SIGNS OF PROGRESS!
Dear Friends and Supporters,
The snow is here but our spirits are not dampened!
We are excited about the headway we have made; the future looks bright!
The official contract with Giancola Construction has been signed, and they expect to break ground to start the foundation in late March 2023. From here we anticipate only upward progress.
We have weathered the many delays in the supply chain for our materials but have still managed to put in a new oil tank, and are now not expecting any further delays in receiving all other necessary products. During this period we have made good use of our time, securing a Downtown and Village Tax Credit from the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development as well as completing the necessary paperwork for the USDA and the Congressional Grant from Senator Bernie Sanders.
We are grateful to the Friends of the Library for their generous support of this project with Funds from the Denise Nangle Estate. We thank too the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation, the Vermont Community Development Program, the Vermont Community Foundation, the Agency of Commerce, Senator Sanders, as well as all of you who have cheered us on and shown both patience and enthusiasm.
Good things to come in 2023!
Nancy Mark
Chair, Castleton Free Library Board of Trustees
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8/3/2022 Update from Mary Kearns, Library Director: Sorry for the delay in updating. It has been a lot of back and forth with meeting and such. However, we finally have the approval of all interested parties to go ahead with the construction project!! YAY!! We are hoping to hear soon from Giancola Construction Company regarding a start date for the work to begin! Stay tuned…..
New drawings of elevator addition:
3/4/2022 An update from the Castleton Free Library Board of trustees, chairperson, Nancy Mark:
The Castleton Free Library received three bids on March 3, 2022 for the handicap access construction project.
All three bids exceeded the planned budget.
The Trustees will review the bids at their meeting on March 7, but will not award any bid that evening.
The board will continue to work with the architect and the Vermont Community Development Program following its commitment to provide handicap access to the Castleton Free Library.
2/21/2022 An update from the Castleton Free Library Board of Trustees, chairperson, Nancy Mark:
• Tom O’Brien has hosted three pre-bid meetings at the library for potential bidders, having added two to the original schedule.
Based on recommendations from the contractors, please note changes for the following meetings:
• The bids will now be due at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 24.
The bid opening does not require a warning as it is not strictly a meeting; no decisions will be made and there will be no discussion. Tom O’Brien, or a board member, will read the bids to anyone assembled. Tom may choose to answer informal questions from the bidders at that time.
•At 5:30 that evening, February 24, the board will hold its regular February meeting. This was changed from February 28 due to the conflict with the Town of Castleton Town Meeting Informational Meeting on that same night.
• The bid award meeting will now be held on Monday, March 7, at 5:30 p.m.
This will be a special public meeting of the board of trustees. An agenda will be posted on the CFL website.
The bid documents and pertinent dates are available on the Castleton Free Library website. Regular updates from the Board and from Tom O’Brien are included in the Construction Bid Documents link.
For up-to-date information, please continue to check our website.
10/14/2021 An update from the Castleton Free Library Board of Trustees, chairperson, Nancy Mark:
On behalf of the library trustees, I’m pleased to tell you about the progress that is taking place with regard to the handicap-access project.
The construction documents are now available to view at the library and, with some minor modifications recommended by our 106 Review consultant, are now in the hands of the Division of Historical Preservation for what we hope will be their approval. Once we receive their endorsement, James Brady, the Environmental Officer for the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, will finalize this part of the process. Following that, we must advertise a public notice period, giving people an opportunity to comment on the findings of the Environmental Review and the “clean bill of health” we received from the extensive soil testing that took place last winter and spring.
This public notice period requires seven days and must be followed by an additional fifteen-day “procedural comment” interval.
While all this is happening, our architect is finalizing the bid documents and will be dispatching them shortly, moving us closer to our goal of construction.
If it should be necessary to wait until winter to send out bids, we have been advised by many with experience in these matters that there may be a sliver lining in this delay, as contractors have more time to consider projects. There’s also hope that, by then, the workforce and supply chain will have strengthened.
A special thank-you to Jonas Rosenthal, Castleton Zoning Administrator, for his important on-going assistance.
We are especially grateful to the Friends of the Library for their generous support of this project. We thank, too, the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation for the financial contribution it has provided as well as the Vermont Community Foundation for the Hollows grant we were awarded.
Thanks again so much for your interest and support.
Nancy Mark
Chair, Castleton Free Library Board of Trustees
9/2/2021 An update from the Castleton Free Library Board of Trustees, chairperson, Nancy Mark:
The survey has been completed and is in the hands of the lawyers for their review and hopeful approval. The survey shows some property line adjustments between the school district and the library. These adjustments would allow for the pathway to the rear of the library to be on library lands.
In addition, Tom O’Brien, the architect for the project, has submitted to Vermont state officials the necessary construction drawings for the addition. I will keep you posted on additional information and progress as soon as I receive it.
4/2/2021 New preliminary drawings for the elevator project have arrived! We are still awaiting a start date but we anticipate we will be breaking ground some time this summer…. stay tuned!
12/14/2020. Great news to share! Thanks to the hard work of our trustees and town administrators the library has received three grants totaling $130,000.00!
It is an exciting time at the Library! The Board of Trustees of the Castleton Free Library have begun the process of making the entire library wheelchair accessible. With a generous donation from the Friends of the Castleton Free Library and The Denise Nangle Estate plans have been created by architect Tom O’Brien. We are in the process of applying for grants to help with the cost. Come back to this page to see our progress!
Castleton Free Library 