Rally The Troops!
It's time to show a united front!
This morning (Tuesday) there was a Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting and the main
topic was the Library Board's decision to stay in White Mountain. There were some members of
council present as well as the CEO, however, the Library Board did not receive an invitation.
It has been brought to our attention via one of the Chamber members who called the library to
verify some information, that the meeting slanted towards having the library in the mall. It was
alluded that the mall would not be built if we didn't go in despite the fact that when this exact
question was posed by Al Collett to Ron McGowan during his public presentation on
Wednesday September 4th, Mr. McGowan's answer was the mall would be built regardless.
It was suggested to Chamber members to contact and speak to Council to put us in the mall.
Had a member of the Library Board been there, they would have had the opportunity to let the
business sector know of the additional costs if the library was put in the mall ie: cost to have a
specialized company come back up from southern Ontario to dismantle the shelving and other
pieces and reassemble in mall (because the library shelving is constructed differently that an
ordinary bookcase, care has to be taken when taking down and putting up. Plus any warranty is
voided if another company does this. There are travel costs involved, accommodation and meals
for this team.) Also there is a separate company that has to pack the books and unpack them (it's
not a case of just tossing the books into a box, they have to be packed in a certain order.) The
approximate cost of this is around $30,000 (that's just a guess.) The public would have been
made aware of the rebate which the library would receive from White Mountain from the cost
per square footage (met the mall's price) and is being made retroactive to the beginning of the
year. Another saving of taxpayers money.
Please spread the news that the Library Board's decision, which is within their mandate from the
Library Act, is trying to be forcibly wrenched from their hands.
If there are any questions, contact the Chief Librarian for the FACTS and not the rumours.
By the way, none of the above "pressure" has come from McGowan and Associates, only
certain long time and prominent residents of the community and business sector.
Thanks for your support!