Preliminary work on the Mason County Public Library has started.
On Wednesday, crews with the city of Maysville were digging an area where water lines will be placed, according to Mason County Public Library Director Steve Parrott.
“The city is digging the holes for the water line because the line’s to be rerouted,” Parrott said. “Momentum Construction is getting everything ready. They’ve already placed their trailers and the sewer lines have been brought in.”
Parrott said there is some work that needs to be completed by ATT before the official work on moving lines can begin, but he hopes that will happen soon.
“Once ATT finishes, Momentum will be ready to go,” he said. “They’re going to try to get the water and electric done at the same time. If they have to do those separately, we’ll have to close for one, open and then close for the other. But, if they can do both at the same time, we’ll only have to close once.”
According to Parrott, when the work begins on the water and electric lines, the library will be closed for at least three days and possibly longer, depending on the work.
“We’ll have to close for probably three days at minimum,” he said.
Parrot said he is excited to be closer to the library renovations.
“It’s been a slow start,” he said. “But, I understand slow starts. Sometimes they’re necessary. Hopefully, the weather will hold and we won’t have any unexpected surprises.”
Project Architect Jeff Pearson said the library expansion will include turning the existing children’s area into a community room that is larger than the current room, and moving the children’s area and teen center into the expanded area.
In that part of the library, there would also be an area for children’s programming, an office, storage room and a nursing area for mothers. A gallery/hallway will connect the new addition to the current area of the library on the inside.
A basement and a garage for the bookmobile will also be included in the construction plan, as well as a place for the bookmobile to back up to the library and load books, under cover, in order to keep library material from being damaged in case of poor weather, Pearson said.
“The truck would be protected from the weather under that cover, so the books won’t get wet or damaged,” he said.
MCPL Director Steve Parrott said the renovations will be completed in phases in order minimize impact on people visiting the library as it will remain open for the duration of the renovations.
Phase one of the renovations is expected to take 280 days while the second phase is expected to take 120 days.
“At this point we will stay in the library during renovation, which will be done in phases,” Parrott said. “We will try to minimize impact and continue our normal service, but that will depend on construction. We’re staying in place because it appears to be the ‘least invasive’ method for us.”
Anyone who would like to look at the plans for the renovations can stop by the library. A copy of the blueprints is at the front desk.
“I keep telling people who haven’t been here for awhile to take pictures, because it won’t look anything like this when we’re finished,” he said. “We have a copy of the blueprints if anyone comes in and wants to know what it’s going to look like.”
The cost of the project is estimated at $3.6 million funded by the library’s general fund. Those costs included site development, construction, modifications, temporary location rent and moving fees, engineering/architect costs and a contingency fund.
MCPL’s current facility was constructed in 1994. An addition was constructed in 2002.
