“With the success of the Library vote on Tuesday, it is important for us to start to think about next steps for us to get the Library built in the most cost-efficient manner and within our total budgetof 3.5 million dollars. This includes soft costs, architectural fee’s and engineering fees, permits,contingency, inflation and furnishings.

“It does not include parking, sidewalks and intersection improvements. Those are planned as part of the 2020 budget process and will be part of a DOT grant application for improvements to the intersection. This is on the DOT’s schedule and at last check we were in a good position for 50 percent funding of the cost of the sidewalk and intersection improvements. Improvements to parking and Limerock Street are 100 percent the responsibility of the Town.

“There are two committee’s that have been working in parallel to each other for many months.The Design Team that I pulled together and the Capital Campaign Committee that has grown into a fully functional Rockport Public Library Foundation that has taken on the task of raising the $2 million necessary to build the library.

“The design team has been working on the design with the architect since last spring. The goal oft hat team has been to move past the ‘schematic design’ stage normally used in developing pricing for a bond proposal and into the design development phase. The biggest difference between these two stages is that the schematic design uses mostly a per square foot price to get a total cost estimate. Given today’s volatile construction market, this can be risky, and the possibility of wildprice differences exist.

“By going to the next step, we have spent a lot of time on the further development of the design so that estimators can develop pricing based on actual design specifications for materials, etc.

“Additionally, we have hired an Owner’s Representative, who is working with the design team to ask the tough questions and force the committee to make some decision based on the reality of design and how that impacts construction costs.

“We now basically have four different estimates to construct the building. Two estimates from local contractors who know and understand the project and the local job market an estimator the Town hired to do an independent estimate and our Owner’s Representative who worked with hisestimator to do an estimate. They all come in within $100,000 of each other and with an estimate that would build the building at a cost that allows for a healthy contingency and inflation factoras well as “soft” costs.

“The Owner’s Rep did a lot of preliminary work basically building the building on paper, asking questions and getting us to make some decisions that will impact the overall cost, early in the process. We have eliminated many design problems and are attempting to answer questions that will lead to change orders before there are change orders that are costly.

“One item that we identified as a big cost savings is getting the building started as soon as possible in the spring. This would make it possible to meet the goal of getting the building closed in and heated before winter. This is a big savings (over $100,000) in not having to provide temporary heat in the building while it is under construction. In addition, delaying construction would also add to the cost of inflation and rising material costs. Our recommended goal is to get the building started in mid-late April of 2019.

“We were planning to start demolition as soon as possible, however it was decided at a recent meeting that it would be best to recommend leaving the building up, until late winter, because of the additional permitting that would be required from DEP due to the proximity to the stream and the fact that we would have to fence the site and do a lot of erosion control as well.

“The reason for demolishing the building ASAP was to dig test holes, to establish where ledge might be on the site. While we were able to do two test borings, we don’t have a great deal ofconfidence in the fact that we will not find any ledge on the site. For estimating purposes, it would be good to get more data.

“Knowing that we will be demolishing the building in the Spring, our Public Works Department will be able to do a series of test holes with our excavator around the building without fear of damaging the structure or plantings around the building. This will be accomplished as soon as possible.

“Now that the vote has passed, we can switch into high gear and begin working on construction drawings to get the project out to bid by the end of February with a construction start date anticipated of April 15.

“This is an aggressive schedule but will save us money in the long run.

“The Rockport Public Library Foundation has also been very active over the past 4 months raising over 1 million dollars of the 2 million dollars goal. They anticipate that once the vote is announced they will have donors who will step forward who have been waiting to see if the taxpayers supported the new Library on the ballot. Their goal is to have a significant portion of the money pledged by the end of this year.

“At this point there is no decision needed and no action to be made.”