Officials must either cut $300K from a project or raise the money to pay for it.
LEWISTON – Library officials are looking for ways to trim up to $300,000 from a proposed expansion or raise more money to pay for it.
The lowest bid for the planned expansion came in at about $2.7 million. The budget was set at $2.4 million. The library would expand into the rest of the Pilsbury Block buildings at the corner of Lisbon and Pine streets, according to plans.
Director Rick Speer said he has been meeting with the library building committee and City Administrator Jim Bennett to trim the budget. Construction firm Ganneston of Augusta, the low bidder for the work, identified five possible cuts in the project.
“The problem we have is the big cuts address the very heart of the project,” Speer said. “Some of it is the reason we want to do the project in the first place.”
The renovation would give the Lewiston Public Library an expanded fiction section, a bright first-floor lobby, a second-floor historical records archive and a third-floor meeting and performance space with room for 150 people.
One suggested cut would do away with the second-floor renovations altogether. That would save $92,175 but would do away with the historical archive and a new computer lab. The city hopes to store historical records from the Franklin Co. and Bates Mill.
“Those archives are one of the biggest reasons we are doing this project,” he said. “They’re a part of the very history of the area and the entire community.”
Ganneston also proposed charging $83,038 for a stone floor on the lowest level. Speer said the city could save that money by carpeting the floor instead.
“But it wouldn’t last as long or be as durable,” Speer said. “It might end up costing more in the long run, but we will see.” Speer said the library board has raised $120,000 in donations for the construction, and could do more.
“I think we’ve picked the low-hanging fruit, however,” Speer said. “Getting more isn’t going to be as easy. It looks like every $5,000 or $10,000 additional is going to be significant work.”
Speer said he hoped to present options to the City Council before March 8. If he can work the budget out, he expects work to begin in April and finish next fall.
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