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Library parking lot work to begin Monday
Director Grier Carson announced to the Putnam County Public Library Board that work on the parking lot is set to begin next week with creating the new entrance on Walnut Street.
“Our plan is to complete the project in phases which should allow patrons to park in certain areas of the existing lot for the duration of construction,” Director Carson said. “We do anticipate some brief periods during which the entire lot will be inaccessible, and so we’re currently in discussions with DePauw facilities administrators about the possibility of allowing library patrons and staff to park in the lot off Poplar Street for the duration of the project.”
Spiker Inc. was the only company to submit a bid for improving the lot, and the board awarded the project during a special meeting on April 3. The project is expected to be complete by the end of June or sooner, weather permitting.
The board also approved pricing inquiries on doing the new section of parking lot, currently in gravel, in concrete.
Provided it wouldn’t change the cost of the project too much, the board agreed that concrete, which lasts 28 years longer than asphalt, would be the better option. If approved, the concrete would come from Cash Concrete at a 20 percent discount.
However, concrete requires a total replacement after that time and the rest of the parking lot would have to be done in concrete over a five- to 10-year period, which Director Carson doesn’t “see happening unless we change a lot of plans.”
Since 2008, the library has repaired the existing asphalt twice at a total cost of $3,400, but it will need replacing in the near future. The original parking lot plans included resurfacing it.
In other developments:
-- Share the Dream: Director Carson announced that the library will participate in this year’s Putnam County Community Foundation Share the Dream competitive fundraising event.
Although registered under the local genealogy and history fund, the library will also have the Putnam County Library Endowment, the Cyril Johnson Fund and the Imagination Library Fund in the contest.
“It’s definitely exciting to be in this,” President Alan Zerkel said, and encouraged the other board members to contribute.
-- Cloverdale JAG program: Director Carson announced that the library has agreed to host an internship for a student in the Cloverdale Jobs for America’s Graduates program. The program is a national organization adopted by Cloverdale High School last year.
-- Claims: The board approved claims at a total of $86,587.05, an increase from last month of $19,303 and of $25,337.95 from the year’s average.
The next Putnam County Public Library regular meeting is set for May 24 at 6 p.m. in the Kiwanis Conference Room.