The April 15 letter to the Sun Journal from Brenda Sassi and Linda Macgregor of the Rumford Public Library Growth Committee stated: “The board — and the community — needs to recognize that a vote to proceed with the application is not a vote about where or what the library should be.”

That is not true. The public stance of the Library Growth Committee has always promoted a new library building. The committee has always resisted other options, including renovation of the present historic building.

A few years ago, a majority of Rumford citizens voted in a straw poll during an election to maintain or renovate the present library building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is natural, of course, for citizens to desire the renovation of such a historic building.

Lewiston and Auburn renovated their public libraries on site. They did not build anew. Portland, Maine’s largest city and financial center, also renovated its present library on site. It would not be unprecedented, then, for Rumford to renovate its present historic library.

What’s the bottom line?

If the Rumford Public Library Growth Committee had accepted the will of the majority of citizens, the town’s historic library might be renovated now.

Tom Fallon, Rumford