New Building News

November 2006

It is with great pleasure, and much excitement, that the Board of Trustees invites you to the unveiling of the building improvement project! This presentation will take place on Monday, November 20 at 7:00pm in the theater at the Sapphire Elementary School, located in Harriman. All community residents are invited to attend and learn more about this exciting project.

In late May, the library board acquired the property located at the corner of Mill Pond Parkway and Smithfield Court, which is adjacent to the current library. The property was purchased with reserve funds designated for this purpose and approved by voters. It was acquired because the board is committed to creating a revitalized library completely inside the Village of Monroe, and because it preserves our ability to use the current building as part of this plan for renewal, which will save taxpayers significant dollars!

The plan calls for renovation of the existing library building and construction of a new three-story addition on the recently-acquired property, with adult, young adult, children's, reference, and other appropriate program spaces; room for expanded book and material collections; comfortable seating; and appropriate technology. This new library will boast a dedicated children's library, along with a divisable community meeting room that will be extensively used for cultural, instructional, recreational, and other programs, and otherwise be available to the larger community for an array of uses.

Repayment of a bond for this project is estimated to cost the average Monroe household $7.54 a month, or roughly $90 per year. A full accounting of the costs of the project, the impact on our future operating budgets, and the construction will be November 20.

We realize our success depends on you, our friends and neighbors, to join with us in this new building venture, and we hope you ar eas excited as we are to kick off this campaign. Please join us on November 20 to learn more!