Expansion/Renovation Study 2018, Monday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. Board of Trustees meeting.

Brookfield, Merrick Public Library          

BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES AND FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY  

Trustees meeting, Monday, May 14, 2018 at 6:30 p.m.

AGENDA:  Municipal purchase of property adjacent to the library,18 Common Street.

HISTORY:

Pliny Merrick, Esq., established the Merrick Public Library in 1867 with a trust fund of $10,000, with only the interest of said fund being expendable for the purpose of purchasing books. In 1882 Nancy S. R. Felton, who lived at 18 Common Street, upon being apprised of William Banister’s ten-thousand-dollar donation to construct a building for the library, offered to donate to the town her lot at the corner of Common Street and Lincoln Street. She gave it “freely and cheerfully” to the town, in memory of her late husband Oliver C. Felton. He had a deep interest in the intellectual improvement of the young minds of our town. Merrick Public Library (aka Banister Memorial Hall), located at 2 Lincoln Street, opened in 1884. 

EXPANSION/RENOVATION STUDY

In 2001 the Board of Trustees and the library staff decided to complete a study on expanding the 2,500-square-foot library.  The Project Summary for the Merrick Public Library study, costing $40,000 (co-funded by the town of Brookfield and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners [MBLC]), concluded, with the MBLC standards applied, that adjacent property would need to be purchased because the current lot did not meet MBLC standards for an addition/renovation.

A second option at a cost of $2,672,738 would have required the town to raise and appropriate $1.3 million dollars. The project would have resulted in a new building being constructed behind the town hall and the present building being abandoned.  It was voted by the building committee and trustees to take no action.

TODAY:

Brookfield’s 18 Common Street, the adjacent property on the north side of the library, will be available as a commercial lease with option to buy. The one-year lease totals $16,500; purchase price is estimated to be $xxxxxx. The intention is to rent during fiscal year 2019 and purchase in fiscal year 2020. The Friends of the Library and the Board of Trustees will have responsibility for operating costs for the first year or more depending on capital campaign fundraising efforts. 

The intent with this purchase is to partner with the Brookfield Historical Commission. The Commission and the library intend to provide the Commission with much-needed office and meeting space. The library will greatly benefit from this acquisition by moving our historic collections, creating a Robert Wilder Map Room, and producing a display room for our local history artifacts, such as the Brookfield High School collection and other memorabilia. Additional advantages for the library will be freed-up floor space and shelving space for our collections at 2 Lincoln Street. Our goal for the future is the establishment of a local historical museum, open to the public.

FRIENDS:

This meeting is also an outreach for new members to join the Friends of the Library and assist in the launch of a capital campaign fundraiser towards expenses for operating costs, architectural fees, etc. for this acquisition. The Friends of the Library, which is now a 501(c)(3), to date have already raised $14,000 toward this project.