new Park County Library.
The facility and related uses will take up about one-third of the Park County Complex (former Marathon Building) on Stampede Avenue.
“I like what I see,” county commissioner Tim French said of CTA Architect's preliminary plans, which call for the lower level of the building to be devoted to the Cody library. (Except for one small office upstairs, the entire library will be confined to the lower level.)
The Billings firm gave a brief powerpoint presentation illustrating their plans, which also met with enthusiasm from the audience of library supporters and working group members who filled the commissioners' meeting room Tuesday afternoon.
Commissioners also liked the fact that Keith Rupert of CTA and his team were able to shave almost $1 million off the estimated cost of the remodeling project.
The estimate in February was $6.7 million, but by utilizing “value engineering and careful study, and looking at costs and functions,” Dave Reetz, co-chairman of the Marathon Building Task Force, said the estimated total cost of the library project now is $5.8 million.
“This is a landmark experience,” the task force's other co-chairman, Wally Johnson, said. “CTA did a marvelous job.”
He added that the resulting plans are “exciting” and utilize the ground floor of the building to good purpose. Construction would begin in July 2007 if funding falls into place, and work would take about one year to complete.
“This is the culmination of many people's efforts,” Reetz added, thanking the commissioners for remaining “highly supportive of us.”
He said the price of the remodel earlier was estimated high because he's a “conservative estimator” who would prefer to later report a lower price than a higher one.
He said the proposal CTA has made “utilizes the first floor and makes it functional and well-designed.”
He said the task force has pledged to be fiscally responsible and dropping the cost estimate by almost $1 million is proof of that.
“As we looked at the space we've been able to reduce the cost by working within the pattern of the first floor,” he said. “There are big savings compared to constructing a new building.”
“The library is the center of the community,” Reetz added.
Plans call for building a new entrance to the ground floor facing the rec center, with a new parking lot adding 90 parking spaces near what was the rear of the building.
Other elements of CTA's library plans include:
€Areas for teens and young children.
€Two meeting rooms including an “enrichment room” in the children's section that will have sinks and space for completing craft projects that would likely be used in conjunction with rec center programs.
€County archives space that doubles the present area in the courthouse.
€A large open area for the adult book collection.
€A medical/health care research area.
€A food services area that remains in the same spot as when Marathon occupied the building exclusively, but opens into the adult library space.
€A new north entry and vestibule (700-square feet) with a paved walk from the rec center and parking area.
€A library volunteer center.
€Space for audio-visual facilities.
€A room devoted to library support and technical services.
“The new entry blends well with the building,” French said, adding that the facility is likely to be changed and further tailored to community needs in the future.
“I support the concept and the renderings,” commissioner Bucky Hall said. “And it's nice to see the price come down.”
Commission chairman Marie Fontaine said the design was the “perfect layout,” adding that a separate teen area has been much needed.
“The library and Northwest College (upstairs) complement each other,” Fontaine said.
Praising CTA for reducing costs, she added that the situation “shows that remodeling brings costs down” making it much cheaper to remodel than to purchase land and begin from scratch with a new building.
“If we can get one-third of the building (remodeled) for the prices we're talking about, it's unbelievable,” French added. “To already be able to save $1 million - in my book, that's huge.”
Reetz said if the voters approve the project in November, he hopes for a good “bidding climate once commissioners call for bids on the actual work. He said timing of bids next spring will help maximize savings.
He pointed out that Cody's population has increased 81 percent since the current library was built, and some 9,000 people now are registered library users.
Organizers hope to raise the total funds necessary through a combination of county reserves, a grant from the State Loan and Investment Board, capital facilities tax proceeds and private donations.
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