November’s election ballots might be overwhelming. Along with presidential, national, and state legislative choices, there will be important state and local questions. This year the state ballot questions will draw a lot of attention — recreational marijuana, background checks for guns, and raising the minimum wage to mention just three. Turnouts will be large, lines may snake around, and no one wants to be in a voting booth longer than they have to. But please, please pay attention to local issues as well.

In Rockport, voters will be asked to decide on whether or not to authorize a maximum of $2,000,000 for a bond, half the amount needed to build and furnish a beautiful new library at 1 Limerock Street. The remaining half, another $2,000,000, will be raised privately with grants and donations. 

The library conversation has been going on throughout the town for several years, but there are still a few things to make sure you know about:

• There’s no going back. The old library is unsafe and impossible to rebuild without bringing it up to state, local, and federal codes. Our engineers, architects, and builders have advised strongly against trying to rebuild. And most important, it wasn’t large enough to hold the programs we shoe-horned into it, let alone what we want it to be now and for our future. The rental space we are in is temporary, a stop-gap measure. It costs $34,800 to rent and is crowded with too-tall shelves, narrow aisles, without adequate reading or meeting rooms. We simply must build a new library.
• Please don’t be frightened that the rise in property taxes will force you out of your home. On a house evaluated at $360,000 (Rockport’s median), the rise will be $54/year, about a buck a week. 
• The town will not ask for anymore building funds from you. The bond cannot be triggered until the rest of the needed funds have been raised or legally pledged. 
• There will be new parking spaces. Hooray! Not as many as a shopping center, but more than we ever had in the downtown site.
• The architects, Reed & Co., are the most experienced library designers in Maine. They have designed a wonderful building for us, full of light and space to work or enjoy. Our staff will make it as cozy and welcoming as they always have. And no additional staff will be needed — The Two Bens, Keith, and Laura; Beth, Priscilla and Melissa; and our amazing volunteers will be able to help you more, and still keep an eye on things.

If you want to see or read about what we are planning for you, it’s all on the library’s web site: www.rockport.lib.me.us or stop in and chat.

Jan Rosenbaum is chairman of the Rockport ad hoc Library Planning Committee