Council OKs library plan

Read this: the Cloquet Public Library expansion is a go.

Thanks to a rebidding process that cut out certain parts of the renovation project to lower costs, Cloquet City Council members voted Tuesday to hire a contractor and move ahead with the project. The expected finish date is August 2020, with work to start this fall. The expansion will add flexible meeting space to the library that can be divided into one to three rooms, a dedicated children's area, a dedicated teen area and spaces for comfortable seating, along with many other improvements to aging systems that might not be as visible.

At the same meeting, councilors voted in favor of a maximum preliminary 1.72 percent property tax levy increase - a vote they had delayed from the Sept. 3 meeting because of uncertainty about the library projects and other possible expenses.

The city and library supporters got the answers to the library questions less than four hours before Tuesday's work session, and it was good news versus the dramatically increased costs they's seen the last time they opened bids.

"A team of us [library board and foundation leaders, city staff and the architect] sat in here this afternoon and considered each deduction independently to see how it would affect the final project and cost," said acting city administrator James Barclay.

The city isn't the only entity paying for the library project.

As originally planned, $784,000 of the costs will be covered by a state grant, and the city council originally indicated its willingness to cover approximately $1.25 million, or $1.5 million max. On Tuesday, the council agreed and voted to bond for $1.5 million. In addition, the library foundation promised $250,000 toward construction costs - money they already have - and they are embarking on a capital campaign to help raise funds for furnishing the library and hopefully adding back some of the elements that were removed in the cost cutting efforts.

"We decided if we didn't come up with the money for the city, we would have lost the state money and would have delayed the project for an indefinite time," said foundation president Terry Anderson. "It's better to front the money and find a way to get the rest of the money for furnishings. We have a while yet to do it."

Architect Tim Meyer of the Meyer Group said four of the six original bidders resubmitted very competitive bids.

In this round, the city asked the construction companies to provide costs for 13 different alternates, five that were included in the first bid plus another eight.

Included in the previous five alternates - which become deductions if they are dropped from the project - were a secondary baseboard heating system, multiple aesthetic details including faux beams in the new meeting room and a fake tree in the teen area, a private office for the assistant library direct, a new drinking fountain in the lobby and new carpeting in the stack area. Added to the list of possible items to remove were the following:

• A new circulation desk that would sit in the middle of the library, as both a showpiece and better workspace for library staff. It would also allow them to see into all the areas as a safety measure.

• Decorative work in the children's area, as well as a family restroom;

• Mechanical updates, for example changing the existing pneumatic heating and cooling controls to digital controls;

• Eliminating an energy recovery unit on the air handlers that could save costs long term;

• Not changing the air handling units from a hot water hydraulic system to natural gas heating coils;

• Eliminating a liquidated damages provision;

• Providing for a two-month winter delay provision in the contract to reduce costs during extremely cold weather.

Meyer pointed out that the last item on the list was an option to suggest other measures to reduce costs and he was pleasantly surprised by the number of suggestions they received.

"We got really good ideas back and almost none of them would impact the operation of the library," Meyer said.

Some of the additional ideas that made it into the plan were removing display cases along the hallway, taking away the faux beams and tree (but leaving the clouds in the children's area) and not moving the circulation desk.

That one hurt, said Larry Anderson, library foundation treasurer and the person spearheading the capital campaign.

But it worked. Rather than the nearly $3 million in estimated costs they got with the first round of bids, the rebidding process knocked the lowest bid to $2,139,400.

It also changed the low bidder to locally based Boldt Construction, rather than Johnson Wilson Constructors of Duluth, which was the original low bidder and also the company that originally worked with the library to come up with preliminary plans.

Councilors asked about other funding sources, but learned that the state grant cycle is two years and probably won't make up any missing funds because all the other grantees have accepted their money. As for Sheila Lamb's question about whether neighboring communities have said they will pitch in, Larry Anderson said they're on his list of entities to ask.

In addition to deciding to put more funds toward the library so the project could happen, councilors also decided not to fund a part-time parks position that Public Works director Caleb Peterson was hoping for, after the proposed parks director position ended up on shaky ground.

Other costs are still being determined, including health insurance costs, which Barclay is hoping will be less than budgeted for.

"I don't want to raise taxes more than we have to," said Mayor Roger Maki, calling the budgeting and tax levy process a balancing act. "But I want the library to be something the city is proud of and I really want to see the project move forward. I don't like to see taxes go up, but sometimes you have to do it."

Some people might actually see their city taxes decrease, city finance director Nancy Klassen pointed out, because the city's total market value increased by 3.2 percent this year, so anyone whose property did not increase in value could see a decrease anyway.

The council will make its final vote on the levy on Dec. 3, but they can not go higher than the preliminary levy.

In other matters:

• Councilors voted to move the public comment period to the beginning of each formal council meeting, rather than the end. Barclay said he will draft new guidelines for the comment period for the next meeting. If approved, the new policy will be implemented at the second meeting in October. All of the councilors who spoke on the subject agreed that they want to be able to hear from citizens before they vote on an issue, and they want citizens to feel they've been heard. The three-minute limit for each speaker will likely remain, but they don't plan to set a tine limit on the total public comment period.

• Councilors did not receive the much anticipated police department study, but Barclay said they can expect a draft at their first meeting in October.