Proposed project for Algonquin libraries on hold

A multimillion-dollar renovation proposed for two Algonquin Area Public Library facilities is on hold after the library board asked to see more options, Executive Director Stephen Bero said.

Earlier this year, library staff members presented plans for a 4,660-square-foot expansion and interior renovation of the main library at 2600 Harnish Drive, as well as an interior makeover for the library branch at 115 Eastgate Drive.

The proposed $7.9 million master plan would allow the district to offer several additional services that Bero said patrons have started demanding: more meeting rooms, more office space, a larger board room, a larger children's play area and computer labs.

Bero had hoped to move the plans along quickly so as to begin construction in the 2016-17 fiscal year. But trustees last month decided to hold off on approving the project, saying they'd like to consider all possible scenarios.

"We want to make sure we're giving the board all the information they're requesting at each step of the process so they're comfortable taking the next step," Bero said.

Though officials never intended to ask residents for a tax hike to fund the library, the full master plan would require the library district to take out a $3.4 million loan. Financial projections show that annual revenue could have paid off the debt service over time "without negatively impacting any of the normal operational costs," Bero said.

Still, some trustees were uncomfortable with borrowing that much money, he said, and others wanted to make sure there isn't a more efficient plan.

Now, Bero and his staff are returning to the drawing board to come up with cheaper alternatives, he said, though the original proposal is still on the table.

"To be honest, (the master plan) is what the staff and our designers have presented as our best solution to meet the needs that we have identified that will hold the library in good stead for another 20 years," Bero said. "But I'm willing to go back and re-conceive a lot of this. Perhaps there is a better solution that we didn't see before."

"I think we'll have some kind of an improvement project going in the next two years," he said. "The question is, what is the nature of that project?"