The Clapp
for Community Campaign News
Grant
Deadline Extended: “Wonderful Holiday Present”
December
2009
Clapp Memorial Library’s
deadline for completing the requirements for receiving a $3.3-million State
grant has been extended to June 15, 2010.
“That’s a wonderful holiday
present for the library and the Town,” said Steve Lanphear, President of the
library’s Board of Trustees. “It’ll preserve our access to the State money
while we wait for the economy to improve.”
Under the terms of the
original grant award by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC),
the library had until December 31, 2009 to complete the funding required for
its proposed renovation and expansion project and accept the State grant.
If it failed to do so, it would have had to forfeit the grant and wait
several years for another shot at State funding.
On November 10, a Special
Town Meeting declined to approve the Town funding which would have completed
financing for the project. As a result, the library requested an extension
of the deadline, and on December 3, the MBLC approved that request. That
means that the library now has until at least the middle of June to complete
the project’s funding.
“We believe the result of the
Special Town Meeting was heavily influenced by the present distressed
economic situation, and we don’t intend to bring the project back for
another vote until that situation has improved,” said Lanphear. “I doubt
very much that that will have occurred by June 15, but we’re encouraged by
the MBLC’s positive response to the situation, and we hope to receive
approval of further extensions as needed. We’re convinced that Belchertown
needs upgraded library facilities, and this project is the best way to meet
our needs now and into the future at minimum cost to the Town. We’ll
monitor developments in the economy to determine when it might be possible
to ask Town Meeting to consider this question again in less-threatening
times. In the meantime, we’ll re-examine all aspects of the project for
possible money-saving alternatives.”
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Clapp
Memorial Library