Geneva library kicks of construction project
Apr. 30—GENEVA — Members of the Geneva community celebrated a major expansion project of the Geneva Public Library with a groundbreaking on Monday afternoon.
"Thanks for joining us on this monumental occasion," said Ashtabula County District Library Fiscal Officer Ed Williams as he greeted Ashtabula County and Geneva city officials, board members and construction representatives.
ACDL Board of Trustees President Tom Westlake also greeted the community representatives and introduced many people responsible for getting the project to this stage.
"This is the most dedicated and sacrificial group of people I have ever worked with," Westlake said.
Westlake said Regency Construction Services is the Construction Manager at Risk that will monitor the process until its conclusion with costs not rising above the agreed upon price of $4.5 million.
"They use their experience to review the plans," Westlake said of the group's work that started when the basic plans were put together by Ziska Architects.
The realization of the need for an expansion of the library became clear as more and more junior high and high school students began to use the library after school, said ACDL Director Penny Neubauer. She said the library is happy the children and their families want to use the facility, but realized the library needed to grow.
After much planning, and the two-year setback caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the library decided to move forward with a 9,000-square foot expansion with a cost of $4.5 million.
Neubauer said six years ago 40 children used the library after school, but the number doubled. She said more staff was hired to meet programming needs, but the building is no longer big enough to handle the needs of the community.
A large youth area, 2,400 square feet, will be built to the northeast of the present building. Other parts of the expansion will be directly north of the present building.
A 615-square foot technology room is also a part of the plans for the improved library. A large meeting room that will accommodate 100 people is also in the construction plans.
The present meeting room will be used as a children's craft and programming room, Neubauer said.
After the pandemic, library officials had to go back to the drawing boards because of the huge increase in construction costs. Neubauer said the board worked to save money, but not compromise on the vision for the community.
