LFNAC Minutes – December 20, 2008

The Library Facilities Needs Assessment Committee met at the Hatfield Public Library at 9:08 a.m.

Present: Martin Antonetti, Dodie Gaudet, Susan Gaughan, Harold Green, Milton Howard, Sheila McCormick, Lynn Omasta and Mary Williams
Also: Rick Martin, Secretary of both the Historical Society and Historical Commission

The first order of business was how best to incorporate the Historical Society Collection into a new library.

Rick thanked LFNAC for the work it has been doing. The Historical Society is interested in taking over the entire Dickinson Building if the Library vacates it. If the project turns out to be an add/reno, the Historical Soc. wants to be part of the new facility. HS ideally wants to double the space it has and is willing to pursue grants to help fund its portion of the construction; HS has money for matching grants. HS will not voluntarily accept less space than it currently has.

Issues that were discussed: Library will be doing lots of fundraising. Are members of the Hist. Soc willing to participate? If Library takes over the entire building, what happens to the HS? If the Library vacates Dickinson, and the HS takes over, this is a “change of use” and must be upgraded to meet ADA requirements. If Library vacates, can HS afford to maintain entire building? LFNAC does not want to be responsible for having another vacant town building. Rick insisted that HS will find a way to maintain Dickinson. Said that ideally HS wants the original part of the building (i.e. the two front rooms and the attic) and hopes the museum would be open more hours. There are people willing to volunteer if they have a specific project. There are some people in town that expect the Library and Museum to co-exist. HS will support LFNAC’s recommendation and work with it.

Town sentiment seems to vary widely as to the best location for the Library. Some think the Library should stay in the original portion of Dickinson plus a new addition and that the Museum should be located in the new addition. Others like the idea of moving the Library to the Center School. Other ideas have also been expressed to different committee members.

The Historical Society is scheduled to meet in February. LFNAC needs more specific information from all of the officers before its next meeting on January 5. Rick will telephone other officers and perhaps have a conference call.

MOVED, SECONDED and VOTED: To accept the minutes of the previous meeting on December 6.

There was some discussion about the two Catholic churches merging, leaving a vacant building near the center of town. The decision as to which church will be used will be made by the Bishop likely after LFNAC has completed its work. Committee members decided the vacant church is not a viable option due to timing.

Stephen Hale arrived. At 10:15.

The first task is site selection since any plans will be based on the site. There are 5 possible sites:
1. Add/reno to Dickinson
2. Reno to Center School
3. Add/reno to Town Hall (not enough space for a separate new building)
4. New building near Smith Academy
5. New building near Dickinson

Stephen passed out a Site Analysis Matrix that he had compiled based on information he had gathered so far. The Matrix lists several criteria, rates each one and then assigned points for each to the 5 possible sites. This will give us an objective way to compare the sites. The sooner we can eliminate some sites, the more money we’ll have to put into the design of a preferred site. We reviewed the Matrix and made some adjustments. We will finalize the Matrix, except for engineering aspects, at our next meeting.

Stephen had also prepared a spreadsheet of an earlier version of our Building Program and made some suggestions. The spreadsheet is a good way to help visualize the spaces in relation to each other.

Sheila has not yet had the Building Program copied because she is still having some formatting problems. Harold and Martin will make another attempt to resolve the formatting and then the Program will be copied and distributed. The problems are not major, but are annoying (extra row in a table, extra space that refuses to be eliminated).

Next meeting: Monday, January 5 at 6:30 p.m.

Meeting adjourned at 11:36 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dodie Gaudet, Secretary