The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees approved a contract at Tuesday’s night’s meeting with the architectural firm KG&D to design a planned renovation of the library’s Main Branch.
The library will pay KG&D a flat fee of $85,000 plus 6.2 percent of the total cost of the project. That figure will not be known until KG&D creates schematics for the renovation, but board members have estimated a target of $10 million at earlier meetings.
The renovation will be subject to a popular referendum, likely later this year. A proposed $20.2 million revamp of the Main Branch, which would have resulted in an 8,600-square-foot expansion, accessibility for disabled patrons and a two-year closure of the branch, was rejected by over 69 percent of voters in 2011.
The new renovation plan, which is designed to be less expensive and avoid a years-long branch closure, will not feature an expansion.
The board also discussed continuing plans to contest fees charged by the Nassau Library System, the library consortium that provides access to online databases and other library services.
The board agreed to pay a disputed $13,000 charge to Nassau Library System last month, after months of protest over what board members describe as an unfair fee formula that disproportionately targets Great Neck due to its higher budget and multiple branches.
“There’s a lot of inequity in this kind of thing,” said Trustee Josie Pizer, who described the Nassau Library System’s fee schedule as a “subsidy” to libraries with lower budgets.
Though the board paid the fee after NLS threatened to cut off services, board President Marietta DiCamillo announced plans to meet with other dissenting libraries, including Elmont and Hempstead to discuss was of changing the fee system.
DiCamillo said she, Pizer and former Trustee Ralene Adler had crafted an e-mail to Nassau Library System urging the consortium to review its policies and be more transparent with its financial information and service statistics.
Also at the meeting, DiCamillo announced that the board had met with architects for a potential project at the Parkville branch, but quickly poured cold water on the prospect of major new construction.
DiCamillo said the board needs to focus on the renovation of the Main Branch instead.
“It needs to be taken care of,” said DiCamillo. “I think that we are taking a lot on to do a major overhaul of the [Parkville] branch at this time.”
While DiCamillo praised interim director Laura Weir at the meeting, the board is still in the process of finding a permanent head for the library.
Director Search Committee chair Francine Krupski announced appointments to the committee, which will draw up a job description and begin placing ads to find candidates for the post.
The committee with consist of the board, Weir, business director Neil Zitofsky, members of the library staff and three members of the public.
DiCamillo also announced new transparency measures to bring the library into better compliance with freedom of information statutes.
“I believe there was a law that was passed that agencies maintain an indexing of all the documents that are FOILable,” DiCamillo said.
DiCamillo suggested the board create policies so that the public can more easily find documents.
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
