POLAND — Select Board members were shown the final design sketches for the expansion of Ricker Memorial Library at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The architect in charge of the plan, Michael Giasson, said the children’s room will be expanded, allowing for separate play area as well as a reading room.
Giasson said a trio of windows side by side will offer a large viewing area, allowing for plenty of natural light from the northwest to flow through the children’s section.
Extensive work is also planned for the downstairs area of the library allowing for more meeting rooms, storage space, and a custom-made table dedicated as a work area for community groups, such as two quilt societies that meet at the library on a weekly basis.
He pointed out the parking for the library and its entrances will be revamped to offer easier and safer access.
Giasson said a structural engineer has been working with him on the $1 million project checking the building’s integrity, as well as updating the plumbing, heating and ventilation system.
Giasson said he hoped construction bids for the $1 million dollar project would go out in early 2023. He noted that the construction industry is currently like the “wild West” due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected labor, schedules, materials and costs.
Giasson told the board he feels he has built in enough cushion in the budget to offset any likely increases, but that until the bids start coming in, he won’t know for sure.
In other action, Town Manager Matt Garside informed the board that the Regional School Unit 16 budget referendum date issue is on the school committee’s agenda for its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12, in the Poland Regional High School library.
Garside said he and Mechanic Falls Town Manager Vick Hodgkins and Minot Town Administer Danielle Loring met with the RSU 16 Personnel and Finance Subcommittee recently to discuss the issue. The subcommittee had voted 5-0 in favor of changing the annual public vote on the district’s budget from June to April.
RSU 16 Superintendent Ken Healey and several school committee members, including Chairperson Mary Martin, have expressed support for the April date because it would allow the district to fill open positions earlier, instead of waiting until the June vote to know what the budget will support.
Municipal officials from the three towns are against the April date saying the need to have two public referendums on different dates, instead of combining the school and municipal budget votes on the same date, creates additional administrative and financial burdens for the towns and their taxpayers.
Poland Select Board members said they will attend the upcoming school committee meeting. Town Council members from Mechanic Falls and selectpersons from Minot also have been asked to attend Monday’s school committee meeting.
The board endorsed Chairperson Steve Robinson’s suggestion to send an email to Poland’s representatives on the RSU 16 board urging them not to change the referendum to April. Robinson asserted that holding the school vote in April infringes on the rights of Poland residents who reside elsewhere during the winter and early spring months and wouldn’t be present for the public vote.
In other business, Garside said he and Public Works Director Adam Strout took a tour of all roads in the shoreland zone districts of Poland with an officer from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife following last week’s workshop on the health of the Range Ponds.
Garside stated the officer “was impressed with the active management of these roads and water runoff.”
The Select Board approved the placing of “free little libraries” on Poland town property by Tatyanna McCourt, a senior at Poland Regional High School. It is McCourt’s Senior Celebration Project.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
