Thursday, May 25, 2017
Letter to MBLC requesting extension 1/13/12
Karen Traub, Chair, Library Trustees
January 13, 2012
Robert Maier, Director Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
98 North Washington Street Suite 401
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Dear Mr. Maier,
On behalf of the Board of Trustees
of the M.N. Spear Memorial Library, I respectfully request to be placed on the
agenda for the Board of Library Commissioners meeting on February 2, 2012, with
the intention of asking the commissioners for additional time to confirm local
funding for our library construction project.
On October 25th, 2011, the Town of
Shutesbury had a special town meeting and a warrant article to appropriate the
funds needed to confirm local funding was approved by exactly the two-thirds
majority required. On November 8, 2011, a referendum to approve a
debt-exclusion override failed by a very small margin. A second referendum
election for the debt-exclusion override was held on January 10, 2012. The
result of that election has not yet been determined. The results were 522 yes
votes, 522 no votes, and one provisional ballot that has not yet been
confirmed. Eight ballots have been challenged.
Prior to the January 10th election,
significant fundraising effort was underway. More than $170,000 has already
been raised in donations and pledges. Most of these donations and pledges have
been raised in the past six months. On January 11, 2012, a 1:1 challenge gift
of $150,000 was offered to Shutesbury for the construction of a new library as
described in our application for the Massachusetts Public Library Construction
Program.
The one-room, 900 square foot, M.N.
Spear Memorial Library is 110 years old. It lacks access to water. Despite the
tiny size, it is very well used. In FY 10, our circulation was the fourth
highest in the state for towns in our population group (under 2,000).
Currently there is not an official
outcome to the election. Community support and volunteer energy are high.
Donations and pledges, including the very generous challenge gift, continue to
arrive. We are very encouraged by the possibility of raising a substantial
amount of money in the next few months.
We respectfully request an extension
of the deadline to confirm local funding until June 30, 2012.
Thank you for your consideration of
this request.
Sincerely,
Karen Traub, Chair
Trustees of the Spear Library
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
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