Marion opens bids on library addition

Marion opens bids on library addition

Estimates higher than expected for expansion

news@theeveningtimes.com

Bid for construction of an addition to the Woolfolk Library came in higher than the city had hoped, but officials believe they have found several areas they can save money to get it back within budget.

The city is planning to build a 20 by 50 foot room on the east side of the building which will provide them with more work space. The new room will provide staff with a bigger, wider, and more open space to process new books and materials.

Library staff has been using a conference room which is now bursting at the seams. Woolfolk Library has approximately 42,000 items in circulation and processes about 400 books a week. About 1,300 people a month use the computers.

Mayor Frank Fogleman said the city received two bids — one for $219,000 and one for $249,000. Officials were expecting the project to come it at around $200,000, but material costs have spiked and are scarce due to the two hurricanes which devastated Florida and Texas, and the resulting shortage of workers and subcontractors.

“We were a little taken aback by the costs,” Fogleman said. “So we are trying to see what we can do to reduce that cost.”

Fogleman said the city may be able to shave off several thousand dollars on the cost of demolition by having city workers do some of the work.

The city hired PKM Architects of West Memphis which specializes in public, commercial, and health care buildings to do the design work.

Architects put the cost of demolition at $5,500, but Fogleman said city workers should be able to some demolition work on the east side of the building by taking up the sidewalks and removing the crepe myrtle trees.

“We can probably do that for half of the cost or at least at a fraction of the cost that a contractor would charge,” Fogleman said.

Architects have also told him that they may be able to make some structural changes that will lower the cost as well.

“The number I saw was about $5,000,” Fogleman said. “And it won’t hurt the structural integrity and it still achieves the same look.”

Those changes will reduce the cost to about $209,000, and Fogleman said there are some other measures that can take to get that figure to around $200,000.

“There are some other small things that they had in there like a temporary power meter that we can save on,” Fogleman said.

“So we ought to be good.”

The bulk of the money will come from the $220,000 in bond money for library improvements which was approved by voters in March. Crittenden County has also agreed to contribute $20,000 to the project.

The Library board has also applied for a $90,000 grant from the Assisi Foundation of Memphis to help cover the cost.

Fogleman said they will still proceed with the project regardless of whether that grant is approved or not.

“We don’t have to wait on that,” Fogleman said. “We are still going to apply and hope we get it. But my understanding is that the grant givers can make a decision whether we have started or finished or not started. It will not impact their decision whether to make the grant. So we will still go ahead.”

Fogleman said he will likely ask the city council next month to accept the bid for $219,000 from F& F Construction.

“We’re getting close I think to giving it a green light and moving ahead,” Fogleman said.

By Mark Randall