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<br />Town of Lexington <br />Capital Expenditures Committee <br /> <br />Meeting Notes <br /> <br />October 30, 2002 <br />Town Hall, Room 111 <br /> <br />Committee members present: Bhatia, Hornig, Rosenberg, Stolz. <br />Absent: Burnell <br /> <br />Minutes of the October 23 meeting were approved, as <br />corrected, and will be forwarded to Appropriation Committee <br />liaisons. <br /> <br />Library briefing <br />Carol Mahoney, director, presenting. <br />East Lexington: Building is in need of serious review <br />as a town asset, but Trustees have not focused on it at all <br />yet, pending completion of main library reconstruction and <br />patterns of use once it is reopened (projected fall 2003). <br />Complicating consideration of the branch’s use, reuse, and <br />renovation is its status in the town historic district and <br />listing on the national register of historic places, and <br />restrictions on use in the terms of the gift (as a branch <br />depository, reading room, museum, meeting and lecture hall, <br />place for children’s literacy, etc., but not as a school). <br />Trustees have begun discusssing who in the community should <br />be involved in discussions about the building’s future, but <br />have not initiated such a conversation. Building is roughly <br />10,000 sq. ft. on two floors, and would be costly to expand <br />or to renovate as a public lending library. Is generally <br />aged, not accessible, but not in any immediate need of <br />repairs/building envelope issues, since the roof has been <br />rebuilt and bathrooms and heating have been fixed. Remains a <br />low priority. Listed as a future item in queue, but NOT for <br />2005 overide funding. Conceivably planning money in 2006-07, <br />with construction money in 2008 given current three-year <br />debt-exclusion cycle. <br />Could the building be closed as a library to offset <br />increased operating costs at the renovated main library, <br />Bhatia asked? Mahoney said that raised both legal issues and <br />use issues she was unprepared to answer now, as the main <br />library closing and temporary Cary Hall facility had <br />prompted much-increased use of the branch and, in effect, <br />community rediscovery of it as a library facility. Operating <br />costs are roughly $90,000 for staffing and utilities, but <br /> <br />