MY TURN By Milford Mayor Bo Fean

Thoughts on the Pike County Library If the PCPL Board has decided to pursue the purchase of the Biondo Building for their new headquarters - and I’m hearing that they have - the PCPL Board would be making what I think, is a bad decision. Here are my reasons: • Parking: there might be a couple of spots directly behind the Biondo Building, but that’s all. There is an additional lot that comes with the purchase of the building that can be used for parking. It’s located half a block from behind the Biondo Building, down Pear Alley. That will require patrons to walk an uphill incline from any of the parking spots to get to the library. This will be troublesome in the winter when there is ice and snow on Pear Alley, especially for the elderly and handicapped. Traffic and the blind intersection at Blackberry and Pear Alley make the walk less than ideal. Library patrons parking on Broad Street for extended periods of time will adversely affect other businesses around the library. For three years, the council and the public heard all about how the East Harford Street site was the perfect location. It met all the parking requirements for a new facility - plenty of off-street parking, handicapped parking, and ease of accessibility. Based on the parking factor alone, this is just not the right location for a library. • Structure and layout of biondo building: I wonder if this building can be redesigned into a library in a way to best suit the public for many years to come. I think not. Once again, for three years the council and the public heard about how we needed a large scale building to meet the needs of the library and all the services it provides. We needed a “green” building, with a green roof - more energy efficient to keep the operating costs down. Open spaces inside would provide a more user friendly and efficient use of space. Lots of glass to help with the heating and cooling, large conference room for nonprofit organizations to use. What happened to that argument? Now we want to buy a 20 year old building, three stories high, with not a lot open space, with only front windows, and probably not very energy efficient. Has anybody but the building committee members looked at the roof to see what kind of condition it is in? How long before it needs to be replaced? At what cost? How about the HVAC units on the roof; what kind of shape are they in? How long before they need to be replaced and at what cost? How about the elevator and the hydraulics; are they in good shape or will they need major work on them too? At what cost? Who will pay for all this? Taxpayers? How? Another Library Tax Referendum? We know what happened with the last one. These questions need to be answered. • Too hasty: I think the PCPL Board is rushing to judgment on the purchase of this building. I think their answer to that will be that they will lose grant money and pledges if they don’t act quickly. While I understand this to a degree, I think it’s fiscally irresponsible to spend for the sake of spending. Some pledges have already been returned because they were intended for the now abandoned Fred Schwartz design - shame on those patrons. The board says that they don’t want to deal with the architectural review board, that they say will slow them down if they chose to build a new library on the lot they already own on East Harford Street. I think not. The ARB and the borough council, at the expense of the taxpayers of Milford Borough, tried to work with the PCPL board on the first and second designs. They were accommodating and flexible but the library board ‘knew what was best for all of us.’ What a waste of time and money. Now here we are. The best solution to all this is reject buying any existing building in town and concentrate on building a new but smaller library on the lot that was donated to you. All your parking needs will be fulfilled, with safe and easy entrance and exit. You will have a new building that will require little maintenance for 20 years or more, with room for expansion. With the Sawkill Creek and the vista of the Knob behind you, creating the park-like setting you envisioned, complete with benches for sitting and reading, none of which you will get with the Biondo Building. Why have we lost sight of that goal? Start fresh with the new board members that have just been appointed by the Pike County Commissioners. Solicit input upfront from the community, the ARB and Milford Borough Council. Many people have great ideas. Listen to them. Let’s fix the problem, not create new ones. So let’s leave our egos at the door and work together for the good of all. Let’s face it, we do need a new library, not only in Milford Borough, but throughout the county. Let’s work together to achieve this goal.