Thomas Memorial Library Building Project

Updated 02/16/2012

The Town Council moved forward on a proposal for a new Thomas Memorial Library on Feb. 13, 2012, calling on the library trustees to finalize and present a cultural-center plan that includes a projected operating budget for programs, staff and utility costs for the new facility.

Finalizing a plan is one of the recommendations in a planning and fundraising feasibility study completed for the trustees by Demont Associates. One of the findings of the report was that a vision and focus on a cultural center, rather than a library, resonated with many of the 57 residents interviewed for the study. Interviewees also responded to the need for flexible space to meet the changing needs of technology.

Councilors discussed the report at a workshop meeting Feb. 6, 2012, and at their meeting Feb. 13 voted on four actions to move the project forward:

1. Request the Trustees of the Thomas Memorial Library finalize and present to the town council a cultural center plan which optimizes functionality and accessibility of space and resources, adaptability for current and emerging technology and which emphasizes programming and resources for youth. As part of this plan, a pro forma operating budget should be prepared for programs, staff and utility costs for the new facility.
2. Request the town manager work with the Trustees and the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society to re-evaluate the space needed for archival storage in the proposed new facility.
3. Request the town council chairman, the finance committee chair and the town manager to work with school officials and others to evaluate capital needs in light of the upcoming retirement of debt service payments for past school projects.
4. Request the town manager include in his recommended FY 2013 budget funds for part-time library staff so that the library director and the children’s librarian may free up time for project planning and for implementation of enhanced library programming

The four actions support some of the recommendations outlined in the planning study, but they stop short of the full list of recommendations and those proposed by Town Manager Michael McGovern at the Feb. 6 workshop. Those included inviting the Thomas Memorial Library Foundation, the fundraising arm of the library, to conduct a fundraising campaign in support of a new library and cultural center; providing $50,000 to the foundation as seed money for hiring a professional fundraising consultant; and, inviting the foundation and library board of trustees to prepare a plan for naming opportunities to present to the council.

Meeting with library foundation leaders

Although the Town Council did not act specifically to fund the fundraising, they did respond to a request for dialogue from the Thomas Memorial Library Foundation. At the workshop, councilors agreed to have two representatives, Jim Walsh and Chairman Sara Lennon, meet with foundation leadership after the Feb. 20-24 school vacation.