RUMFORD — Selectmen approved a capital fund and five-year plan for Rumford Public Library on Thursday and will try to fast-track some projects.
Library trustees and library Director Luke Sorensen presented the list of maintenance issues, selectmen said.
The projects, which total $241,100 and are separated into years, are:
* Fascia/soffit (roofing), $2,500; front entrance/lower level pointing, $3,300; weatherization, $9,000; and energy efficient lighting, $6,300; for a year total of $21,100.
* Heating/furnace, $25,000
* Sewer/bathroom, $45,000
* Repair foundation/pointing, $50,000
* Elevator, $100,000
Sorensen said $42,873 would need to be budgeted per year to fund the projects, less $26,734 in available reserve account funds to date.
“I’m sorry to see these things are going to take five years,” Selectman Jolene Lovejoy said. “We can’t wait five years for some of these like that bathroom and sewer system. I think these are things we can be cited for.”
She said that she and Selectman Brad Adley witnessed just how bad some of the maintenance needs were in July and five years before that.
“Those conditions have only gotten worse,” she said without providing details.
“But the people of Rumford have said they want their library there.”
She was referring to previous votes against moving the current library and building a new library where the old Stephens High School was sited.
When selectmen learned they were only approving the plan itself and not the monetary amounts, which must be done by residents, all but Lovejoy were ready to vote to approve the plan.
Lovejoy, however, reconsidered after the board and Town Manager Carlo Puiia implied that some of the projects could be fast-tracked.
It was approved 5-0.
In other business, the board also unanimously agreed not to fund a request for a donation to the GRAMPA food pantry in Mexico.
Lovejoy said the board couldn’t commit to giving any money from the town, because they cut so much from other organizations that sought donations through Rumford’s initiated articles process.
Instead, Lovejoy motioned that selectmen place a box at the municipal building into which the public could donate foods.
As for Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements to Rumford for damage to roads in late August from Tropical Storm Irene, Puiia said that in the past four weeks, checks totaling $101,851 have been received.
“They’ve kind of dribbled in and we’re expecting another one next week for $37,000,” he said.
“What they try and do is monitor what you’re doing, because you’re not going to get the money until it’s really repaired,” Puiia said.
“That’s why it’s called a reimbursement. . . . As you progress, they release the money.”
The reimbursements mean the town doesn’t have to seek funding from taxpayers.
The money received so far doesn’t have anything to do with the planned box culvert for Swain Road over Bean Brook.
“That’s why it’s going to total quite a bit when we’re all said and done,” he said.
“As far as the box culvert, we’re making an improvement above and beyond what was there, so they will help mitigate that, because it will prevent future claims.”
“However, we have to pay the company to build the box culvert, and then get reimbursed,” he said.
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