Leaky windows and a failing HVAC system at Montclair’s main library, along with water infiltration at the Bellevue Avenue Branch, prompted the Township Council’s approval Tuesday of $5 million to fund library building repairs.
“This is the largest piece of funding that we have given our wonderful library in many years, probably 50 years,” said First Ward Councilor Erik D’Amato, who chairs the council’s Infrastructure Committee. “It is not an extravagant expense.”
‘Major infrastructure repairs’
Library Director Radwa Ali previously detailed “immediate and overdue major infrastructure repairs.” It followed a summer in which the library staff and visitors sweated out a faulty HVAC system and a winter during which library staff used space heaters to warm work areas.
The projects are as follows, according to the bond measure.
- Main Library HVAC System Overhaul – $1.4 million
- Main Library Roof Replacement & Solar Project – $700,000
- Main Library Windows/Building Envelope Upgrade – $2.2 million
- Bellevue Avenue Branch Water Infiltration Remediation – $500,000
- Bellevue Avenue Library Courtyard Restoration – $200,000
Of the monies, $4.76 million will come from bond anticipation notes, a form of borrowing, and $240,000 from the capital improvement fund, according to the proposal.
Public Support
Several residents spoke in support of the funding, including Ilmar Vanderer.
“I look at this as an investment that will yield untold profits over time, the value of which cannot be calculated in money, but in terms of paying dividends by enhancing social infrastructure,” Vanderer said.
Deputy Mayor Susan Shin Andersen described the projects as essential to the library’s functioning and said they would lower future utility costs.
“We deserve to have a library that’s functional and open every day that it can be,” Shin Andersen said. “So, I am very happy to support this.”
Fourth Ward Councilor Aminah Toler discussed some of the most visible issues in the library.
“I’m just hoping that some of the repair money here goes to things like general repairs, like the stairs and the carpet,” Toler said.
Council members approved the borrowing by a unanimous vote. Mayor Renee Baskerville said the repairs are “long overdue.”
“It’s a wonderful place to be where all seven of us are agreeing,” Baskerville said. “We all have played a part.”
Larger Opportunity
Approval of the borrowing comes as the library explores the feasibility of applying for tax credits from the state Economic Development Authority under its Cultural Arts Facilities Expansion Program, known as CAFE, according to the library director. It could fund a larger library overhaul.
The council’s bond measure would serve as equity for the potential EDA grant, Ali said in an interview last week.
The CAFE Program offers tax credits through a competitive process to cultural arts institutions to build or renovate facilities, the EDA said in a news release. Institutions that can seek funding include aquariums, historical societies, libraries, galleries, museums and performing arts centers, according to the EDA.
Awardees receive tax credits covering all eligible project costs, up to $75 million, the EDA said.
The town did much of the work for the grant application in preparing for funding under the New Jersey Library Construction Bond act – monies Montclair ultimately did not apply for, Ali said.
She described changing dynamics in how libraries operate. And Ali sees the EDA program as an opportunity to bring Montclair spaces that better accommodate those new dynamics.
“The facility is quite antiquated. It is no longer serving the public the way that it could,” Ali said. “Now, lifelong learning and bettering yourself isn’t just through books anymore. It’s through classes. It’s through meeting other people. It’s through workshops and hands-on learning and through computer labs and maker spaces and workshops.”
Clarification: This article was updated to reflect that the library is exploring the feasibility based on eligibility requirements of applying for EDA tax credits but has yet to determine if it will apply.
Email reporter Matt Kadosh at matt@montclairlocal.news
“This is the largest piece of funding that we have given our wonderful library in many years, probably 50 years,” said First Ward Councilor Erik D’Amato, who chairs the council’s Infrastructure Committee. “It is not an extravagant expense.” – Councilor D’Amato
I assume the Library’s Board of Trustees, appointed by the Mayor, agreed this was appropriation didn’t rise to level where any one of them would attend the Council meeting. Not a single Trustee to speak on behalf of the Board in support of this appropriation. This tells me something.
It tells me while they will not turn down funds, they don’t agree with the funding amount or how the Council intends to utilize it. That’s fine. It is not their building. It is a municipal building and we need to maintain our buildings in a manner we see fit.
I just wished the MPL’s Board of Trustees had taken 3 minutes before the Council & public to make their position clear.