BY CRAIG FREILICH

North Country This Week

POTSDAM -- The Potsdam Public Library will soon be seeking requests for contractors’ bids on renovation work, and with that major step toward the start of construction the library director says the work could be done by the end of August.

“It will be a matter of a couple of weeks before it will be ready to go,” said Library Director Annie Chase of the request for proposals, or RFP.

One complication with the plan will require amending the village’s permission for the library to make the changes, but that should not throw funding or the schedule off track.

Chase said grants and matching funds are in place and architect’s plans are set for Phases One and Two of the renovations, which will begin once the bids are in and contractors are selected.

The first two phases of the renovations will be done at the same time since the work will overlap in several places.

“We will roll Phases One and Two together in the RFP since it ends up being related,” Chase said. For example, the ductwork for the extended mezzanine level of the library in the Phase One plan ties in with the updated heating, ventilation and air conditioning work in Phase Two, she said.

The main emphasis of Phase One is extending the current small mezzanine above the back of the library further along one wall and enclosing an area underneath for a new children’s area, a computer lab and a classroom.

The second phase concentrates on new HVAC facilities.

The third phase, renovating staff facilities, is important, Chase said, but “we wanted to work on patron areas first.”

Supporting pillars in the village complex basement will be needed to hold up the new mezzanine extension, which will require an amendment to the village’s permission statement slightly, architect Rebecca Weld of Renew Architecture and Design on Maple Street told trustees at their Jan. 6 meeting. Where those pillars will go includes an area where the village is storing some records, which will have to be moved. That area was not included in the original permission letters, so Director Chase will draft the letter which will then be submitted to Village Attorney Andy Silver of law firm Silver and Collins for his review.

The first two phases were funded through different applications to the state Library Construction Program.

The first grant, announced in 2018, is for a total of $359,351, which includes an award of $269,513, and a Potsdam Public Library match of $89,838.

The following year the library submitted a grant request for Phase Two, which was approved for another $450,020 – an award of $297,017 and a PPL match of $153,003.

Chase said they delayed making the Phase Three application because funding for the state library program had been reduced at the time, but it was subsequently reinstated in the state budget and the application was made.

The Phase Three grant application is for $467,305, with a potential award $350,479 which would require a PPL match of $116,826. That application awaits approval.

Announcement of this year’s library grants is expected in August, if the state holds to its pattern of announcements, Chase said.

With these grants, Chase notes, for every dollar the library puts toward the reconstruction the state contributes $2.

When all is said and done, Chase said, the library funding could amount to nearly $1 million more for Potsdam beyond the $10 million awarded to the village last year for its Downtown Revitalization Initiative plans, which did not include the library.

Chase said the local match funds are in the library’s accounts, but she and the library board have sent out another fund drive message this month to boost their funds so the grant matches don’t exhaust those accounts.

“We’re doing well. We’ve raised about $6,000 so far are we’re looking to be in good shape,” Chase said. The matching funds actually had to be on hand when the grant applications were submitted, “so any bit of fundraising we do helps us keep our cushion for unexpected things.”