The Town of Athabasca held a joint meeting last week with representatives from Athabasca County and the school and library boards about the library board ’s decision to withdraw from the proposed school-library project.
The Town of Athabasca held a joint meeting last week with representatives from Athabasca County and the school and library boards about the library board ’s decision to withdraw from the proposed school-library project.
But despite the Town's optimism that negotiations are still ongoing, the library board remains firm in its position to not move to the new secondary school.
Town chief administrative officer Josh Pyrcz called a meeting with members of the school-library planning committee on Aug. 13, after the Town received a letter from the library board stating their reasons to decline a move into the new school.
“Town council looked at that and said, ‘Well, we want to make sure this is really the end of the discussion,' ” Pyrcz said. “The school presented the latest design concept of the school library for the board members, and the discussion really was about, ‘Is the board going to reconsider their position that they no longer want to continue to look at the new school as a possible location for the public library.' ”
Robert Tannas, a library board member who attended the meeting -but declined to speak on behalf of the board since only four board members were present -said the issue would be discussed at the library board's next meeting in September, when a final decision will be made.
In a letter to the town, the library board stated three major concerns it had with the move to the new school: the size of the library, the exclusion of the archives, and governance.
Tannas was very firm when it came to the board's stance on the archives.
“Things like the archives, that has not been settled at all, ” he stated. “It's a library and archives. We don't expect the school board to provide room for an archives; it's school money. But somehow, we're not going to abandon the archives. ”
He added that governance, and who would be in charge of the library, also hasn't been resolved.
“The viewpoint was that it would be a public library that would service the school, ” he said. “That has not been determined yet. ”
Pyrcz said there were a number of options on the table, such as jointly managing the facility, contracting the library, or staffing the facility with public library workers and allowing the school access.
“They just don't know yet and that's why we're hoping they'll go back to the table, ” he said, “because until those options have been exhausted, you can't really say the negotiations are done. ”
Pyrcz added that a previous concern about the library's entrance could also be addressed with some design changes. He stated that the library's entrance would be located on the west side of the school, and the facility would also have washrooms separate from the school.
“It also has additional interior space that can be used for community use when the school is closed, ” he said of some proposed design plans. “There's lots of study areas, access to couches and tables, and also the potential for an outdoor reading area. So attached to the actual library itself, the school is considering having an outside area just for library patrons. ”
But Tannas remarked that those were minor issues.
Pyrcz noted that it's about sharing the facility, and that more dialogue was needed.
“The library does have concerns and it is a library board decision when it's all said and done, ” he said, “but you have to look at what's not only best for the patrons, but what's best for the community, and that's what the library board is entrusted to do. ”
