Library still optimistic about expansion funds

Eileen Adams/Sun Journal

The Rumford Public Library will be the subject of an upcoming presentation to the Board of Selectmen.

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- Eileen Adams/Sun Journal

RUMFORD — Although plans to move and enlarge the historic Carnegie Rumford Public Library may be on hold, library director Karl Aromaa says the Library Growth Committee will continue to push the project.

“We're in an in-between time right now," Aromaa said. "We thought we had stimulus money (for the move and addition). We'll use this time to get our message out.”

Tentative plans have called for moving the original library and building a 7,000-square-foot addition at the former Stephens High School site on Penobscot Street.

The growth committee had expected that most of the $3.2 million estimated cost would come from federal stimulus funds. Because of the continued poor economy, the committee has also delayed launching a capital drive to cover the move and expansion costs, Aromaa said.

“We've been on this for 10 years. These things take time,” he said.

The committee has met with the Board of Selectmen to discuss the plans and is scheduled to meet again next month.

“They listened to our plan. We have a lot of convincing to do,” Aromaa said. “This is not a dead issue.”

The committee, with the design work of Scott Simon and Associates, has worked through several possibilities over the years for adding to or moving the library. The problem, according to Aromaa and others on the committee, is a lack of parking and insufficient space to address the needs of a modern library.

Rumford Town Manager Carlo Puiia said a second workshop with the Library Growth Committee has been set tentatively for Oct. 1. He said the first meeting revealed that the four selectmen who attended opposed moving the library and instead wanted to see parking expanded.

However, Puiia said the board is willing to listen to additional information at its next workshop.

Aromaa said he hopes to bring a professional moving expert to that workshop, if schedules allow, to address selectmen's concerns.

eadams@sunjournal.com