Size, Cost Killed Library, Selectman Says

The cost and size of the proposed library project torpedoed the vote, selectman John Dowling told members of the tonight.

He urged board members to “listen as much as you can to what people want’’ in determining the next move.

“If you can reduce the cost and you can reduce the size, you can swing more and more of the voters’’ to approve an upgraded library, he said.

Trustees are scheduled to meet with selectmen Tuesday to decide the next step in the library process.

Voters last month rejected a proposed expansion of the library that would cost $11.7 million, with $5.1 million to be covered by a state grant that was awarded in July.

The question was defeated in every precinct. The vote totals were 2,533 no to 1,491 in support.

Dowling and Town Moderator Ray Mead said there was confusion about the total cost and the fact that nearly half of the cost would be covered by a grant.

The library’s proposed size of about 29,000 square feet also troubled voters, Dowling said.

That size was mandated by the state based on the town’s current and projected population and by a formula that assesses what a particular library would need, library director Hilding Hedberg said.

Mead said he understood that the size was a figure that “the state forced you into,’’ but said the square footage was a deterrent to voters. “It wasn’t the money, it was the size,’’ he said.

Mead also said that trustees’ decision in previous years to close the former North Grafton and South Grafton libraries alienated voters in those sections of town.

Trustee Henry Poler said the issue’s “momentum got lost’’ in the week or so before the vote. “The discussion shifted from the library to no new taxes, and we were dead,’’ he said.

Dowling said that some voters have already decided to support the library wholeheartedly, while others will reject any proposal.

But the voters in the middle of that spectrum should be targeted, he said. “The people in the middle weren’t convinced,’’ he said.

Moving forward, Poler said, the trustees face a challenge of trying to determine a price tag that will be palatable to voters.

Work is mandated in order for the the library to meet minimum standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Community Preservation Commission alloted $179,000 for this work.

Making the library fully compliant would cost $2 to $3 million, trustees said. Understanding the difference between ADA minimums and full compliance is a key part of the issue, trustees said.

Dowling said selectmen want a proposal that will pass. And he thinks it could happen.

“The town has the appetite to do something,’’ he said. “There just wasn’t the appetite for this particular project.’’