POLAND — Bids to expand the Alvan Bolster Ricker Memorial Library are finally going out 2 ½ years after voters approved a 10-year $850,000 bond to fund the project in April 2022.

So the Select Board was informed Tuesday night by the library expansion’s architect, Michel Giasson.

Unforeseen issues primarily due to a post COVID-19 pandemic world involving labor shortages, breakdowns in material supply chain and unanticipated higher costs affected the original timeline as well as Giasson’s initial design.

In December 2022, Giasson described the construction industry as like the “Wild West.”

In March 2023 it was discovered that costs to improve and expand the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning had risen dramatically.

Voters turned down a proposal to add another $500,000 to the expansion plans.

Giasson literally went back to the drawing table to amend the original design.

Adjustments included plumbing and electrical work, use of existing bookcases and furniture to fund separate from bid work, replace lift with limited use elevator or improved lift, and combine outside side work with the anticipated town park contract.

Giasson also noted that significant additional savings were realized by modifying estimates with multiple design revisions, such reusing existing partitions and redesigning the windows.

Giasson said last night that only the expansion portion will have the HVAC system and that no lower level restroom will be available.

The alterations did not change the size of the library’s expansion or affect the intended larger children’s section.

The Select Board learned this past July in a letter from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that the town’s request for $750,000 to renovate the Ricker Memorial Library is included in the 2025 Agricultural Appropriations bill recently approved by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.

Collins is vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Those funds have yet to be allocated.

Town Manager Matt Garside gave a schedule of the bidding process:

Electronic access to bidding documents will be made available on Nov. 22 after contacting [email protected].

A pre-bid meeting and walk through for all bidders will be held Dec. 5 at the Ricker Memorial Library.

Bids are due by 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Town Office, where they will be publicly opened and read aloud.

The Select Board will select the winning bidder at its Jan. 21, 2025 meeting.

The library opened in October of 1963.

This is its first major renovation.

In a related matter the Select Board approved using the entire amount of $70,549 from the Stone Trust to be used for the library’s expansion.

In 2022 $150,000 from the Stone Trust was approved at the town meeting for expenses associated in the design stage of the library’s expansion.

The board also approved using the Hazard Mitigation grant of $41,400 the town received from the Maine Emergency Agency for the purchase and installation of an emergency generator for the town office.

The town will use the rebate of $13,800 from Efficiency Maine as the matching funds to the grant.

The rebate was given for the HVAC system recently installed in the town offices.

The Select Board approved splitting the cost of $15,000 with Regional School Unit 16 to install and maintain a crosswalk across Route 26 between Poland Regional High School and the Dollar General Store.

Select Board Stephen Robinson and Selectperson Lisa Albee were chosen to the nine member RSU 16 Cost Sharing Committee with Mechanic Falls and Minot.

A RSU 16 school director from Poland will be appointed at the Dec. 3 Select Board meeting.

The committee will review and decide if the three towns’ cost sharing formula for a portion of the school budget needs to be changed.

If a change is agreed to by the committee, voters from the three towns will vote on it as a referendum question.