Construction contract approved for Crestline library
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has approved a $3.9 million contract for the construction of a new county library overlooking Lake Gregory.
It will be twice the size of the current, albeit dated library housed in a former post office on Knapps Cutoff.
Construction of the 7,641-square-foot library is set to begin next month and will take about a year to complete. It will feature a multipurpose room, children's reading area and computer lab and will be constructed on a three-acre site adjacent the Crestline Skatepark and Village Park.
"This is going to be a first-class library, and it's ging to be a tremendous asset for the Crestline communities," Second District Supervisor Paul Biane said in a news release.
Biane pushed the project forward in 2005 when he began allocating funding for the project.
The Board of Supervisors approved the construction contract at its Tuesday meeting, the same day county librarian Ed Kieczykowski told the board he needs to trim his department's budget by $1.5 million for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. That could mean a 26-percent cut in hours for part time employees, the elimination of eight full-time positions that are currently vacant and a $500,000 cut to the county library system's book budget.
Another likelihood is that, beginning July 1, all 30 county library branches will close on Fridays.
Kieczykowski stressed it is merely one option he presented to the board, and no firm decision has yet been made. One thing is certain: he needs to bring the library's $19.5 million budget down to about $18 million. He said employee retirements can also help shave from the budget.
"I don't have the revenues this year and I have to cut costs somewhere, and my biggest cost is personnel," he said.
The new library in Crestline, however, will not affect the county library system's budget, Kieczykowski said.
"It's not like starting a branch all over again and adding new staff and a new book collection," he said, adding that staff at the existing Crestline library will move into the new one when it opens. A few additional staff may be hired to accommodate the doubled growth.
The new library will be an environmentally friendly "green building" built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
Leave a comment