West Hartford
The repair is one of a handful of signs that library and municipal leaders are turning the page on a past that has been marked by resignations, accusations and budget cuts, in the hopes they can get to a future of increased usage and cooperation.
After being hugely damaged by Tropical Storm Irene, the library eventually was rehabbed and reopened with a new addition in December 2014, at a total cost of $903,000.
In August 2015, library officials first noticed the leak, which apparently allowed water to penetrate the original roof on the structure, flow through a small attic crawlspace, and drip through the library ceiling, where library staff caught it in pans.
Trustee John Newton said in early May that a rough transition period in town government — the town had three town managers in a six-month period, among other key personnel losses — had made it difficult for the trustees to get the problem tended to.
Town Manager Leo Pullar, who took the reins in July, said on Wednesday the town hadn’t yet been invoiced for the leaky roof, but that estimates indicated it would cost about $800. Another problem — a faulty electrical system for an automatic door that was an American with Disabilities Act compliance issue — also was fixed for about $1,700, he said.
Pullar said more work is scheduled to provide access and ventilation to the crawlspace — there had been debate as to whether access was required under fire and building codes, but Pullar said it made sense.
“One architect says you don’t need a crawl space. Another says you do,” he said. “We think you’ve got to be able to stick your head up there and look at it, and we also need to take care of whatever damage the leak might have caused. We’ve invested in it, and we ought to maintain it.”
A fix to the crawlspace, and a stove ventilation issue are slated to be repaired sometime in the next few weeks, Pullar said.
For years, the library trustees have clashed with town officials over various issues about the library’s operations — the trustees have strongly asserted their independence from what they have seen as overbearing meddling, while town leaders have cited low usage rates as a cause for concern in funding the library with taxpayer dollars.
The long-simmering tensions came to a head earlier this year, when then-Selectboard Chairman Chuck Wooster successfully lobbied to reduce the library’s funding to $20,000, significantly below then-Town Manager Steve Locke’s recommendation of about $35,000.
Selectwoman Sandra Mariotti volunteered to work with the town’s various libraries to help overcome the animosity and integrate their practices.
There also has been significant turnover on the library’s five-member board, with newcomers Jeff Moreno, Judy Roberts and Harry Dorman III all being appointed by the Selectboard since April to join holdovers Tom Hazen and John Newton.
Moreno said he has no interest in rehashing past grievances.
“Yesterday is yesterday,” he said. “All I hear now is, how can we work best with other libraries? How can we work best with the town?”
Pullar said Hartford continues to have a stake in the library’s success, but that it’s important for the town to establish criteria for the library that make sense.
“They just want to understand the rules,” Pullar said. “I believe that’s really what we owe them going forward — what are the rules of the road?”
Moreno said trustees still had “a lot of hard feelings about the budget, and rightfully so,” but that they were looking forward to the next budget cycle, when they can once again make their case for a funding increase.
The reduced budget took effect last month; Newton said it won’t result in a reduction of hours, as had originally been feared.
“We’re going to be able to get through the next fiscal year okay by using funds retained from previous years,” Newton said. “We’re going to have to work hard to convince the Selectboard to fund us adequately, as they have in the past.”
Pullar said it’s too early in the budget process to say how the library will fare when the Selectboard considers next year’s budget.
Pullar said that, after having conversations with library trustees and with Tad Nunez, director of Parks and Recreation, which oversees the maintenance of the libraries on behalf of the town, his understanding was that the current budget is not enough to sustain operations.
“But I don’t think we really know what it costs to run that library,” he said.
As part of the effort to help the libraries work together more collaboratively, Pullar said, representatives from each library will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Town Hall.
In the meantime, the library and the town-owned building in which it operates have continued to find their place within the community.
When proposing the budget cuts, Wooster made it clear that he saw the building as having a community mission that was broader than simply hosting the library. He and other town leaders hoped that the facility would become a focal point for residents of West Hartford and beyond.
Moreno said that he and the other current trustees are embracing that vision.
Library Director Sandie Cary said the community space has been used by dozens of groups, including health organizations, painting collectives, addiction support groups, scrapbookers, architects, sewing circles, gamers and, in one case, a funeral gathering.
She said the activity has only helped its mission, contributing to a spike in the patronage numbers that the Selectboard once cited as a cause of concern.
“It’s way up,” Cary said. “Over the past two weeks alone, I’ve had 12 new patrons.”
Patronage statistics going back to 2001, provided by Cary, show that usage has ballooned since the reopening, with an all-time high of 5,800 users over the past 12 months, significantly higher than the previous July-to-June high of 3,500 set in 2008-09.
On Saturday, the library will host a Village Party, which
The event is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Moreno said that, while the event is free, some of the fundraising activities will go to support library expenses, such as book purchases, that would ordinarily be covered in the budget.
There was one final sign the West Hartford Library may have turned a corner.
When the library was being renovated, cost overruns caused town officials to trim features from the original design, including central air conditioning.
The sweltering stacks have been a cause of complaint from trustees, who said it drove away patrons and made it difficult for staff.
“It got up to 91.5 (degrees) in here, at 90 percent humidity,” Cary said. “It was pretty unbearable.”
Now, she said, the trustees have purchased and installed two wall-unit air conditioners.
“It was wonderful,” she said. “It immediately started working. The humidity in this place changed drastically. Now that we have a nice, temperate temperature in here, I think it will be used more.”
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.
Clarification
Hartford Parks and Recreation Director Tad Nunez oversees the maintenance of the West Hartford Library building, while the library trustees oversee its operations budget. An earlier version of this story was unclear on that point.